The environmental writer Edward Abbey once wrote, "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." The combination of danger and glory in mountain climbing may either attract or repel you from the sport. Familiarize yourself with high-altitude effects, hypothermia, frostbite and other risks before committing to a climb.
Altitude
The higher you climb, the lower the atmospheric pressure. This results in less oxygen in the air, which is doubly dangerous because climbers are exerting themselves and require more oxygen. The decrease in pressure and oxygen availability can result in altitude sickness, which causes headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. These symptoms can progress to potentially fatal conditions such as pulmonary oedema or cerebral oedema, in which fluids leak into the lungs and cause swelling in the brain, respectively. A study published in 2008 in the European Journal of Neurology revealed that expert mountain climbers suffer from changes to their brain matter in the regions that control motor activity, a finding consistent with other reports of motor impairment in climbers.
Sunlight
Climbing at high altitudes exposes your body to high levels of ultraviolet radiation. Snowy conditions such as those commonly found on tops of mountains can amplify this problem by reflecting more light at your eyes, causing a condition called snow blindness in which you lose your vision. At the top of Mt. Everest, you would be exposed to almost 30 times the amount of ultraviolet light found at sea level. Sunburn presents another danger. Serious climbers need to reapply sunscreen every two hours.
Cold
Caused by severe cold, frostbite can damage your extremities to the point where a doctor may need to amputate them. The first indication of frostbite is often a feeling of numbness in your fingers or toes. Hypothermia is another risk of climbing in cold weather. This condition can impair your judgment, slur your speech and eventually make you lose consciousness. The wind, cold and exposure associated with mountain climbing places climbers at risk of hypothermia even during the summer.
Falls
Cold and snowy conditions combined with the potential to drop from a great height and the difficulty of getting to a medical facility makes falls dangerous and sometimes fatal for climbers. Fractures and injuries to the soft tissues of the extremities are the most common injuries, according to a study published in 2006 by Larry O. Smith, M.D. in the journal "Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America." According to Smith, head injuries constitute about 20 percent of injuries from falls. Falling debris dislodged by other climbers, natural rockfalls and avalanches also present a serious danger.
References
- Zion National Park; Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness; 2011
- "European Journal of Neurology"; Reduced Oxygen Due to High-Altitude Exposure Relates to Atrophy in Motor-Function Brain Areas; M.D. Paola et al.; October 2008
- Discovery Channel; The Effects of Altitude; 2010
- "Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America"; Alpine Climbing: Injuries and Illness ; Larry O. Smith, M.D.; 2006
