Originally Posted by chornedsnorkack
What does "useful consciousness" mean?
People live at 15 000 feet and above - carry babies to term, drive cars on curved mountain roads, etc. etc., day after day for their whole lives.
Useful Conciousness is the time you would have from depressurization until you would loose the ability (or reasoning) to put your oxy mask on. Having done the depress training myself (Up to 40k) the big problem is not physically putting the mask on, but actually coming to the conclusion that you need to put it one. one of the lads was in fits of laughter, others become almost sedated. People live at this altitudfe because they are aclimatised - te human body learns to deal with the lack of oxygen - it becomes more "efficient". also, individuals who live in these areas are not your average 40-aday types - physically they have much larger lungs, thus lung surface area, and can deal with the lack of oxgen. Climbers going up the himalayas are on oxygen WELL before the poor sherpas who are lugging all their luggage up for them - they have had the benefit of living there all their life!
