High Altitude Climbing :: essays research papers fc

High altitude climbing is a very dangerous sport, well, we won’t call it a sport, it is more like a profession for highly skilled individuals. High altitude climbing is when mountain climbers decide that they want to climb higher  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and more difficult mountains. To do this they need the right training and also need to know the effects of high altitude climbing to their bodies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The body attempts to maintain a state of homeostasis or balance to ensure the optimal operating environment for its complex chemical systems. Any change from this homeostasis is a change away from the best possible operating environment. The body attempts to correct this imbalance. One such imbalance is the effect of increasing altitude on the body's ability to provide adequate oxygen to be utilized in cellular respiration. With an increase in elevation, a typical occurrence when climbing mountains, the body is forced to respond in various ways to the changes in external environment. Foremost of these changes is the diminished ability to obtain oxygen from the atmosphere. If the adaptive responses to this stressor are inadequate the performance of body systems may decline dramatically. If prolonged the results can be serious or even fatal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In looking at the effect of altitude on body functioning we first must understand what occurs in the external environment at higher elevations and then observe the important changes that occur in the internal environment of the body in response. In discussing altitude change and its effect on the body mountaineers generally define altitude according to the scale of high (8,000 - 12,000 feet), very high (12,000 - 18,000 feet), and extremely high (18,000+ feet), (Hubble, 1995).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A common misperception of the change in external environment with increased altitude is that there is decreased oxygen. This is not correct as the concentration of oxygen at sea level is about 21% and stays relatively unchanged until over 50,000 feet (Johnson, 1988). What is really happening is that the atmospheric pressure is decreasing and subsequently the amount of oxygen available in a single breath of air is significantly less. At sea level the barometric pressure averages 760 mmHg while at 12,000 feet it is only 483 mmHg. This decrease in total atmospheric pressure means that there are 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath at this altitude compared to sea level (Princeton, 1995). The pulmonary surface and the thickness of the alveolar membranes are not directly affected by a change in altitude.