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Mountaineer Francisco Martin is lying in a hypoxic tent when he is about to climb Mount Everest in 2021. | Credit: Getty Images
About 800 people try to climb Everest Mountain every year, encouraging extreme conditions to say that they were standing at the top of the world.
Along with strict physical and mental workouts, hopes with a destructive height height, above the highest mountain of Earth, where the oxygen content taken with each breath is drastically lower than at sea level.
Traditionally, climbers acclimatized by spending a lot of time in the mountains, going up and down to prepare their body for intoxicating heights and reduce the effect of height of the disease. This tested and tested method has proven to be effective in the last 70 years of Everest’s expedition, but has one major drawback: time.
In addition to four to six weeks for acclimatization, many of Everest’s hopes now turn to modern technology to help them prepare, sleep and exercise in specialized acclimatization of “hypoxic” tents that refuse to spend months in the mountains.
“You sleep like garbage if you are not acclimatized, you lose your appetite so you will dry out
Brian in Oestrike, CEO of Hypoxico Hi
Hippox tents, otherwise known as tents in tents, have become more common as it may seem alien, and climbers and climbers have been used in preparation for harsh conditions.
This year, in the forties and the fifty -year -old British veterans, the group used hypoxic tents along with controversial xenon gas to get uphill highway, four days after Nepal arrived and efficiently from sea level in London within 5 days within 5 days.
The next day, the US and Ukrainian climber Andrew Ushakov said he had broken his record by spending more than 400 hours acclimatizing in a hypoxic tent. Ushakov says he moved from New York to Everest in 3 days, 23 hours and 27 minutes.
So what is a hypoxic tent, and how can they help climbers to achieve these feats once unimaginable? Read everything you need to know.
What is a hypoxic tent?
Simply put, hypoxic tents mimic low oxygen levels in a high height environment.
The air at sea level contains 20.9% of accessible oxygen, that is the number that dramatically decreases, the higher you will get. It decreases to about 10.4%at the Everus Basic Camp. According to the summit, this is only one third of the available oxygen coefficient at the normal sea level.
For healthy individuals, the sea level is approximately 98% to 100% of blood saturation levels. At height, the number is reduced to about 87% to 92%, it has a weakening effect and can cause the disease in height.
Hipoxic tents mimic this mixture with a generator or pump that removes oxygen and replaces it with nitrogen, reducing oxygen in the air to high height.
Sleep at a modeled hypoxic tent height causes your body to saturate your blood oxygen levels by releasing red blood cells and prepare the system for 20,000 feet (6,096 m).
Akash is not sitting in a hypoxic tent in preparation for his 2021. At the top of the hill of Everest Credit: Getty Images
Why do climbers use hypoxic tents?
“When you experience height, your kidneys release the epic [erythropoietin]which begins this physiological change, which increases red blood cells, but more for better ability to transport and use oxygen, ”says Brian Oestrike, CEO of Hypoxico high training systems.
Mountaineers, such as Ushakov, use hypoxic tents to prepare for unforgettable mountain conditions at the highest tops of the world. Sutotal oxygen levels in your blood can be useful in several ways to reduce the risk of the height of the disease and prepare your body for the tedious effects of height.
“You improve your comfort and safety margin when you climb over the mountains,” explains in Oestric. “You sleep like garbage, if you are not acclimatized, you lose your appetite, so you will dry out when those things happen. By acclimatizing in advance and using this equipment, you can compensate for your expedition, it improves your safety and comfort margin.”
Hippoxic tents can shorten the time needed to acclimatize the difficult conditions of the Alps.
“Most people, if they go to the Himalayas, historically have a six-eight-week expedition route,” he continues in Oesstrike. “It takes a long time for your body to slowly adjust and create red blood cells that carry oxygen and allow you to climb safely.”
Kilian Jornet competed in Pierra Menta ski racing Credit: Getty Images
The extremely fleeing superstar Kilian Jornet slender for eight weeks asleep inside the hypoxic tent against his maiden Mount Ever’s Mount, mimicking 13,000 feet (3,962 m) to 16,000 feet (4877 m) without leaving the sea.
He then became the fastest man climbing alone and without oxygen, exceeding 29,000 feet (8,850 m) Behemoth in 26 hours.
Restrictions on hypoxic tents
Although they are becoming more and more popular with climbers and other extreme athletes, hypoxic tents have their own restrictions and experts say they cannot be trusted by the only method of acclimatization.
“This is not all acclimatization. I would say that this is the first step,” says Grégoire Millet, a professor of exercise at the Institute of Sports Sciences in Lausanne, France.
He explains that even after a few months of sleeping in a hypoxic tent, “you will use a little acclimatization, but not the full spectrum. You can be completely acclimatized in a tent and not acclimatize on the real mountain.”
In other words, the hypoxic tents cannot completely prepare the body to climb very high height. In the Himalayas, elite climbers (and pay to customers) for expeditions that aim to fall into what is called the death zone, a particularly dangerous zone exceeding 26,247 feet (8000 m), where they can apply temperatures up to -31 ° F (-35 ° C) and highly technical relief.
Hipoxic tents are increasingly using climbers to prepare Mountains in Everest | Credit: Alamy
“You have to go to the real mountain for at least a few days before traveling,” advises Millet, an expert at acclimatization technology.
He advises climbers to use tents along with traditional acclimatization methods, such as sleeping on the top of the smaller mountains before fighting the main tops.
“It is better to use tents, and it is recommended to go to the Alps for at least a few days before going to the Himalayas,” he says.
He says that your body acclimatizes differently at real height and, despite its many advantages, hypoxic tents cannot completely replicate heavy conditions and oxygen deficiency in the mountains.
Who else uses hypoxic tents?
These are not just climbers who use hypoxic tents well. All kinds of sports people, from swimmers to footballers, use a simulated height environment to expand their physical capabilities and use the advantages of height training.
“If you can carry and use oxygen better, it leads to better benefits and literally more potential for oxygen,” says Oesstrike.
Simon Valverde, a French SUV, pulls in a hypoxic tent Credit: Getty Images
“In many elite athletes, they have a hypoxic camera,” Millet adds.
“It’s not a tent, but it’s a real camera. It’s the same idea, you reduce the oxygen concentration in the room.”
While training and sleeping at height, athletes can increase what is called their hemoglobin mass, which increases the amount of oxygen they can use during exercise.
As Millet explains, this requires much more time than mountain acclimatization: “Every 100 hours will increase your hemoglobin by one percent when sleeping in a tent.”
Each of the US Olympic Rowing ATVs, who won gold at the Paris 2024 Games, is reported to sleep in hypoxic tents six weeks before the race.
Do you need a hypoxic tent?
Although they are for elite athletes, hypoxic tents can be useful for outdoor enthusiasts about all abilities to create fitness and strengthen workouts.
When it comes to climbing, Oestrike says that hypoxic tents are even more useful for lovers than professionals.
“Most people who devoted to the top of 8000 m (26,247 feet) know what they fall, know what the training looks like and knows what to prepare.
“High -level athletes are already training intensively. So the person who is more modest and may have to lose some weight will see more upside down.”
Of course, the hipoxic tent is unnecessary for easy and middle -level ups. They are also not necessary to climb giants like Mount Everest. Traditional, slower acclimatization has proven to be an effective, stress -tested method of preparation of the Alps.
Hipoxic tents are an additional and convenient method of acclimatization used in combination with high height climbing and intensive training.
Here you can read our exclusive interview with Andrew Ushakov.
Visit our expert guide to learn more about climbing preparation.
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