Australian teen opens up about effects of Mt Everest climb

An Aussie teen has racked up 69 million views with a video revealing what happens to your body when climbing Mt Everest.

Bianca Adler, from Melbourne, set out to conquer the world’s highest peak – and experienced some very harsh conditions along the way.

The 17-year-old, who took on the dangerous challenge in May, shared clips of her hike, including four days at camp 4 – an icy, treacherous stretch so high up in the sky there is only about 33 per cent of the oxygen usually found at sea level in the air.

“I just got back from camp 2,” the teen said in the viral clip while gasping for air.

“I’m at base camp. I feel horrible. My throat and lungs … I am so out of breath, even though yesterday I was at 8000 metres.”

Bianca’s face was red and cracked from windburn*. She had also developed high-altitude pulmonary edema* (HAPE) on her descent from camp 4.

HAPE is a form of mountain sickness that causes fluid to collect in your lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

WHAT HAPPENED TO BIANCA’S BODY?
The teenage mountaineer told news.com.au she had made it to 8450m (just 400m below the summit*) but was forced to turn around after failing to feel her fingers and toes.

She said while she felt “strong and great”, the extreme wind was turning her fingers and toes numb.

“That is the start of frostbite* and (if frostbite had developed) they might eventually (have been) amputated* so I didn’t want to risk that, or my life, for a summit,” she said.

She said she couldn’t see anything because snow was blowing everywhere.

Bianca’s mother was at base camp radioing her daughter the weather conditions while Bianca’s dad stayed at camp 2 after getting HAPE.

“It was predicted to start rough and windy but calm down after a few hours,” Bianca said.

“The weather forecast was different to the actual weather. I climbed for seven hours in bad weather and then it got worse.”

That’s when she could feel her fingers and toes going numb and knew she had to turn back.

She returned to the nearest camp, camp 4, where she spent four days as she attempted to summit twice more with her sherpa* guides, but with no luck.

“Most people don’t spend one night at camp 4, as they stay for a bit then leave to summit,” she said.

The lack of oxygen over so many days also took its toll on Bianca’s body.

“When I got to base camp I just felt awful,” she said. “Just being so high up destroys your body. Your bodily functions are a lot slower, I felt weak.

“I had also been on the mountain for two months at a very high altitude at about 5000 metres.”

She said HAPE was dangerous when you stayed at high altitudes but because she was at base camp, she was safe, though it did take her a month to fully recover.

WHAT IS HAPE?
High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a form of mountain sickness that causes fluid to collect in your lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

It occurs when you go from low altitudes (at or near sea level) to high altitudes without giving your body time to adjust to the lower amount of oxygen.

“It usually starts the second to fourth night after being at a high altitude (or above 2500m),” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Experts say it can be fatal if not treated and the person does not descend to lower altitude.

“You don’t need to summit Everest to get this high up – many ski resorts in the US and Canada have base elevations at or higher than 2499m. There are even a few large-population cities around the world at high elevations,” the site adds.

The clinic said being given extra oxygen through a breathing mask or tube is the first treatment.

“You should also move to a lower altitude as soon as possible. This usually means descending at least (300m and as much as 1000m).”

While the experience left her feeling very unwell, Bianca said she would attempt it again “at some point”.

“It’s a bit difficult now with school but I will definitely go back at some point in my life,” she said.

Bianca said the two-month Everest expedition, while extremely tough, was the “best time of my life”.

“It was very hard but I expected it and trained for it and truly love the challenge and building up to do something as big as this.”

Both Bianca’s parents have climbed Everest twice.

The teen grew up in the French Alps and said her parents raised her to respect and value the outdoors.

Bianca is the youngest woman to summit the 8th highest mountain in the world, Manaslu in the Nepalese Himalayas, at 8163m, and Ama Dablam in the Eastern Himalayas in Nepal at 6812m – she conquered both as a 16-year-old.

Bianca was just 12 when she climbed the highest mountain in Western Europe, Mont Blanc in the Alps, at 4810m.

“I always knew at some point I wanted to climb Mt Everest, I just didn’t know when and didn’t want to rush it,” she said.

She climbed eight mountains before attempting Everest and said a lot of planning went into it, including carefully analysing weather modules.

WATCH THE VIDEO – SHERPA EXPLAINS WHY EVEREST TREKKERS GET STRANDED
Earlier in the month, almost 1000 visitors to Mt Everest had to be rescued after a blizzard unexpectedly hit the face of the mountain. As the Sherpa in the below video explains, a visit to Mt Everest requires careful planning. Here’s why checking the weather forecast first is crucial.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• windburn: when your skin goes red and sore after spending time outdoors in the cold, windy air
• pulmonary edema: a condition caused by a build up of fluid in the lungs, which makes it hard to breathe
• summit: the highest point of a mountain
• frostbite: when the tissues of the skin freeze, causing damage that sometimes can’t be fixed and has to be removed surgically
• amputated: the surgical removal of a limb
• sherpa: a Himalayan ethnic group who live on the borders of Tibet and Nepal who are known for their excellent mountaineering skills and who work as mountain guides for westerners who want to climb Mt Everest

EXTRA READING
Mt Everest record for non-Sherpa
Aussies seek out Everest adventure
Aussie teen’s triumphant Everest trek

QUICK QUIZ
1. Why did Bianca turn around when she reached 8450 metres?
2. Why does HAPE make it difficult to breathe?
3. What is the treatment for HAPE?
4. How long was Bianca on Mt Everest?
5. How many mountains had Bianca climbed before attempting to climb Everest?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Create a plan
What training and planning do you think has to be done to attempt a climb on Mt Everest? Use information in the story and your own ideas to write a three month plan to help an experienced climber like Bianca survive this incredible challenge.

Time: allow at least 60 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Should climbing Mt Everest be limited or banned? Use your research skills to find out about the benefits and problems caused by climbers. Use the information that you have gathered to write very convincing paragraphs that give your opinion on the question.

Time: allow at least 60 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography

VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there with Bianca as she attempted to reach the summit of Mt Everest.

Create a conversation between two characters from the article – you may need or want to include yourself as one of them. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.

Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.