Use of Oxygen on the Mount Everest Expedition, 1938

Abstract

THERE were two types of oxygen apparatus ooo available to the Mount Everest Expedition of 1938. One was the open type, used by the 1922 and 1924 expeditions, in which the climber breathes a mixture of oxygen and air. The other was a closed circuit apparatus in which pure oxygen is breathed. Now the essence of the oxygen problem is the fact that the apparatus cannot be effectively tested except at very high altitudes. Serious oxygen lack does not make itself felt below about 23,000 ft., so that a test in the Alps is not conclusive even with the closed apparatus, and with the open apparatus it would be useless. Similarly, a test in a pressure chamber is of little value since it cannot include the vitally important acclimatization factor. There was therefore no possibility of making a comparison of the two units in Europe, and it was decided by the leader of the Expedition that both must be taken.