Christian at Summit Camp rockin' gear from our sponsor Marmot.
About the Altitude;
As an ex-paramedic, I was elected medic for the
expedition, and so have
studied up on some of the maladies we might
encounter, such as diving accidents and altitude sickness.
Here are some notes;
La Paz, Bolivia, is the
Highest National capital in the world. The
Bolivians we meet and work with
have lived a life above 13,000 feet. Macario has never been lower than
Cochibamba.
In planning to join the expedition, a friend told me of
people dropping dead
upon getting off the train in La Paz,
others warned of
Cerebral edema, Pulmonary edema,
and other ailments that come with
a sudden ascent to
altitude.
The NASA Safety Review Board reviewed
our expedition acclimatization....
As an ex-paramedic, I was elected medic for the
expedition, and so have
studied up on some of the maladies we might
encounter, such as diving accidents and altitude sickness.
Here are some notes;
La Paz, Bolivia, is the
Highest National capital in the world. The
Bolivians we meet and work with
have lived a life above 13,000 feet. Macario has never been lower than
Cochibamba.
In planning to join the expedition, a friend told me of
people dropping dead
upon getting off the train in La Paz,
others warned of
Cerebral edema, Pulmonary edema,
and other ailments that come with
a sudden ascent to
altitude.
The NASA Safety Review Board reviewed
our expedition acclimatization....
The NASA Safety Review Board reviewed our
expedition
acclimatization
program to make sure we were not pushing upward
too
aggressively. We spent 2 days at 8k feet in San Pedro de Atacama. We
took Diamox, a drug that thickens
your blood and decreases ones risk
of waking up at night in a panic that you
have completely stopped
breathing. We
then spent 2 more relatively restful
days at the Refuge on the
Altiplano at 14,000 ft before starting to do
science work on the flanks
of the volcanoes themselves.
The shortness of
breath we encountered of the first two
stages was acceptable,
even cute.
Certainly a good way to know you
were going on too long with a
story when you have to pause for a full
minute to catch your breath before
dropping the punch line. Wrestling your way into a sleeping bag
at night might require 3 complete breaks.
Lacing up your mountain boots was
exhausting.
The International Mountain Medicine Society
describes Acute Mountain Sickness as an intense headache combined with
any one of a number of symptoms such as: Nausea, vomiting, loss of
appetite, or lightheadedness.
The IMMS does not go into detail in describing the headache.
But I will:
After Training Climb One, to about 18,000
ft, on the exploded volcano Juriques, I came to the
conclusion that an accurate
generalized description of an altitude
headache was the effect of a larger
sized medieval style axe, imbedded down the centre
of the scull, from back to
front, with a subsequent twisting or
torqueing moment applied on the long
handle. That is the baseline symptom. All you
need to add to push the
experience over into symptoms of
dangerous and frequently deadly Acute Mountain Sickness, is a little
lightheaded-ness, or a queasy tummy.
The cure for AMS is to rapidly
descend to the last place you spent the night without any
symptoms at all, including headache.
For emergency treatment of someone incapacitated and
unable to descend. we have brought along a Gamow Bag, a portable
rubberizedchamber that you can stick a victim of AMS in and inflate with a
footpump. We tried it out in San
Pedro, me inside and Randy pumping, and
believe it would work,
provided the pumper friends do not share
the symptoms. They would have to
continually man the foot pump for
the minimum of 2 hours while one is being
treated, hard work that makes
them short of breath and at risk
themselves.
Pablo and Martin did not
have the luxury of a slow ascent.
They come from Buenos Aires, where they
just finished shooting
a series for the Discovery Channel, spent one night
in San Pedro, one
at the refuge, a training climb to Mid Camp, and the next
day a 3 am
start a 7 hour ascent strait to the Summit Camp. I could
practically see
the axe handle sticking out of the back of their heads. They
acted cool though, ate laughing cow cheese, sardines and crackers, and
shota time lapse of the sunset, I check on them for other symptoms often
enough to be a pest before they disappear
into their tent for what had to
have been a miserable night.
Dinner;
We eat freeze dried Indian
Curry with Chicken. Christian
makes a desert of freeze dried
Strawberries and Cream. The package itself had
been unused on a previous Everest
Expedition, and was given to Christian by
a mountaineering friend. It was
inedible, and I forgot to ask what
year the Everest expedition was and if
they were successful despite
such lousy desserts. I tell the story of
Napoleons Lost Fleet and how
I almost met my own end in the sea, and we slept
alternating head to feet for more wiggle room.
Continued:
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