In 2007 the Caldwell Extreme Everest Expedition headed out to the Himalayas to attempt to climb Everest and conduct some ground breaking research into Hypoxia (lack of oxygen). The hope is that it might help point towards why some people survive in Intensive or Critical Care situations when in Hospital, and some perish. The expedition was accompanied by a BBC film crew, and the film was first shown on the BBC in 2008.
The BBC documentary covers the expedition from both a progress and scientific background and whilst there are elements of hyping up the environment by scary statistic about for every 15 people to summit, 1 climber dies, not to mention the name “Doctors in the Death Zone”. However the tale is a compelling one of not only their adventure but there research and how we as humans adapt to altitude. All in all its a fantastic story and well worth seeking out.
The programme was being repeated by Eden TV on sky/cable today, and reminded me again of the BBC High Altitude programme that I was hoping would be an extension of Doctors in the Death Zone, however it turned out to be Top Gear on Ski’s, where as opposed to star in a reasonably priced car we got star on an overpriced adventure holiday, heli-skiing or something just as ridiculous.
If you missed the Everest programme then I imagine that it will be repeated over and over again now its on Eden on Sky!
“Remember getting to Camp 3 entails climbing the Lotse Face…. hours upon hours of slogging up an endless slope!”