Summitting the twin peaks of human achievement

Globe and Mail

26-05-2025

People who attempt to climb Mt. Everest often try to wrap romance and meaning around what is essentially a pointless exercise. Jon Krakauer wrote in the best-seller Into Thin Air about seeking in the suffering 'something like a state of grace.'
Early explorers were more prosaic.
George Mallory, who died near the peak, had a simple reason for trying to climb Everest: 'Because it's there.' A generation later, Edmund Hillary was low-key after determination brought him and Tenzing Norgay to the top, telling others on the team, 'well, we knocked the bastard off.'
This month a group of former special forces soldiers from Britain set out for the mountain with some of the old brusqueness, aiming for speed of ascending more than transcendence. Their goal was audacious: to be away from London only seven days, lightning fast for a trip that can take months.
They pulled it off, reaching the summit early Wednesday and cutting by two-thirds the record for a door-to-door ascent. It was a triumph of human ingenuity, though one that comes with asterisks.
Better gear has made modern Everest expeditions much faster than the days of Mallory and Hillary. But they still involve weeks of acclimatization to prepare for the Death Zone – above 8,000 metres – where the body begins to break down. Most fatalities on the mountain occur in this area.
Controversially, the British team's preparation included breathing xenon gas, an anesthetic, in what their medical adviser believed was a way to counter the effects of altitude. The approach has divided the mountaineering community and raises a host of questions.
On a philosophical level, there's the risk that this could turn the sublime – the awe, wonder and danger – of Everest into something mundane. The value of a journey lies in more than the destination, and an epic quest should be a triumph of both determination and intellect.
Still, one concern that can be set aside immediately is the idea that these men somehow cheated.
Few climbers follow the example of legendary Austrian mountaineer Reinhold Messner. He believed that adventure had to involve danger and exposure, so he used 'as little equipment as possible.' This culminated in a 1980 solo ascent of Everest without oxygen tanks, a feat he called 'endless torture' that left him physically and emotionally wrecked.
Most climbers see no reason to spurn advances in technology, clothing and gear that make their passion both faster and safer. Better weather forecasts, for example, help narrow down the least risky moment for a summit attempt.
For the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, though, xenon is too dangerous to be used casually.
Experts within the medical and climbing communities differ on whether xenon is even effective in this context. There's a chance that people get into trouble in the Death Zone, believing incorrectly they are protected from the most dangerous forms of altitude sickness.
It may also be unnecessary. On Friday a climber claimed a different speed record, getting from sea level to summit in only four days. He did not use xenon.
The British team counters criticism by saying that xenon was just part of its preparation, which also included months of sleeping in low-oxygen tents. They argue that people can still take longer journeys, if they choose, but that shortening the time on the mountain minimizes risk by leaving climbers less susceptible to rockfall and other dangers.
Speedy ascents also reduce the amount of garbage and human waste produced by climbers. Though that effect could be negated if this approach opens up the mountain to more visitors, putting pressure on heavily used routes.
However, beyond the concerns, it's worth recognizing that this team follows in the footsteps of amateur adventurers whose daring pushed the limits of human potential.
The Montgolfier brothers pioneered hot-air ballooning in the 18th century, never dreaming that two hundred years later cheap commercial flights would connect continents. Breathing pure oxygen restricted how deeply early divers could go. But eventually researchers discovered gas blends that let humans descend hundreds of metres.
Determination and intellect are the twin peaks of human achievement. Paired with a willingness to take risk, they are why people now soar like birds and swim like fish. They let humans exist in hostile terrain, right to the top of the world.