Genevieve Castle
3/6/14
Zest~
Through out the first half of Into Thin Air (up to page 111), I constantly pondered how these climbers could ever be able to venture to the top of a mountain as big at Mt. Everest. As I am afraid of heights, and I have no upper body strength, the idea of going on an adventure like that is absolutely frightening. Especially while reading about all the terrible things that could happen to your body. So many people have died on Mt. Everest, and that alone would keep me off the mountain.
While reading Into Thin Air, It seemed to mention a lot of injuries, sicknesses, and other issues related to the rough conditions while climbing. On page 72, Jon Krakauer wrote, "If I sat up too quickly, my head reeled and vertigo set in...Sleep became elusive, a common symptom of minor altitude illness. Most nights I'd wake up three or four times gasping for breath, feeling like I was suffocating. Cuts and scrapes refused to heal. My appetite vanished...my body began consuming itself for sustenance." He continues on by writing about how the other teammates were not doing well either, and the overall health of everyone had began to deteriorate. This lead me to ask myself, what kind of medical issues climbers endure while climbing Mt. Everest?
According to mounteverest.net, there are many symptoms that climbers endure while climbing Mt. Everest. These signs that climbers have to watch for are:
Normal Acclimatization~
This is similar to what Jon Krakauer describes in the passage I shared above. This includes a headache, irregular breathing at night, rapid breathing in the day, and increased urine output.
Moderate Mountain Sickness~
This is a step above Normal Acclimatization, and at this point it is recommended not to climb any higher. MMS includes the symptoms of a bit of fatigue, decreased urine output, and a persistent headache.
Acute Mountain Sickness~
This is when it becomes a serious issue. AMS has symptoms that include dizziness, vomiting, persistent coughing, and fatigue. At this point, you are told to climb down to 1500 ft, speak to a doctor over a walkie-talkie and take emergency medicine.
There are even more serious serious medical issues that climbers can get while on Mt. Everest, and many of them lead to death. As climbers get higher, they must be prepared with bottled oxygen (which has been mentioned in the book a couple times already). The higher the climbers go on the mountain, the amount of oxygen gets limited, until they truly are going Into Thin Air.
According to HowStuffWorks.com, when there isn't enough oxygen, the brain will begin to swell. When the brain swells, blood vessels begin to leak which leads to High Altitude Pulmonary Edema.
This is a life threatening condition.
Continuing onto the second half of the book, I hope to get more information about the health of the climbers in the team. As terrible as it sounds, I'm looking forward to hearing about the deaths.
I also found how the lack of oxygen effected the climbers quite interesting. The info I got on altitude sickness is:
ReplyDelete-A headache, which is usually throbbing. It gets worse during the night and when you wake up.
-Not feeling like eating.
-Feeling sick to your stomach. You may vomit.
-Feeling weak and tired. In severe cases, you do not have the energy to eat, dress yourself, or do anything.
-Waking up during the night and not sleeping well.
-Feeling dizzy.
Hey Gen,
ReplyDeleteI was also curious about this topic especially the pain and the sickness you can get out of the climb. I found on thetech.org that when you are at high altitudes breathing becomes a task because there is so little oxygen, your body must work harder to pass more air through your lungs.Also I found that altitude sickness occurs like you said before, and your body does not have sufficient rest at elevations to adjust. This is very interesting and I feel you did a great job on your research and your blog.