High on Everest, the air thins and the margin for error disappears. For decades, climbers have turned to oxygen tanks, acetazolamide (Diamox), dexamethasone, and occasionally even sheer grit, to get them to the top of the world.
But with the 4 British Climbers summiting today using Xenon Gas for the first time, now a new way to climb is floating about —almost literally—onto the Everest scene: Xenon Gas.
Rare, inert, and expensive, Xenon, with a test group of 4 now summiting, is now well and truly in the mix;
Mission Everest 7days team on the the summit!! Safe descent! One InReach run out if battery so don’t be confused. They are still the full mission team with photographer @sandro.g.hand the incredible FA Sherpapower team.
Originally used as an anesthetic and later as a neuroprotective agent, Xenon Gas has been used in elite sports circles for its potential to stimulate erythropoietin (EPO)—the same red blood cell-boosting hormone that made headlines during cycling’s darkest years.
More EPO means more red blood cells, which means more oxygen-carrying capacity—a crucial advantage in the thin air above 8,000 meters.
Xenon has been controversial in sports for a long time. A handful of Russian athletes reportedly used Xenon in the run-up to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, prompting WADA to investigate. In 2014, WADA added Xenon to the list of prohibited substances, specifically banning it for its ability to artificially stimulate EPO production—placing it in the same category as blood doping agents.
While mountaineering isn’t governed by WADA, the question remains: Should a banned performance enhancer in sport be fair game in the mountains?
And if you check the WADA list, you will see that both Diamox and Dex are on it too.
If it is Xenon today, what will it be tomorrow? And if like space tourists who now go into space for a few minutes and want to call themselves astronauts, should your ascent even count? Or are you simplifying even further what has become little more than a climbathon for many?
If it’s already banned in Olympic sport, isn’t that all the precedent we need for what we use when we are trying to set records?
To Xenon or not to Xenon?
Which of course begs the more personal question, do you want to climb Everest, or do you just want to say you climbed Everest?