00:00 If you took somebody from sea level to the top of Everest, no supplemental oxygen, no
00:03 support, they would be unconscious within minutes.
00:06 Everest is a very inhospitable environment.
00:09 Hundreds of people attempt to summit Everest every year during the small once-a-year window
00:13 that weather allows.
00:15 Not everyone makes it, and 2023 was an especially fatal year.
00:23 So there are a number of things that can kill you on Mount Everest.
00:25 You fall into the mountain, you fall off the mountain, the mountain falls on you.
00:28 But because it's the highest, and because people like to check boxes, it's popular.
00:33 I think with more inexperienced people, that's a problem.
00:37 And Dr. Emily Johnston knows.
00:39 She's a mountaineering guide and a doctor trained in wilderness emergencies, particularly
00:44 at altitude.
00:45 She's summited Everest three times, in each of the tallest peaks on all seven continents.
00:50 Starting at base camp, she'll break down the physical dangers that climbers face all the
00:54 way to the top.
00:55 So this is Everest base camp, around 17,500 feet.
00:59 The molecules are twice as far apart.
01:01 You've already lost half of your oxygen.
01:02 So 2,500 meters, that's when you would start to see changes.
01:06 So we're well above that here.
01:07 So acute mountain sickness is not unusual here.
01:09 People do get high-altitude pulmonary edema and high-altitude cerebral edema here as well.
01:14 People also get GI problems, because there are a lot of people living here.
01:17 So it's not unusual for people to get nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
01:22 That's probably one of the biggest problems at base camp is just sanitation.
01:25 And a lot of people fly in and then come up the valley and get GI bugs.
01:30 So GI bugs are a big problem here.
01:32 The Khumbu Icefall is a constantly moving frozen river, creating deep and wide crevasses.
01:37 It was also the site of a deadly avalanche that killed 16 in 2014.
01:42 The Khumbu Icefall is a steep area of lots of broken ice, lots of crevasses and seracs.
01:49 And the biggest problem here is that ice will fall on you or you will fall in a crevasse.
01:53 It's really difficult because there's no place to land a helicopter, because you need a flat space.
01:57 You could pick somebody off with a short-haul rescue, but it's unlikely that you're going to do that.
02:02 No matter what part of the mountain climbers are on, proper gear is essential, not just
02:06 for staying warm, but for survival.
02:09 Here's some of Emily's essential gear bag.
02:12 So here's some of the standard gear that we use on Everest.
02:14 Down suit, it's pretty warm.
02:16 Here's some big mittens, and they're so big that you actually wear another pair of gloves underneath.
02:20 This is that harness that I wear at high altitude.
02:22 You have this thing, we call it a crab claw, and it's connected to the harness.
02:26 And you have crampons, you know, spikes that you put on your feet.
02:29 And some gear can save your life or kill you.
02:32 So this is my ice axe, pretty standard ice axe for glacier travel.
02:36 One of the ways we use the ice axe, it's not so much, it's not a walking stick, it's more
02:40 to stop yourself.
02:42 So what you do is you turn over, you get in anchor position, you try to get this into
02:46 the snow to slow yourself down or stop yourself.
02:49 It is a tool when it's in control, it is a weapon when it's out of control.
02:52 And one of the reasons there's no wrist loop on here is if you fall and it's attached to
02:57 you with a wrist loop and you lose control of the axe, wow, that's not a good situation.
03:02 Camp 3 is a 30-degree snow slope with rocky exposed ledges.
03:06 We go up the Western Coombe to Camp 2, which is about 21,000 feet, 21,500 feet.
03:14 From here we go up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3, which is on the Lhotse Face.
03:18 One of the big problems going from Camp 2 to Camp 3 is that's a big jump at a high altitude.
03:23 And so maybe somebody who's had a little bit of acute mountain sickness, they've been kind
03:26 of ignoring it and they're like, "Yeah, it's just altitude, I don't feel that good."
03:29 High altitude pulmonary edema, high altitude cerebral edema are our greatest concerns,
03:34 and they're not easy to diagnose.
03:36 High altitude pulmonary edema, particularly, it's a continuum of brain swelling.
03:40 And this brain swelling is caused by a number of things.
03:43 One thing is when your brain gets hypoxic, it opens up the blood flow to the brain.
03:48 And the way it kills you is your brain is a walnut in a shell, right?
03:52 The shell is your skull.
03:53 If it swells, it can only go so far.
03:55 The only way for your brain to get out of the shell is to go down through the bottom
04:00 of your skull, which is not compatible with life.
04:02 That's high altitude cerebral edema.
04:04 Descent is the treatment of choice.
04:06 What happens sometimes though, you get a Camp 3, it's super windy, it's in a dangerous
04:10 spot, you can't go down because it's too dangerous.
04:12 So then you have to treat them while they're there.
04:15 We have to use a portable hyperbaric chamber called a gamma bag.
04:21 It's airtight, so it's tough if they're claustrophobic or vomiting or whatever.
04:25 And then you hook the pump up and you pump it up so that the pressure inside the bag
04:30 simulates being at a lower altitude from a physiologic standpoint.
04:33 And you have to pump it 10 to 20 times a minute so that they get fresh air in there and their
04:39 carbon dioxide gets expelled.
04:41 You can't just leave somebody in one of these bags because they would suffocate.
04:44 Let's give it a try.
04:45 We're going to put you in it.
04:46 Perfect.
04:47 That's great.
04:48 So go ahead and lie down.
04:49 So I'm filling the bag with air right now and then I'll overfill it and that is what
04:54 will simulate altitude.
04:56 If you're going to rescue somebody, you can help lower them with the straps that are attached
05:00 to the outside.
05:01 You can use them tactically.
05:03 Ta-da!
05:04 Whoa!
05:05 How you doing?
05:09 Camp 4 is the last stop before the summit.
05:11 This is what people call the death zone.
05:13 In the world, there are very few human habitations above 16,000 feet because you just can't keep
05:18 up.
05:19 Now all of a sudden you're at 26,000 feet.
05:20 You're 10,000 feet above that level.
05:23 And so things are breaking down.
05:25 If you cut yourself, you don't heal very well.
05:27 If you get sick, you do not get better.
05:30 So you're definitely in the zone where your body can't keep up.
05:32 And on summit day, from the south call to the summit, people are driving themselves
05:37 really hard.
05:39 They typically haven't been eating and drinking very well.
05:41 They haven't been sleeping well.
05:42 They're affected by the hypoxia.
05:44 They may be hypothermic.
05:45 And so this is the most dangerous place.
05:48 One, just environmentally, the atmosphere, there's less oxygen.
05:52 And then two, they're tired from this whole process.
05:56 Between 1921 and 2006, 56% of deaths occurred during the descent for people who climbed
06:02 higher than 8,000 meters.
06:05 Getting to the summit is optional.
06:07 Getting back down safely is mandatory.
06:09 The problem is there's also this huge sort of catecholamine surge.
06:13 People are like, "I did it!
06:14 I've achieved my goal!"
06:16 You think you've won the game, but you haven't.
06:18 You have to get all the way back down.
06:20 All they're thinking about is going home.
06:21 They're not thinking about putting one foot in front of the other.
06:24 They haven't been eating and drinking, and they come down and they can fall off.
06:26 And it is a long way.
06:27 And people make big decisions that are wrong.
06:30 People will come down a ridge, and they're supposed to go to the left, and they'll go
06:32 to the right.
06:33 People will make poor decisions.
06:35 They'll sit down and they won't get back up because they're just confused.
06:37 They just have no idea where they are.
06:40 After summiting, my biggest concern is exhaustion and dehydration.
06:44 You know, snow blindness can set in a little bit later.
06:46 UV keratitis is the fancy name for snow blindness.
06:49 It just means that your corneas are exposed to more ultraviolet radiation than they're
06:53 accustomed to.
06:54 If you are out in this ultraviolet radiation for too long, it can get to the point where
06:58 the next day it'll feel like you have sand in your eyes, and then you won't even be able
07:01 to open your eyes.
07:02 You need somebody to lead you around.
07:04 And there are a lot of places on the upper mountain where you simply can't lead somebody
07:08 around, particularly if you're above the South Col, like on a summit bid, and you get snow
07:13 blindness.
07:14 If it manifests there, it can be very difficult to rescue somebody who can't see.
07:18 Everest remains one of the safest tall, ultra-high-altitude peaks to climb, simply because of all the
07:24 infrastructure.
07:25 Despite that, there was an unusual amount of deaths on the mountain in 2023.
07:30 The reason we see so many fatalities on Everest is it's a numbers game.
07:34 If you look at the risk of dying on Everest as compared to something like Annapurna, it's
07:38 much lower on Everest.
07:40 It's much lower on Everest than most of the other 8,000-meter peaks.
07:44 Get more people on the freeway, and more people die in car accidents.
07:47 Get more people on Mount Everest, and more people will die on Mount Everest.
07:50 Two is weather.
07:52 Typically, if you have a whole bunch of people going for the summit on one day, if there
07:56 are fewer summit days in a season, you're probably going to have more problems, because
07:59 you are going to have traffic jams.
08:01 There are people that are box checkers.
08:03 They just want to have climbed Mount Everest, and they're so driven to be able to say that
08:07 at a cocktail party in Houston that they'll just drive themselves to do it.
08:10 So a lot of people just want to check the box, but not everybody.
08:14 It's incredibly beautiful up there.
08:16 It's as close as you can get to being on another planet.
08:18 The sky is this impossible blue because there's less atmosphere.
08:22 So the higher you go, the bluer and deeper blue that you get in the sky.
08:26 And when you get to the edge, it changes you.
08:28 And there is something that happens that I can't describe, but it's very seductive.
08:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:37 (upbeat music)
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