Every day at 3pm we give a lecture on altitude illness and prevention. These lectures discuss how the lower atmospheric pressure causes air to expand and resulting hypoxia (low oxygen in the blood). We highlight acute physiological changes at altitude including tachypnea (fast breathing), tachycardia (fast heart rate), and increased urination. Over longer weeks to months the. Body also increases red blood cells, metabolism, and some structural changes particularly in muscles. We also discuss the main types of altitude illness ranging from the benign high altitude headache and acute mountain sickness to the emergency conditions of High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). We also discuss warning signs as well as treatment (mainly descent although we do use some stabilizing and temporizing measures). These lectures are usually well-received and we get many good questions. Sometimes we demonstrate the Gamov Bag (a oblong bag which we can pressurize with a foot pump to simulate descent.)
March 20 (delayed upload)
Photo 1: Hillary gives the lecture in Pheriche while Chris holds the lecture cards.
Photo 2: Chris gives the lecture in Dingboche. During the busiest part of the season, we gave lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays also at 3pm at the Alpine Conservation Center.
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