I recently completed reading the first very intriguing 8 chapters of Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer. The first third of the book showed the immensely difficult and harsh conditions existing on Mt. Everest. Not only does the climb require an enormous amount of strength and skill, it also requires extreme metal toughness and drive in order to reach the summit at 29,028 feet.
Many things intrigued me about this section of the book, such as the multiple routs to take as well as all the equipment and so on. However, the amount of deaths, as well as the stories of how these incidents occurred peaked my interest the most. Particularly, the story of Ngawang. Ngawang suffered from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, otherwise known as HAPE. As Krakauer put it, "a mysterious, potentially lethal illness typically brought on by climbing too high, too fast in which the lungs fill with fluid" (113). Out of stubbornness, Ngawang refused treatment for as long as possible, and because of this he later passed away. One of the most gruesome pictures portrayed in the book thus far came when a medic recalled, "I got there in a few seconds. Ngawang's skin looked blue. He had vomited all over the place, and his face and chest were covered with frothy pink sputum. It was an ugly mess. Ingrid was giving him mouth to mouth through all the vomit"(117-118). After reading this, I was interested to find more information about HAPE.
According to The Climbing Guide, symptoms that someone may face include difficulty walking, coughing up blood, extreme fatigue, gurgling noises when breathing, rapid heart rate, poor judgement, and confusion. The symptoms are worse at night, as may result in a coma, or death. The only way to save the victim is immediate descent as well as extra oxygen.
According to Everest Base Camp MD, In some people, the lack of oxygen at high altitude causes constriction of some of the blood vessels in the lungs, forcing all of the blood to go through a limited number of vessels that are not constricted. As the website put it, "This dramatically elevates the blood pressure in these vessels and results in a high-pressure leak of fluid from the blood vessels into the lungs. Exertion and cold exposure can also raise the pulmonary blood pressure and may contribute to either the onset or worsening of HAPE."
The few pages that explained HAPE and told the story of Ngawang becoming ill also caught my attention because of how visual and realistic Krakauer made it seem. The actual cause and symptoms of HAPE have been explained well in the book and in Lexies' post so I was mainly interested in learning about more stories about HAPE. I read that Martina Navarotilova a famous tennis player was hospitalized after attempting to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. At the age 54 Martina was still in excellent shape, but her body simply could not handle the rapid increase of altitude as she trekked up the mountain. As she climbed her lungs began to fill with liquid; depriving her body of oxygen, she stated that it felt like her chest was tightening and she had extreme fatigue. With the help of her team Martina descended and got low enough to clear her respiratory system before her whole body shut down. Sadly in many cases people are not able to descend down to lower altitude quick enough, however if you can get down most people will be back to normal after a few short days in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteThe discovery of HAPE is what interests me. How did the first climbers of Everest climb it safely, and when did they start bringing up oxygen tanks? In the very beginning of the book, when Jon is talking about his trip up the mountain, he tells about when he almost ran out himself and could have become ill. "For the next ten minutes i felt surprisingly good. My head cleared. I actually seemed less tired than i had with the gas turned on. Then, abruptly, I sensed that I was suffocating. My vision dimmed and my head began to spin...' '... instead of turning my oxygen off, Harris, in his hypoxically impaired state, had mistakenly cranked the valve open to full flow, draining the tank" (10). If Jon had had more oxygen in his tank he could have gotten oxygen poisoning, something that is more prevalent in deep sea divers, but happens when someone is breathing too much pressurized oxygen. The fact that he went from having too much oxygen to almost no oxygen is also very frighting, that sudden change to his body and the dilemma of not being able to get to a more regular stream of oxygen made this moment in the story very nerve racking. the way that Krankauer explained that his vision dimmed and his head began to spin also reminded me of a head rush, something that you get from standing up too quickly, so it seemed slightly relatable in that way to me as well.
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