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Time to start thinking about acclimatization
11:27 a.m. EST Jan 6, 2004
The New Year is upon us and in no time it’ll be the spring/summer climbing season. In 2004, the world’s eyes will be fixated on the Karakorum and K2 – it’s the 50th anniversary of the first ascent. Last year Everest took the spot light and now it’s K2’s turn to shine.
A different type of preparation
Teams going for the 8000ers this spring/summer are probably well into their training regiment at this point….right? Besides building up strength, stamina, and the mental ability to cope with pain and suffering, there’s another type of training that climbers have started to consider – pre-acclimatization. There are several different devices out there on the market to help do such a thing, and as the season will start in just a few short months, now is the time to start preparing.
Faster, higher, earlier
One device out there is the Hypoxico tent system. The idea behind pre-acclimatization is to get your body prepared to handle the altitude before even setting foot on the mountain – this means there is less chance of developing AMS or even a more serious altitude-related illness. And by being pre-acclimatized, you might be able to climb faster and higher, earlier.
The Hypoxico tent system takes you back to the yesteryear of bedroom camping – you remember those tents you can set up no your bed, don’t you? The tent creates a confined environment, not unlike your first New York City apartment, and not too far off the mark in terms of price either.
Normobaric hypoxia
Attached to the tent is a device that takes the ambient air in the room, filters out some of the oxygen in it, and then pumps the oxygen-depleted air into the tent. From sleeping in the tent over days and weeks, your body adjusts to coping with the decreased oxygen, and more red blood cells are created – just like when you’re climbing at high altitude. The tent, however, doesn’t allow for the actual pressure simulation of being at high altitude. In the tent you are always at the same pressure level as the atmosphere outside the tent.
Different altitudes can be simulated according to how you set the oxygen saturation level of the tent. There are also protocols in terms of how high, for how long, for how many sessions that you follow.
Hypoxico used in studies
Research was conducted at the University of Calgary using the tents, “a significant decrease in AMS scores occurred over the five intermittent hypoxic exposures (in the Hypoxico tent).” You can read all about it by following the link on the left.
The nitty-gritty
Last year around this time we wrote our first feature story about the Hypoxico tent system, looking more deeply into the physiological characteristics of how it affects the user and its inner workings. The tent system is able to simulate approximately 16,000 ft. Also in that story was an interview with Dr. Ginger Southall, who used the tent before successfully climbing Denali. That story can be read by following the link to the left.
There are several different products out there right now for pre-acclimatization. These range from the tent system, to a mask system, to chambers that suck the air out to simulate high-altitude.
Image of the Hypoxico tent system courtesy of Hypoxico.com.
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