Posted on 05/26/2025 2:35:42 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Using xenon gas treatment and the latest technology is making climbing Mount Everest not just faster but also better for the environment, cutting down garbage and waste, a renowned mountain guide said Monday.
Lukas Furtenbach took a team of British climbers, who left London on May 16, to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 21. They returned home two days later, in one of the fastest ascents on record of the world’s highest peak, including the climbers’ travel from their homes and back.
The use of xenon gas treatment has, however, drawn controversy and has even raised the concerns of Nepalese mountaineering authorities who have announced an investigation.
“The only reason why we are working with xenon is to make climbing safer, to protect climbers from high altitude sickness,” Furtenbach told The Associated Press upon his return to Kathmandu. “We can see people dying on Everest every year and this is may be one step to improve the situation to make climbing high altitude mountains safer.”
The climbers had put in months of preparation, training in hypoxia tents, and underwent a xenon gas treatment at a clinic in Germany just two weeks before heading to Nepal.
Climbers normally spend weeks at base camp to acclimatize to the higher altitude. They make practice runs to the lower camps on Everest before beginning their final attempt on the peak so that their bodies are prepared for the low pressure and lower level of oxygen available.
The new method is likely to reduce the time climbers spend out of their home countries and cut the number of days they need to take off work, also cutting down on expenses.
Furtenbach said the ability to climb the peak in a short period of time could also lead...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Reduces altitude sickness. You spend less time climbing, finish quicker and leave less waste on the mountain.
And the world's longest zipline to get down. Or a form of water slide that runs glycerol or some liquid that wouldn't freeze.
I assume that the xenon gas replaces the natural nitrogen in the air we normally breathe?
That’s my guess too, but the article doesn’t mention it and I tried searching and came up with nothing other than you spend a few months in a hypobaric tent with oxygen levels that mimic the levels at 30,000 feet.
the article never explained what xenon gas does to make it easier to climb the mountain.
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It doesn’t. I looked it up. It’s complicated, and doubtful if it helps at all. I guess it does stimulate RBC production, again not proven solidly...
Further research, xenon is not inert as many of us were taught... Again, complicated.
“Further research, xenon is not inert as many of us were taught... “
8nert refers to res8stance to chemical reactions. None of the research says otherwise.
“Unless I missed it, the article never explained what xenon gas does to make it easier to climb the mountain.”
I’m assuming it involves training with air diluted with inert xenon gas to simulate breathing at high altitude.
Sounds like your editor made the effort to keep the readership “too stupid to understand that.”
Screw Everest, build a nanofiber elevator to a Lagrange point like Arthur C. Clarke described years ago. 930,000 miles will take more than special breathing gas, but if we ever do build a space elevator I’m betting it will bear the SpaceX label.
Xenon is not completely chemically inert. Quite a few xenon compounds have been discovered.
8nert refers to res8stance to chemical reactions. None of the research says otherwise.
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Hi, not clear here. Are you saying it is, or is not, inert?
“Hi, not clear here. Are you saying it is, or is not, inert?”
Is.
“Hi, not clear here. Are you saying it is, or is not, inert?”
Is.
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I thought so too, until a few hours ago. It’s easy to find that xenon does form compounds with other elements. Check it out.
the hypoxia treatments also shift the oxygen affinity curves of hemoglobin
pretty expensive treatments - $154k from an article
https://www.climbing.com/news/the-first-xenon-everest-climb-is-coming-this-spring/
https://explorersweb.com/you-can-now-climb-everest-in-a-week-using-xenon-doping-the-implications/
I’ve watched her on youtube...
After one of my High School Classmates had a wonderful experience on Everest (Beck Weathers) I have no desire to climb any mountain that I have to walk up.
She has already hiked up peaks that are 14,000 to 15,000 feet...
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