The climbing of Mont Everest usually takes weeks, most of the time spent at the foot of the mountain adapting to thin air. But four British men last week last week narrowed, traveling from London to the top and returning in less than a week, according to the organizer of their expedition.
They jumped the adjustment period, in part, inhaling a secret weapon: xenon gas.
Their feat turned the world of mountaineering and aroused an investigation by the Nepalese government, because the use of gas is fiercely debated. Some research has shown that xenon can quickly acclimatize people to high altitudes, even if some experts say that the advantages, if necessary, are negligible and that the side effects of its use remain vague.
The organizers declared that gas was the key to the speed of the climb, but that their approach caused a wider debate which strikes at the heart of mountaineering: the scaling of the Mount Everest, one of the greatest achievements of Sporting, is it easier – available for more people during a fast vacation – with the help of an improving performance?
“This is a provocation, especially for traditional mountaineers, who feel bad about this idea that you can climb Everest in less than a week,” said Lukas Furtenbach, who organized the exhibition, in a telephone interview from the mountain base. “It has shown that it can work.”
Mr. Furtenbach said that in 2026, he planned to offer two-week round trip excursions to set up Everest using xenon gas, reducing the typical time necessary to evolve the mountain by several weeks.
“This can be the future of mountaineering commercially guided on Mount Everest,” he said.
With xenon, “you feel better”.
For those who live at lower altitudes and went to the mountains, the discomfort of altitude evil is too clear. Symptoms include nausea, headache and disturbed sleep, and in some cases it can cause swelling of the brain, even death.
