Posted on 12/10/2008 12:06:19 AM PST by fightinJAG
I suspect the swelling is more due to the inflated egos of those who try to climb Mt. Everest.
Call me a wimp but going into the Death zone (above 8000 meters) is just not for me, even as the young man I once was. Pain, body damage and death in the cold, just seems like no replacement for the Internet and a hot toddy.
Wow, I’m sorry you went through that.
Don't buy it -- it's a terrible read -- but if you can steal a copy or get it at the library, read Dead Lucky, by an Australian named Lincoln Hall. It (I think unintentionally) explains a lot about the mentality of some of the people who climb Everest. The author is a loudmouth windbag who just about dies on the descent, then manages to blame it on everyone else but himself, and act like he did something heroic in surviving, even though it was the sacrifices of half a dozen others that brought him back from the brink.
The mountain itself is compelling, but some of the buffoons who dare it deserve what they get.
Also, a brain swelling condition occurs to many who move to D.C. and serve more than 2 terms in congress!
But look up "Green Boots." It's an eerie story. And from what I can tell, it's common practice to leave the bodies where they fall and come back for them later ... if at all. The cold and dry air preserve them better than any embalmer ever could. And future expeditions just pass by them like they were landmarks.
Speaking of cold, the Greater Houston area is being blanketed by a very rare snow right now!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, they never even say ouch, when I flip ‘em on the grill.
I’ve long wondered about the long-term effects of high altitude, and also about whether there would be new discoveries of harm in years to come.
In my younger days I was a fairly serious climber (not at international levels but simply doing technical climbs up to 14,000 feet in the US Rockies etc.
One reason (besides the obvious risk of life) that I decided fairly early on not to go much above 14,000 feet was that I suspected that more extreme altitude climbing might have all sorts of deleterious effects that might not be known to medicine just yet. (I also developed increasing risk-aversion to simply dying or being maimed), but I always wondered a lot about how the brain and body could go to 1/2 to 1/3 of normal oxygen without some serious effects.
If altitude and cold can cause "brain swelling" and death, then what was the life span of 8th Air Force crews who flew 25 (or more) missions over Europe in WW II?
They regularly flew at 30,000 ft or more in non-pressurized aircraft -- and were often exposed to Everest-like conditions two-or-three-times-a-week.
Messner climbed all of the 8,000 meter peaks without oxygen - that was even more amazing.
Fifteen people were killed on Everest in 1996, the year that Hall and Fischer died. I think that’s a record number for a single year. I would never take the risk of going there, especially when all you get is a few minutes on top.
According to this Article, the highest permanent habitation is a village in Peru at 5100 M (~ 16,000 ft.)
Scroll down this site to a reference to a possibly higher small town or hamlet in Tibet: Link
I had a summer job during college days working over 11,000 ft high at a mine on the Continental Divide. Probably explains my wacky posts.
Very interesting. I wish I could read the whole article. Again I’m guessing, but I suspect that most of the workforce consists of Indians who are genetically adapted to high altitude. Also, in reading about altitude sickness in cattle, I found that individual animals differ greatly in their tolerance. Some are effected at an elevation of only 5000-some feet. Diet seems to effect the outcome.
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