Fatal altitudes

In the world of mountaineering, it is sometimes said that 8.000 metres is the border between life and death. Do cope with altitudes such as this, man has no choice - he must survive.

On account of the significant drop in atmospheric pressure, which fall by 70% in comparison with sea level, breathing becomes short and jerky. And the heart beats far more quickly, even when resting (100 beats a minutes instead of 60). Going up a rock face means taking five or six steps. The stopping to regain your breath. Then continuing with the climb, by keeping an eye on a fixed point you have picked out above you. Up there, the brain also works less well. It has to fight against hallucinations that can ambush it at any time. The mind also often starts to wander a little. The level of consciousness is not the same. It is like being a little drunk (which is called the drunkenness of extreme cold), as though you have had too much to drink. You have to keep overcoming an irresistible urge to sleep, there is the numbness that sends your extremities to sleep, which then become exposed to the dangers of frostbite, which itself has caused the death of many mountaineers.

At altitudes such as this, the only way to survive is simply to keep on climbing (or go back down), with no other thought than placing one foot in front of the other, like a robot. While still maintaining a sufficiently high level of attention to avoid taking a fatal step too far…

There are differences in temperature, too. Especially during the monsoon. During the day, the thermometer may well climb as high as 35° only to drop like a stone at night to -40°. A fall in temperature of more than 70° in 24 hours is something that the body has to put up with as best it can.

Finally, there is the wind. Which tear away everything in its path. And which, in any event, constantly rasps the face and gets in everywhere. Sometimes, the wind can be so strong that it simply prevents you from breathing. When the wind is blowing at 50 km/h and the outside temperature is -20°, the wind-chill factor brings the temperature down to -46.6° Which means that at 8 000 metres, in a tent in a high wind, the mercury can plummet to -50° or -60°