Education Log: May 5, 2000
"Oxygen Regulator"

Above Camp III, Byron and Tim will be using bottled oxygen. It is possible to climb Everest without oxygen, but few people have done it, and most feel it is more prudent to climb with oxygen. At the summit of Mount Everest, there is only one third the amount of oxygen available to breathe.

Education Program More on altitude problems More on lungs Life on the Mountain: High Altitude Activities Breathing Rate and Exercise

This means you have to breathe very fast to enable your body to get all the oxygen it needs to think, climb, and provide oxygen to all the muscles. One climber was noted to be breathing at 70 breaths per minute on the summit.

All the problems we see at high altitude result from the low pressure, and low oxygen high on the mountain. You can read about problems at altitude [including High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE)] as well as how the lung extracts oxygen from the air, on the education pages in the Energy & Human Body section.

The oxygen cannisters we use are 4 Litre bottles and weigh 2.2 kg. On a flow rate of 2L of oxygen per minute, they should last 9 hours. (The math does not seem to work out, but this is because the oxygen in the tank is under pressure. Even though the tank is a 4L volume, it holds many more litres of gas inside).

Each climber will be carrying two oxygen cannisters. Oxygen not only prevents HAPE and HACE, but it helps keep the circulation to the extremities flowing. Climbing without oxygen is much colder than climbing with oxygen.

Cheers,

Virginia, the doc