Some mountaineers want to climb Everest from London in seven days. There is controversy because there is “trick”: Xenon gas

Although it has become a monster touristifiedwith Hundreds of promotions every year and a large amount of garbageEverest remains a mountain within reach of a minority. Crown her It is not cheapit demands a good physical form and a considerable time investment to acclimatize at its altitude. Mountaineers usually pass several weeks in the base camp and move through the mountain and the neighboring peaks to prepare their bodies before entering The “Zone of Death”more than 8,000 m, named for its low levels of oxygen.

Now a group of British has proposed to complete an entire expedition in just seven days thanks to the help of a gas that is usually used as anesthetic. And that is generating A considerable stir In the world of mountaineering.

A “walk” from London to Everest. The itinerary is so surprising that it sounds like science fiction or the script of the new movie of the saga ‘Mission Impossible’. What have proposed to Carns and three other colleagues, all ex -military, is to go and return to Everest from London in a week. With summit included, of course.

Its roadmap plays to a plane in London, fly around 7,5400 kilometers to Katmandu, in Nepal, then complete the journey to the Everest base camp aboard a helicopter and finally ascend to the top of the world in just a few days. In total around 168 hours. Nothing to do with the weeks of acclimatization that EVrest usually demands.

Three days of upload, two of descent. “Time begins to count when we leave Heathrow and stops when he returns,” I commented carns Recently a The Washington Post. “We probably thought of a travel day, then three days of upload, two of descent and the last day of travel.” The goal It is ambitious: to fulfill a journey to Everest of seven days “door to door” from London and, incidentally, “redefine what is possible in mountaineering at great altitude.”

The mission is called “7 Days Mission Everest”he planned to start from London on Friday 16 (his updated advance can be followed Through its website) and its objective, beyond marking a milestone in the history of Everest, is to raise money for charity organizations dedicated to supporting war veterans and their families.

“I always say that we have a 30% chance to get this in seven days, and about 70% of doing so in less than 21 days,” Comment Carns. Even if in the end that last goal, the team would be achieved considerably the duration of traditional expeditions and get a national record. The fastest expedition from London to date lasted 21 days.

And how are they going to do it? That is the key. Carns and his companions are ex -military in good shape and throughout the last months have undergone a demanding training. Not just that. For several months the four sleep in hypoxic campaign stores Installed in their homes, spaces that reproduce oxygen levels that will be found at high altitudes and those that mountaineers usually resort to mitigate the symptoms of high high evil.

However, neither training nor acclimatization are nothing new nor explain how the carns team intends to raise and lower the mountain in a matter of five days, a ridiculous time if compared to the weeks and weeks of acclimatization to which the mountaineers who travel to Everest usually submit. The key to your mission is another: The xenon. That is what explains that they aspire to finish the expedition in seven days instead of the Between six and seven weeks that usually last the normal missions.

And what is the xenon for? Xenon is a noble gas discovered in the nineteenth century and was used for decades as a powerful anesthetic in medicine. The British team has noticed it, however, for another reason: its supposed usefulness to increase the production of red blood cells and accelerate high altitudes acclimatization. In other words, prepare them for the conditions that will be found in the most dangerous area of ​​Everest, after 8,000 meters high.

With that purpose the four ex -military inhaled a “Subanesthetic concentration” of xenon gas mixed with oxygen, a single one -hour dose they received under medical supervision. According to Explain to The Washington Post The doctor responsible for the protocol, the treatment shows its most intense effects between 10 and 14 days. They received their dose on May 5, about a week and a half before they got on the plane that took them to Nepal.

The advantages of xenon. Behind the idea is Lukas Furtenbach, a veteran mountaineer at the head of a company that organizes expeditions and that years ago already managed to reduce the duration of the climbs to Everest thanks precisely to the use of hypoxic stores. Together with an anesthesiology expert, he explored the use of gas for acclimatization, a use that Furtbanch has already tried in his own meats.

The key would be in the usefulness of the xenon to increase the production of erythropoietin, or EPO, a hormone generated by the kidneys to stimulate the generation of red blood cells in the body. “One of the side effects is that it triggers the production of EPO and that produces an increase in red blood cells in the blood. It is the same effect that occurs to acclimatize to a real altitude,” Furtenbach points out. The idea, insists, is not to improve the performance of mountaineers who undergo treatment, but to protect their tissues.

The debate, served. The idea has generated expectation, but also an interesting debate in the world of mountaineering. Furtenbach defends that less days at Everest also translate into less hazards, Less waste generation and lower environmental impact for the mountain. Expeditions like Carns’s are not cheap in addition (their cost is around $ 170,000), so they are not likely to end up replacing traditional campaigns.

“When oxygen first appeared in mountaineering, it was considered a taboo. Now everyone uses it. Using helicopters to go to the base camp was also considered a taboo, but now many people do it too,” insists.

“Advertising maneuver”. Among the skeptics the use of xenon is seen with another perspective. There are those Consider That in the background it is a simple “advertising maneuver” and recalls that the spirit of climbers was always “following the best practices not to do”. “People should be able to climb as they want, but it’s not mountaineering, it’s mountain tourism,” Adrian Ballinger reflects.

Others, such as the doctor and expert in mountaineering Peter Hacket, They go further And they focus on the effectiveness of gas itself: “Does the xenon increase the red blood cells? Well, that has never been conclusively demonstrated. The epo increases transitory, but in a study conducted with athletes did not increase red blood cells or their performance. However, that is a study conducted in specific circumstances and must be studied again in different circumstances.”

The UIAA notice. The issue has aroused so much interest that has forced the International Federation of Escalada and Montañismo to pronounce, the UIAA. In a statement released in January the agency warns that today there is no evidence that inhale Xenon improves performance in the mountain, and warns:

“Its inappropriate use can be dangerous. While a single inhalation can significantly increase the release of erootropoietin, this increase is not maintained for four weeks of use or is associated with changes in red blood cells,” insists: “According to literature, the effects on performance are unclear and probably non -existent (…). The xenon is used little in medicine and is not approved in all countries. Doctor, its use outside what is indicated, without scientific basis and with unknown risks. “

Image | Michael Clarke (UNSPLASH)

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