|
Mt. Everest Ascent
I
just got back from my second attempt to climb Mt. Everest
without supplemental oxygen. I reached 27,500 feet,
about 1,500 feet below the summit before turning back
due to cold hands and feet. Without supplemental oxygen
your body simply can't warm itself and with a windy
or super cold day you risk frostbite to keep going.
I choose to turn around and keep myself intact. One
of the biggest problems on a big mountain is the dry
air. It doesn't take too long before your sinuses act
up and your nose gets blocked and you can\'t breath
through your nose anymore. Then you start breathing
through your mouth and the dry air damages your throat
and lungs and you go downhill from there.
As a professional mountaineer and mountain guide I've
tried everything over the years and have always carried
an inhaler of one type or another with me. This time
heading to Everest a friend gave me a Sports Inhaler
to try in my pre-Everest training and I was hooked.
I knew this was what I was looking for. I took a whole
box to Everest this past spring and gave them out like
candy, everyone loved them, especially our team of high-altitude
Sherpas - they thought they were great.
I wish I could say that the sports inhaler helped my
performance at altitude, and maybe it did, but it's
very difficult if not impossible to quantify that claim.
Every time you go up high the weather and the conditions
are different, let alone you feel different so it's
impossible to say what helped me feel so good this last
trip. So even though I didn't make it, I felt amazingly
good at 27,500 feet without an oxygen bottle on my back
and now I KNOW I can do it. I'll be heading back to
Everest in another year or two and you can be assured
I'll have a few sports inhalers in my pockets. Thank
you!
Cheers,
Gary Scott, gary@garyscottadventures.com
|