If you are breathing oxygen through a cannula or simple oxygen mask (you breath it in on your own) then you can never get enough oxygen to provide you what you need while in the death zone. No matter how much oxygen you have, you can't stay there.
Above 8000 meters, you need a pressurized oxygen mask that blows oxygen into your lungs (you make the effort to expel your breath which is opposite of what is normal). Much higher than that and you need a pressure suit or a pressurized cockpit to stay alive
This is high stakes gambling for sure.
Probably don't have tort lawyers over there?
I realize it's a whole 'nother deal, but reading about Ernie Shackelton is much more inspiring.
Thanks! That explains a lot.
The air pressure there is 1/3 of that at sea level -- I thought I remembered back from the days of the Apollo and Soyuz docking, that the Apollo carried a pure O2 atmosphere at 1/5 sea level pressure (vs. the Soyuz which carried an Earth atmosphere mixture at full sea level pressure). Soyuz cosmonauts would have to go through decompression in order to visit the Apollo craft, as would Apollo astronauts upon returning from a visit to the Soyuz. But there was no special preparation required other than the normal training of the spacemen.