Page 51 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

Exposed summit
Congratulations! You’ve made it!
Now just to get back down
again… safely! Time is tight, as
you need to get off the exposed
peak before night falls and your
oxygen tank runs out. Don’t
dawdle, as the weather here
can dramatically change in just
a few minutes, and 186-mph
(300-km/h) gusts of wind can
blow you off the mountain!

Death zone
Once you climb over 23,000 ft
(7,000 m), you enter the death
zone. Get stranded here and
you’ll fall victim to hypoxia—lack
of oxygen to the brain. Slowly,
you become confused and lose
your sense of balance. Soon all
you want to do is lie down and
do nothing, which is bad news,
as it means that you’re entering
into a coma.
Determined to survive
Base camp
In 1985, Joe Simpson injured his knee in a fall
when he and Simon Yates were caught in Even down here you need to
a snowstorm in the Peruvian Andes. Another keep your wits about you as
blizzard struck as Yates was lowering him fatigue takes its toll. Just
down the mountain, forcing Yates to cut one slip and you’re gone.
the rope. Simpson fell 98 ft (30 m) but managed On the lower slopes of
to crawl to camp with just a broken leg. a mountain you’ll have to
cross glaciers full of dangerous
crevasses or risk climbing
avalanche-prone mountains
of fresh snow that is just
waiting to be disturbed…

MOUNTAIN

It’s snow joke…
MADNESS Mountain surgery
When a blizzard hits, all you can do is dig a cave in
the ice and hope for the best. In 1982, Mark Inglis
Day 2. Looking forward to
and Phil Doole waited 13 days for a storm to pass
the fresh air and standing on top
on top of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki.
of the world, but I can’t help feeling
a little bit nervous, especially after
Even the lower slopes aren’t for wimps. Back
hearing all those tales about
in October 1993, Bill Jeracki was fishing up in
the dreaded “death zone”…
the Rockies when a boulder rolled onto his leg,
pinning him under the rock. In real danger of
freezing to death, Bill had no choice but to
hack his own leg off with a penknife!
MOUNTAIN DANGERS 51
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