Richard Turner's Xtreme Everest experience
UKFast sponsors medical research
Caudwell Xtreme Everest is a research project organised by the UCL Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme environment medicine (CASE). The project has doctors and scientists studying human systems stretched to breaking point in extreme environments in order to increase our understanding of critically ill patients.
The central goal is to make the first ever measurement of the level of oxygen in human blood on the summit of Mount Everest in 2007 by placing a research team at this altitude.
This is accompanied by an extensive programme of research into hypoxia (low oxygen levels) and human performance at extreme altitude aimed at improving the care of the critically ill and other patients where hypoxia is a fundamental problem.
UKFast offered Richard Turner, one of the projects 200 volunteers, sponsorship and he wrote a fantastic account of his experiences which we have published below in full so that others can experience a measure of his journey.
A mountain to climb - 09.00, Tuesday 15 May
There's a buzz of excitement on the mountain. A weather window is opening and up to 30 international teams are preparing to summit Everest.
This news has now reached us in the Sherpa capital Namche Bazaar where we are acclimatising before continuing our trek to base camp.
We're part of a group of 200 volunteers in the Xtreme Everest project – the biggest human physiology study ever done at altitude.
There is half the amount of oxygen at Everest base camp (5,300m) and the idea is to find out how hypoxia – or low oxygen – affects the human body. The hope is that this research will help find new treatments for patients in intensive care.
Breathtaking
It's an exciting time to be here. A group of ten Xtreme Everest doctors is among those waiting for their big chance to go to the top of world's biggest mountain. If they do, we may be there at base camp when they get back down.
It all sounds a bit daunting from Namche.Even here, at 3,440m above sea level, we're all feeling the effects already. You can only imagine what it must be like up at 8,850m, the top of the world.
This morning, my room-mate Pete – an aircraft engineer from Poynton – and I walked up the hill behind our hotel to get our first glimpse of Everest, which at 26 miles away still looks huge.
Maybe it was the sight of the mountain the Nepalis call Sagarmatha – mother goddess of the world. Or the wreckage of a Nepalese helicopter which crashed
in front of our hotel that left me breathless.
But the truth is, I'm still getting used to the altitude. We're nearly three times higher than Ben Nevis and the short walk still leaves me surprisingly short of breath.Testing
But our bodies are slowly acclimatising as we ascend. Our trek began three days ago, when a tiny Yeti Airlines plane landed on Lukla's wonderfully perilous mountain airstrip.
The walk up the Namche hill is testing but beautiful, criss-crossing the Dudi Kosh river on high suspension bridges. Sherpas carrying impossible loads pass us on route and the sound of yak bells is never far away.
Namche is wonderful but remote. Everything and everyone gets here by yak or foot – no cars at all which is a pleasant relief.
Every day, we test our heart rate, blood oxygen levels and breathing rates. And at Kathmandu, here at Namche, and again at Everest base camp, our performance is assessed on exercise bikes by the wonderful Xtreme Everest team and doctors.
All this data will contribute to the research in this unique medical research project. We may puff and pant on the bike, but it's all worth it.
Everyone feels as though it's privilege to be here and to be part of something exciting and wonderful. Team spirit is good, and the Sherpas with us and our Nepalese hosts are so friendly and kind.
And you never know, if we arrive at base camp when the Xtreme team return from the summit there's going to be one hell of a party. That is, if we've got the energy!
On top of the world - Sunday 27 May
It was a proud moment. Legs aching, lungs bursting, all 18 of us walked into Everest base camp after trekking up the biggest mountain in the world.
'We' are a group of volunteers, aged 24 - 73, who are taking part in the Xtreme Everest project, the biggest medical research study ever done at high altitude. The aim is to understand how the human body is affected by hypoxia or low oxygen.
Everest base camp is 5,350m above sea level - that's a vertical 3.5 miles above Manchester! (Look up now and try to imagine it!). Because it's so high, there is less than half the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.
So it's a perfect laboratory to investigate the effects of hypoxia, and we volunteers oblige with our blood, sweat and tears in the interests of medical science. We love it really.
Harsh
But we shouldn't be here. None of us. And every day, our bodies tell us so.
For instance, if you flew here directly in a helicopter, you would be unconscious in hours, and dead soon thereafter. By walking here, our bodies have acclimatised. To a degree.
So we can survive. But it's not a place to hang around. At base camp, your lungs burst for air. Wounds don't heal. Ulcers erupt. Your head aches. You can't sleep. And the slightest exertion leaves your breathless. (Even iPods explode with the reduced pressure!)
It's not surprising. At 5,300m, we're above the level where human populations live permanently. It's a harsh environment where nothing grows. And the only sound of life is the deathly chatter of crows circling overhead.
And it's cold, so cold. Even though it's summer, night time temperatures plunge to -12C. You try to sleep as the glacier cracks beneath your tent. And the rumble of avalanches is never far away.
Yet clear nights reveal a sky full of stars and a backdrop of breathtaking beauty with the mountains of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and Lhola reaching above into the night sky.
Base camp
Everest base camp is the weirdest place you can imagine. It's like a small encampment in an icy quarry on the moon. Huge boulders are strewn everywhere and walking anywhere is a trial. And tents of all kinds are crowded into this barren space at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall.
It's here that more than 30 international climbing teams have come to reach the top of the world with the dream of standing on the summit of Everest.
We've come at the right time. A weather window has opened and at 06:37 the next morning, we hear the sound of cheering and a gong clanging. One of the Xtreme Everest climbing teams has reached the summit. We race over and see the delight of the research team who have been here for over two months. The next day, the second team achieves the same goal.
Yet there is sadness too. On Everest, death is never far away. In the previous two days, the mountain claimed the lives of two South Koreans and a Nepali woman. The death zone above base camp is unforgiving and the mountain continues to take its awful toll.
Altitude Sickness
Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is another ever present fear. This is the condition that can affect anyone trekking or climbing above 2,500m.
Why it affects some people and not others is not certain. But it's partly why we're here with the Xtreme Everest project.
Some people use oxygen more efficiently than others. The medics behind this study hope that by studying us and our differing responses to hypoxia, they may find out why some intensive care patients live and others die.
Take Pete and me. Pete is a 24-year-old aircraft engineer from Poynton and appears largely unaffected by low oxygen levels.
Leaving base camp, a group of us walk up Kala Patar, a 5,600m peak which has a great view of the summit of Everest. (you can't actually see the top of Everest from base camp)
Pete saunters up to the peak, hands in pockets. I labour my way to the summit, every step leaves my exhausted beyond anything I've ever know. My head aches. I feel nauseous. And I find myself stumbling. I realise I have AMS. The only cure is descent.
A few hundred metres down, the symptoms lift and I feel right as rain. OK, Pete is younger and has bin bags for lungs. But according to the science, he's just as likely to suffer AMS.
Why this difference exists is not fully understood and may only be revealed as the Xtreme Everest data we have provided as volunteers is analysed and applied to intensive care treatments.
I can only admire the brave climbers and Sherpas who go higher to reach those 8,000m summits. I know I've reached my 'Everest'. But do you know what. It was well worth it.
UKFast is willing to offer sponsorship to worthwhile causes such as Xtreme Everest and gives consideration on a case by case basis.
