11 July 2012

Top of the World

It is the killing part that always lead me to believe that I would never do it. I can climb hills and rocks but I have never thought of myself as good enough to climb gigantic mountains. But it turns out that people don’t die climbing Everest as much as they used to. The equipment is much more reliable than it was in Hillary’s day. They have also been nice enough to set up some bolted ropes before you get to the “death zone”.

That is not my favourite name in the world but it has nothing to do with a part of the mountain that is typically more fatal than any other part. Your body eventually gets used to less oxygen the longer you stay at high altitudes. The death zone is where you pretty much die from lack of oxygen no matter how long you stay. That is why you bring oxygen with you when you climb Mt Everest.

5 comments:

esbboston said...

You should see if there is some "time" record for going from the lowest point on earth to the highest, then right before you take off to do the Everest trip go to the lowest point near you. But depending on your trip schedule, it may be easier to get a shorter time between reaching the highest point and then the lowest point, so do both. THEN if you do both maybe you can establish a NEW world's record of going round trip from the lowest point on earth to the highest then back to the lowest point. I am feeling all Jules Verne-ish now.

Anonymous said...

My wife made it to Everest base camp. Can't remember if she went any higher than that or not.

If you're going with an expedition, that will help. They can give you more info about acclimation. I don't think Israel has many real high mountains (there's one east of Akko and Carmel, can't remember the name.) If you can do higher altitude a week or two before you leave, that will help you.

Mia said...

A British woman already went from the Dead Sea to Mt Everest without any motorized vehicles. It took her 6 months. We're flying to Nepal so it won't take nearly that long. It won't break any records either.

Har Hermon is over 2000 metres. That's about as tall as it gets in Israel.

Kylie Purtell said...

How seriously exciting! Not something I could ever do, I get short of breath just sitting in the upstairs office at work.

Mia said...

I still have yet to decide if it is more exciting now or will be more exciting later.