Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance by Kamler Kenneth

Author:Kamler, Kenneth [Kamler, Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780312280772
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2004-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

HIGH ALTITUDE

IN THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS

HALF A BOWL OF WARM WATER is not much to eat, but at midnight in a tent at 26,000 feet, I was happy to have even that. One of three climbers crammed into a two-man tent, I was trying to rest but the temperature inside the tent was 30°F below zero, and it was frightening to think how much colder it must be outside. The weather was holding, though; we couldn’t let a good chance like this go by. After two months in this hostile environment, we were dehydrated, malnourished, oxygen-starved, and exhausted, but if our bodies could hold out another sixteen to twenty hours, we could reach the highest point on earth.

There were nine of us in the three tents we pitched on the South Col, 3,000 feet below Mount Everest’s 29,035-foot summit. These altitudes are the domains of jumbo jets cruising high over the oceans, not creatures born and raised near sea level. Our bodies were deteriorating rapidly, consuming themselves to produce enough energy to function in a world with hardly any heat or air pressure. Though our expedition had arrived at this camp only six hours before, after days of relentless climbing, it was already time to move on. Too prolonged a stay could become a permanent one.

I took off my oxygen mask, disconnecting myself from the bulky tank lying on the floor, unzipped the door flap, and crawled out of my thin nylon shelter. The sky was black except for a sharp silver moon, two-thirds full, beaming just enough light to make the ice all around us glow deep blue. The still air was actually not much colder than it had been inside the tent. So effective were our insulated clothing and sleeping bags at retaining body heat that little had escaped to warm the interior of the tent. Insulation only conserves heat, however; it doesn’t produce it. To do that, the body needs to burn fuel. Burning fuel requires oxygen, and now that I was separated from my supplemental supply, my body would have to make do with what it found in the air around it, which is about one-third the amount at sea level.

My breathing turned deeper and more rapid and my pulse quickened as I put on my climbing gear. Some of this was due to nerves—I was about to attempt the summit of Mount Everest—but most of it was my body’s automatic response to the lack of oxygen. My lungs were working harder to drive more air inside, and my heart was beating faster to pump the limited oxygen supply to where it was most needed. Even so, I was feeling much colder by the time I had buckled my harness and hoisted my pack. Though the outside temperature hadn’t changed, my body’s ability to cope with it had. Without the extra oxygen, my internal combustion was slowing. Fuel can’t provide energy when there isn’t enough oxygen to burn it. My metabolism was becoming a smoldering fire too weak to generate enough heat to keep me warm.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.