nEveresthypoxia

No summit on Everest BUT research success-09/06/08

neversthypoxia — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:07:01 +0000

Resting in our tent at South Col almost 8 kilometers above sea level, after 8 hours of hard climbing from Camp3, I felt very confident and excited about our upcoming summit push. No headaches, no signs of any high altitude problems; everything seemed perfect. The mice also seemed happy enough in their cage and coped very well with the thin air….I guess as well as one can feel at this altitude: every move is a little harder and takes up more energy than it usually does!

Blue skies, bright sunlight, a wonderful view down to the lower reaches of Nepal and Tibet…not much else we could have asked for except for the very strong winds to die down. The predicted jet-stream obviously had arrived!

Well, the wind didn’t die down and at about40/50 miles per hour it was very questionable whether it was a good idea to step out of the tent by 9pm to leave for the summit. But we decided to leave (it took us 2h to get ready inside the tent) and I packed our companions into my backpack (in their insulated cage with heating pads). Outside, the atmosphere was amazingly beautiful…..clear skies, the air filled with snow crystals which got blown over our heads far down into Tibet, visible lighting from way below in the distant Kathmandu valley and the silhouette of Everest in front of us…..

The wind made it very cold to climb, but we made very good progress with our two sherpas. Due to the supplemental oxygen we were using, Teji and I were climbing independently on our summit push. And it so happened that I got ahead of him and after a while Teji decided to turn back due to the cold (at about8200m) without me knowing about it (we both missed our radio calls). So when I took a rest to check the mice at about 12 30am I got very worried when I discovered that my whole down suit and backpack was covered in a 2cm thick layer of ice! And when I opened my pack I found the heating pads not working too well, one mouse dead and the others very cold! So what to do!? I tried to warm up the heating pads, added more and come up with any kind of solution….but hey that’s not all that easy up there……also no contact to Teji….where was he? Was he still coming up or had he turned back?

All I can remember is the fact, that we spent about 45min at 8500m deciding what to do….whether to keep moving and risking the experiment in favor for the summit, or to go down back to Camp4 and try to save the mice. So at some stage a decision had to be made and in order not to risk the experiment I was forced to turn back.

We were able to save the mice and bring them down to Camp2 the same day to take their samples.

I admit I was a little disappointed not having reached the summit….so close to setting foot on top of the world…I had felt so good, had made excellent timing….but nevertheless we are most certainly the first to have carried a set of mice so far into the so called”death zone” on Everest and even without having reached the summit of Everest this research expedition has been a wonderful experience and a big success scientifically.

Now we are back in Philadelphia and can’t wait to analyze the samples!

We would really like to thank our sponsors and supporters very much!!

New photos

neversthypoxia — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:02:30 +0000

Here are some new photos:

Both of us with our mice at Camp 3

Gabriel with mice

Everest from south cole

Gabriel with oxygen mask

Mice at camp 3 with QIAGEN

Gabriel takes blood samples

Lhotse Face at sunset

Everest and Khumbu icefall from a distance

Part 4 of the interview with wdr5

neversthypoxia — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:18:26 +0000

Listen to part four of the interview with the german radio station here.

Interview with wdr5 part 3

neversthypoxia — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:13:47 +0000

The third part of the interview with the german radio station wdr5 is online:

www.wdr5.de (2,5MB, mp3)

On the way back

neversthypoxia — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:34:31 +0000

We are now back in the basecamp. The next four days we hike back to Kathmandu. Then you will get a bigger update.

Turning back at 8500 Meter

neversthypoxia — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Our way up was very cold and windy. But nevertheless I was fit and had no problems with the thin air. At an altitude of 8500 meters I double-checked the mice. I found them in a in a very bad condition and was afraid they won’t survive the cold. With a heavy heart I decided to turn back – 300 meters of altitude difference below the summit. I went down to camp 2, where we analyzed the mice and ensured the results.

We arrived in camp 4

neversthypoxia — Mon, 26 May 2008 08:57:48 +0000

We just arrived in camp 4, south cole (7.926 m).

Camp 3

neversthypoxia — Mon, 26 May 2008 08:44:18 +0000

Yesterday we reached camp 3 (7.200 m). As we expected, the weather was getting worse. Because of the strong winds, we didn’t took a day off in camp 2. Both of us, our sherpas and our mice are feeling well. The night from 25th to 26th we slept with oxygen masks, so we could recover a bit. On Monday, 26th we will go up to camp 4 (7.926 m) where we take a short rest. In the evening (21:00) we continue and try to reach the summit on 27th.

Ready to go

neversthypoxia — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:25:59 +0000

It is still snowing, but our things are packed and where ready to go. Tomorrow we are heading to camp 2. And if the waether is fine, we go further to camp 3, camp 4 and the summit.

Second Interview with WDR5

neversthypoxia — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:12:20 +0000

Listen to the second interview on wdr5.

Hier gibt’s das zweite Interview mit Gabriel Willmann im WDR5 zum Nachhören.