Supplemental Oxygen on Everest

1250 Words5 Pages
Mount Everest is the world’s tallest peak at 29,028 feet; also known as the normal cruising altitude of a commercial airline. This makes climbing it no easy feat, and because of that, there is an extreme amount of casualties throughout the many expeditions that attempt to summit. The known death rate and dangers of the mountain have not stopped novice hikers and celebrities from taking a chance at the mountain. I believe that getting rid of supplemental oxygen on Mt. Everest would greatly decrease the amount of deaths that occur because it would make the mountain exclusive to extremely experienced mountaineers only, give it back its original fear factor, and eliminate the theory of the oxygen allusion. Supplemental oxygen has the effect of making people feel invincible to the obvious dangers of Everest, when they need to realize that there are many other life-threatening dangers to think about. If an individual is not an elite climber that knows exactly what they are doing, supplemental oxygen should be the last thing on their minds. The problem is that all one needs to hike Everest is to be in decent shape physically, and have the money to cover the massive fee. Many upper-class citizens and celebrity’s fall into this category, and of those, plenty choose to hike the world’s tallest mountain; not having the proper preparations. One reason why the removal of supplemental oxygen would reduce the death rate is because it would vastly decrease the amount of novice traffic the mountain receives. Supplemental oxygen is the pivotal factor of many hikers who attempt Everest. It is the sole thing that allows so many people the opportunity of hiking the mountain. If one is in good shape and has good hiking conditions, with the right guide they can reach the summit. On the other hand, without supplemental oxygen, an individual needs to devote a serious amount of

More about Supplemental Oxygen on Everest

Open Document