Four British climbers became the first to scale Mount Everest on Wednesday using Xenon gas, which helped them save several weeks that mountaineers need to get used to high altitudes, an official of their expedition organising company said.
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Normally, climbers spend several weeks or even months on the mountain to allow their bodies to adjust to higher altitudes before trying to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain. It is extremely dangerous to go up if the climber is not properly acclimatised.
The British climbers, who had inhaled Xenon gas in Germany before embarking on the expedition, climbed the 8,848 metre (29,032 feet) peak in less than five days after departing London, said Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures that organised the expedition.
They slept in special tents that simulate high-altitude conditions at home before heading to the mountain, and used supplemental oxygen like other climbers during their ascent.
Xenon is a colourless and odourless gas found in very small amounts in the earth’s atmosphere and is known to have some anaesthetic properties and medical uses.
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