Originally Posted by
Vertical Freedom
For landing below 19,000' & crossing passes I no longer use. However landing in the 'dead zone' the cannula O2 is always on above 20,000' for landings, prelonged ultra high altitude mapping, filming etc ('dead zone' - Mountaineers term for when above 20,000'+ as the body starts to seriously starve for O2 & vital body functions begin to shut down, on most people, but not all!)
I was in Nepal back in the '80s and never did quite reach 20,000 but I was less than a few hundred feet short. The feeling of slowly dying through oxygen starvation was very real.
I remember when registering my plans at the Kathmandu embassy that no helipcopter rescue was available above around 15,000ft. Below that height, the helicopter would head out but only if USD1000 was paid in advance. The embassy said they would stump up the cash, but my passport would be marked so only valid for a trip home, and I wouldn't get it back until I paid the cash back.
It was possible to live in Kathmandu for USD1 a day, so USD 1000 was a huge sum to a backpacking bum like me.
Though to be honest, if I did fall ill enough at 15000 ft to require a medevac, the chances of a message getting back to Kathmandu before I died was neglibigle. In fact I met a fellow bum on the trail who had just been bitten by a dog, rabid we didn't know. So his escape route was a self imposed five day forced march back to a road where he could get a bus to the Canadian Clinic in KTM for his shots.
Brilliant pictures from a stunning country