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ARTICLE: High Altitude and Acclimatisation Part 1 - An Introduction

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 UKC Articles 24 Apr 2019
The classic Cosmiques ArĂȘte in the Mont Blanc Massif. In the first of our four-part series on high altitude travel, Jamie Macdonald (high altitude physiologist at Bangor University) and Calum Muskett (professional climber and mountaineering instructor), explore the role of physical fitness on mountaineering success.

To be (fit), or not to be (fit), that is the question...



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 Phil_Brock 24 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

The Messner stat is interesting... I've also seen that he claimed to do the vertical k in 35 minutes. With a vo2 of 49 you'd expect a vertical k time of an hour or a bit more i.e. a VAM of 900m-1000m (rough estimate based on my concurrent 5k / vertical performance and estimates of vo2 that come from 5k times). Even if he did it in 40 minutes that would be a VAM of 1500m, well in excess of what you'd expect from vo2 and at that sort of intensity (80-85% vo2 max) vo2 max has a reasonable impact (vs a mountaineering type performance where efficiency, performance at LT1 is perhaps more important). Someone like Kilian Jornet who does the vertical K in 30-31 minutes has a world class vo2 so can't imagine that Messner, in peak shape, would have had one as low as 49! Probably didn't have a world class vo2, as I don't think vo2 is one of the top 3 predictors of mountaineering performance, but just as a factor of being that fit I'd expect something significantly higher. Maybe they tested him when he wasn't so fit or when he was more focused on rock climbing?

 Ash Routen 24 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

Nice article.

I remember reading the original 1986 JAP article on Messner a while back, and being quite taken aback at his apparent physiological normality.

The great Peter Wagner offered an interesting take on the findings, suggesting in 2017 that: "High muscle capillarity, enhancing diffusive unloading of O2, may have been a major enabling physiological attribute for Habeler and Messner."

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/japplphysiol.00140.2017

 

 Damo 25 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

...being fit did not increase risk of the most common altitude illness – acute mountain sickness. It is most likely that Moyles didn't get sick on Kilimanjaro because his skull was big enough to accommodate his brain as it swelled at altitude,...

I realise this is only Part 1, but I see a large and illogical leap between these two sentences, with no evidence for the latter. It just introduces a whole new factor with no background. Given the range of physiological factors that affect acclimatisation, it seems odd to simply put Moyles' state down to a big skull, and, that will only reduce headache, not stop him getting 'sick'. Or is this just poor editing?

Sense of effort is a good measure of performance

Really? Both personal experience and quite a bit of reading contradict that. I think it can affect performance, but not 'measure' it. 'Sense' of effort is very subjective, and there is no mention here of the 'central governor' factor where psychological factors override physical properties. Thresholds of pain and perception of effort vary between people. It is such psychological factors that were offered for the success of Messner (and Kukuczka) in the absence of their quantitatively 'poor' test results.

rockfish 26 Apr 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

Presumably the argument about skull size relates to volume within the skull not already occupied by brain. If one has a big skull and a big brain occupying all of it, there's no space to allow the brain to swell. If the brain is small in relation to skull volume, there's space to allow the brain to expand without causing symptoms. If so, one would expect older climbers to do have fewer symptoms in the early stages of acclimatisation than younger ones (and children and adolescents might be expected to struggle). Is this supported by the evidence?


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