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My White-knuckled - and Knuckleheaded - Quest for the Rocky Mountain High
by Mark ObmascikThis article relates to Halfway to Heaven
Mountain climbing, or mountaineering, is the sport of attaining or attempting
to attain high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the pleasure of the
climb. Before the 18th century, climbing for sport was rare. Humans
did ascend high peaks, but generally only out of necessity or for religious
reasons (many ancient religions such as the Mayans and Greeks built mountaintop
shrines, and it is believed that pilgrims have been journeying to the foot of
Mount Kailash in Tibet since well before recorded history).
The birth of contemporary mountain climbing came in 1760, when Horace Benedict de Saussure offered prize money for the first summit of Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Europe (no attempt was successful until 1786). The first summit of the
Matterhorn came in 1865. The activity became increasingly popular, with mountaineers looking for ever greater challenges, culminating in the summit of Mount Everest,
the highest mountain in the world, on May 29, 1953. The invention of better,
lighter climbing gear over the decades has enabled more and more people to
participate in the sport. It is no longer just for the elite climber; thousands of "regular people" summit mountains every year.
In addition to the typical gear most people would take on a backpack trip,
mountaineering requires some specialized equipment:
Even with the appropriate gear, mountaineering is a dangerous sport. Lower air pressure and lack of oxygen can lead to severe headaches, nausea and lethargy, collectively known as altitude sickness. The afflicted individual may eventually acclimatize, but altitude sickness can lead to high altitude cerebral or
pulmonary edema (an edema is a swelling caused by fluid trapped in the body's
tissues), either of which can be fatal. In addition there are a whole raft of other
potential conditions that can afflict climbers, from snow blindness to what is politely known as high altitude flatus expulsion, which is caused by the differential between the lowering external pressure and the relatively high pressure within the body.
Despite the many different ways to achieve injury or death on a mountain, the most common cause of injury is, as you would expect, falling.
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This "beyond the book article" relates to Halfway to Heaven. It originally ran in May 2009 and has been updated for the
May 2010 paperback edition.
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