The people of the Tibetan Plateau survive and thrive on the roof of the world, a region averaging 14,763 feet (4,500 meters), or nearly three miles, above sea level. The air at that elevation is not the rich soup of oxygen that humans enjoy at lower elevations. Instead, as many would-be mountain climbers have discovered to their chagrin, it is difficult to get enough of the life-enabling element into their lungs and blood as they ascend, which often results in debilitating symptoms including nausea and dizziness, and can even be fatal. According to new research, Tibetans avoid altitude sickness because they have broader arteries and capillaries delivering oxygen to their muscles and organs.
Ladakh means Land of High Passes. It is a part of India between the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges. There you can see spectacular geology and the unique cultures of these high mountains. This article provides a brief exploration of trekking in Ladakh.
Aberdeen University has signed an agreement strengthening its research links with the world's highest region. As the lead partner in the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research (SCHR), the university has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Research. The research centre is a collaboration between China, Burma, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan that looks at problems of biodiversity, sustainability and development in and around the massive mountain ranges of the Himalayan region.
BBC Horizon: Xtreme Everest Two hour-long Horizon documentaries, featuring the recent Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition, which saw a team of volunteer trekkers climb Mount Everest in support of medical research, have now been scheduled. The first will be screened on Sunday 23rd September at 8pm on BBC2 and the second will take place a week later on Sunday 30th September at 8pm, also on BBC2. The expedition formed the basis of an ambitious research project on the effects of low oxygen levels on the human body, which may ultimately revolutionise the treatment of critically ill people in intensive care units in hospitals. Leader of the expedition was Dr Mike Grocott, Senior Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine and Co-Director, CASE Medicine (Centre for Aviation Space & Extreme Environment Medicine) at the UCL Institute of Human Health & Performance.
Not all areas of the Tibetan Plateau rose at the same time, according to researchers who are determining the past elevation of plateau locations by studying the remains of terrestrial plants that once grew there.
"The Tibetan Plateau is responsible for the monsoons in India. People have documented ecological changes around the edge of the plateau that may indicate when it was high, but we do not really know when the plateau rose and so we do not know when the monsoon circulation began" - Dr. Pratigya J. Polissar, postdoctoral fellow in geosciences, Penn State.
China is to publish the altitudes of 59 famous mountains in the coming two years. The 59 mountains, include the World Heritage Site Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province and snow-capped Yulong Mountain in Yunnan Province.
"Elevation data for many mountains in China are currently inconsistent and inaccurate, sometimes the difference can be as much as 100 meters" - Li Weisen, The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping 's deputy director.
The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) are measuring the mountains with Global Position System (GPS) and other high-tech devices. The bureau will announce the altitude of 30 mountains in 2008 and that of the rest will be announced in 2009.
Campaigners say the UN must take urgent action to protect six World Heritage sites, including Mount Everest, from the impact of climate change. Groups, including Greenpeace and the Climate Justice Programme, have been petitioning the global body to list the locations as "in danger".
For those looking for symbols of environmental change in China today, there is sadly no shortage. To the top of the pile we can now add a particularly vivid one: a highway to be paved at the top of the world. As Xinhua reported yesterday, China will build a 67-mile "paved highway fenced with undulating guardrails" up to the Mt. Everest base camp, partly in order to accommodate the "green" Olympics' monumental torch run, which China says will reach the 29,035-foot summit of Everest.
An 18-year-old woman has reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming what is believed to be the youngest person to scale the highest peaks on each of the seven continents.
"We made it to the top!" Samantha Larson, of Long Beach, gasped to her mother in New York via satellite phone from the top of Everest on Thursday.
On Thursday 15 more climbers from five countries successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest. Thomas M Lehane from Ireland, Iain M G Peter from Britain and Paul Frank Giorgio from the United States, along with seven high-altitude Sherpa guides, were among those reaching the summit of the 8 848-metre-high peak on Thursday morning. A South Korea expedition was able to put three of its members on the summit. Hongbin Kim, Junghyun Youn and Mi-Gon Kim of Sky High Scouts on Everest Expedition reached the summit on Wednesday. Two high altitude Sherpa guides accompanying the climbers also reached the summit, the ministry said. However, the Nepalese ministry also confirmed the deaths of two South Korean climbers on Mt Everest. It said 37-year-old Hee Joon Oh and 34-year-old Hyun Jo Lee of the 2007 Park's Everest South-West Face Expedition"died after they slipped down from 8 300 metres during their accent".
The total number of climbers reaching the summit of the world's tallest mountain from the Nepalese side since Wednesday now totals 37. On Wednesday, a Nepalese high-altitude guide, Appa Sherpa, set a record when he reached the summit for the 17th time.