Climb Everest the Furtenbach Way

[planet54]

Well why not?!!! " the evolution of commercial climbing in higher mountains has clearly shown that the trend is to focus entirely on the summit and to reach it as fast, safely, and comfortably as possible"
https://explorersweb.com/you-can-now-cl ... lications/

Alternate title: Getting Gassed For Everest

[Gore Girl]

(Slaps palm to forehead, eye roll, and a long sigh....)

Yes - xenon inhalation can boost EPO which will trigger red blood cell production....but the process is likely to take too long to cause any useful degree of acclimatization.

And I bridle at the concept of ever "farther, and faster" these days as well....

[cottonmountaineering]

i dont see this as any different than using steroids or oxygen, all performance enhancing supplements

[Gore Girl]

Oxygen indeed has a rapid effect.

However, xenon inhalation first induces HIF-1. Then HIF-1 induces renal production of EPO. And only then will EPO induce bone marrow production of red blood cells. Even direct injections of EPO take a good six weeks to significantly improve RBC volume, and therefore, O2 carrying capacity. It's a rather long road to the eventual result, here.

[cottonmountaineering]

Oxygen indeed has a rapid effect.

However, xenon inhalation first induces HIF-1. Then HIF-1 induces renal production of EPO. And only then will EPO induce bone marrow production of red blood cells. Even direct injections of EPO take a good six weeks to significantly improve RBC volume, and therefore, O2 carrying capacity. It's a rather long road to the eventual result, here.

interesting, i think this could be more of a marketing gimmick instead of something based on science... on their website they say they give their clients 8L/min of o2 for a "flash expedition", which is more than double that of normal 2-4L/min for a regular commercial client, so that is probably bringing the effective altitude back down to around maybe 4000m?

[Gore Girl]

Oxygen indeed has a rapid effect.

However, xenon inhalation first induces HIF-1. Then HIF-1 induces renal production of EPO. And only then will EPO induce bone marrow production of red blood cells. Even direct injections of EPO take a good six weeks to significantly improve RBC volume, and therefore, O2 carrying capacity. It's a rather long road to the eventual result, here.

interesting, i think this could be more of a marketing gimmick instead of something based on science... on their website they say they give their clients 8L/min of o2 for a "flash expedition", which is more than double that of normal 2-4L/min for a regular commercial client, so that is probably bringing the effective altitude back down to around maybe 4000m?

"Marketing gimmick" is exactly what came to mind for me as well. The literature is clear that xenon WILL temporarily increase EPO. No question about that. But it's the RBCs we need to carry oxygen to the muscles. EPO itself doesn't fulfill that function. And the bottleneck in the whole process is the time it takes for EPO to stimulate RBC production.

Interesting about the 8L/min. I'm wondering about the implications of that. I'd want to be sure to be moving briskly at that flow rate. It'd be a bad idea to have that high a flow rate at rest because I worry about possible suppression of CO2 buildup in the body. Perhaps even at that altitude??? Too low a CO2 level in your body, and you won't get the stimulus to take a breath....I'd be monitoring pulse ox for sure!

[Gore Girl]

Well why not?!!! " the evolution of commercial climbing in higher mountains has clearly shown that the trend is to focus entirely on the summit and to reach it as fast, safely, and comfortably as possible"
https://explorersweb.com/you-can-now-cl ... lications/

Alternate title: Getting Gassed For Everest

Getting Gassed for Everest!!!

Good one!

[ekalina]

"U.S. blogger Alan Arnette, who climbed Everest in 2011 on Madison’s team, shares his opinion against fast expeditions and favors instead to “celebrate the journey, not just the outcome [and embrace] the spirit of expedition climbing.”

My feeling exactly. Not that I'll ever get to do it, but talk about rushing through a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If I wanted it to be over as fast as possible (sounds like 3-4 days in this case), I wouldn't bother doing it.

[Gore Girl]

"U.S. blogger Alan Arnette, who climbed Everest in 2011 on Madison’s team, shares his opinion against fast expeditions and favors instead to “celebrate the journey, not just the outcome [and embrace] the spirit of expedition climbing.”

My feeling exactly. Not that I'll ever get to do it, but talk about rushing through a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If I wanted it to be over as fast as possible (sounds like 3-4 days in this case), I wouldn't bother doing it.

I could not have expressed this better myself, ekalina!