HOSANA recently spoke to member of a group who climbed Everest as part of their research.

The group of doctors, scientists and over 200 volunteers who travelled to the Nepal Himalaya, reaching the Base Camp at Mount Everest.
They were there to take part in the largest ever research project into human acclimatisation to high altitude. A group of 8 doctors actually climbed to the summit of the mountain at 8850m, performing more experiments on the way.

The project was broadcast on BBC Horizon and was the subject of the Royal Geographic Society Christmas Lectures last year. It was also filmed by the IMAX team (‘Return to Everest’ due for release in March 2009).

If a person were to be suddenly placed at the summit of Everest without acclimatising they would be dead within minutes either from a rapidly swelling brain or their own body fluids leaking into their lungs. At altitude, the key injury to the body is from hypoxia (low oxygen levels). The summit of Everest has 1/3 the amount of oxygen available at sea level, however given sufficient time it is possible for humans to adapt to these altitudes.

The key question is why some people are genetically better able to adapt than others. Interestingly there is a correlation between high altitude performance and why some people are better able to survive extreme illness on the Intensive Care Unit. This ability to utilise available oxygen is linked to the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) gene, which has also been linked to an athlete’s ability to perform in aerobic sports. Surprisingly, however, an individual’s level of fitness does not predict their ability to adapt to altitude. There is, therefore, an association between high altitude mountaineering performance, surviving extreme illness and endurance sports ability.

Caudwell Xtreme Everest is a research project coordinated by the UCL Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme environment medicine CASE- doctors and scientists studying human systems stretched to breaking point in extreme environments to increase our understanding of critically ill patients.

For more info www.xtreme-everest.co.uk