How High is Yours?

In with the big guys? Who are we kidding? Wikipedia's list of the 100 highest mountains doesn't get below 7000m—still more than 1000m taller than Kili. Yes, that's right: The 100th highest mountain is still a full 1000m taller than Kilimanjaro. Everest itself is a full 3000m taller than Kilimanjaro's mere 5895m. Even in the list of the Seven Summits (tallest mountains on each continent) Kili is in the bottom half of the list (or, generously, 4th out of 8 continents if you count Oceania).

I was further surprised to find that only three of the top hundred were known to me. The completely arbitary list that I compilied below therefore makes the more interesting (and impressive) contrast with other "well known" but it seems far lesser mountains.

Mount Everest (Chomolungma) K2 Annapurna I Aconcagua Denali Kilimanjaro Mont Blanc Matterhorn Fuji Washington Ben Nevis

Picking a Route and a Tour Operator

As I continue to research and read up about equipment and experience, I'm constantly struck by both the consistancy and the lack thereof. Any kind of statistics vary widely. For example the claimed percentage of folks who do not summit varies from 40% to 70%. The fitness level recommended varies from "any reasonably active person" to "you'll need a good training regeme" But some patterns emerge. The western or Lemosho route is commonly agreed to be the most scenic route, and the longest. Being the longest makes it also the most expensive (park fees and porter costs increase with each day on the mountain) and through both of these factors, it is the least travelled. When you add to this that after fitness, the commonly agreed most effective thing you can do to improve your chances of success is to increase the amount of time you spend at altitude, the Lemosho route was the no-contest choice of route for us.

The final ascent day which several accounts record as the longest day of your life, or "I've never been that tired", does indeed seem a pretty gruelling 1200m up, 2800m down. That did not seem very appetizing.Thomson Safaris were already on our shortlist because it was one of the few with apparently no negative reviews, and because they had a physical presence in Watertown Massachusetts, just half an hour from home. When Brian and I went to see them, we discovered that they were one of just a handful of operators allowed to camp in the rim, so effectively breaking this trip into two days. Awesome! Again, references to this option recommend it for obvious reasons, but again caution the expense, because the whole team has to make the ascent (generally of course the porters wait for the client to go up and come back down).

Conclusion: it was by far the most expensive route/operator on the mountain, but it was the way to go.

Sp02

SpO2 is a measurement of the amount of oxygen attached to the haemoglobin cell in the circulatory system. Put simpler it is the amount of oxygen being carried by the red blood cell in the blood. SpO2 Is given as a percentage, normal is around 96%. The "S" stands for saturation.

Mountain Statistics

Tom Bissell's excellent interactive web site documenting his climb for the New York Times magazine includes these quotes from his onboard physician Dr Kenneth Ballie, altitude.org:

"Heart rate is one indication that [your] body is under stress. [The] body is responding to that altitude: [...] breathing deeper and more frequently, and [the] heart is pumping harder and faster to get precious oxygen around [the] body."

"A person at sea level with an oxygenation level of 68% would be immediately transferred to an intensive care unit, and probably put on a ventilator."

So armed with a definition of SpO2 and an idea of what to look for in terms of oxygenation levels and heart rate, here are my statistics:

And finally another great graph stolen straight from Tom Bissell's website.