"The Death Zone"

Chip shows his altimeter, which reads 26,070 feet. Inside his yellow tent at Camp IV, Chip uses an oxygen mask to help him breathe in the thin air. The reflection from the tent’s walls casts a bright glow over his face. (Learn more)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Learn more

Camp IV, on the South Col, is at 26,300 feet above sea level. The camp is in the “death zone” — so called because the body can only endure this altitude for a few days. The death zone begins between 23,000 and 26,000 feet, an altitude at which the body actually begins to begin to die because it cannot acclimate to the harsh conditions. If a climber stays at this altitude for too long he significantly increases his risk of experiencing high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) or high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a fate that has killed many climbers.

From Chip’s journal:

There are split opinions whether the human body acclimates at this altitude but there is full consensus that the human body suffers a lot up here. We push ourselves to the limit for several reasons: Produce more red blood cells, learn to sleep with an oxygen mask, prepare for what it means to spend a night here, learn to deal with all challenges we face up here (simple things like eating). Only Vance, myself, and our Sherpas Jamling and Pemba decided to stay the night and this made for a nice, quiet camp. Our plan was to stay without oxygen as much as possible but also spend time with the mask on and get used with sleeping on oxygen. While the sun was out, it was nice and warm… when the sun set, we pulled our masks and oxygen tank to get ready. I must say, it is amazing how cold it gets up here and how quickly that sensation goes away when you start sucking some O2.

Learn more about Mount Everest, high altitude, mountain climbing, and oxygen mask.

Definitions

South Col n.
Mountain pass in the Himalayas between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the first and fourth highest mountains in the world. The pass, or "col," forms a saddle between the mountains.
sherpa n.
When capitalized, refers to an ethnic group living in the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. Lowercase "sherpa" refers to local people who work as guides to mountain climbers in the Himalayas.

Powered by LEARN NC