Going Up!!!!

Hi All, Its Walid again, Max's friend. I have not heard from Max in a while so I am posting a pressure chart to show why it takes so long to climb the mountain. As Max goes up he will have less and less pressure to drive oxygen into his blood. To compensate his body will produce more red blood cells, but this takes time. At the summit he will have 27% of the pressure found at sea level, but his acclamatization and supplemental oxygen will compensate to some degree. Above you will see graphs showing the decrease in pressure as a climber goes up and the elevations of the various camps used on the mountain. I have also added a photo of one of the first times I saw Everest, which is along the same driving route that Max is taking. This should give a good idea of what Max and dealing with and seeing during this part of his adventure.

His climb really starts in Kathmandu at about 5k feet and ends at the summit at 29,035 feet. From Kathmandu to base came he will travel by bus and truck with the team and all the gear. It is possible to do this drive in a couple of days but that would put the climbers in grave danger because they would arrive at 17K feet too quickly for their bodies to adjust, which is why the trip takes six to seven days. As they ascend it is essential to stop that vilages along the way to let their bodies produce the life saving red blood cells they will need. The climber's rule of thumb is to ascend 1000 feet per day above 10,000 feet, which is essentially what they are doing.

While they stop at the various towns along the way they will take acclamitization hikes. This is important for two reasons. Firstly, the body prepares itself more quickly to the change in pressure if one exercizes a bit along the way. Secondly, it is important in this process to climb high and sleep low. This means that the body is not yet ready to sleep at the altitude they will climb to but is ok to spend just a little time there. Check out this link for a little more information: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html

I will post more on the acclamatization process and Max's progress later and, of course, as soon as I hear from him I will update the blog in his own words.