I’d say a bit of both, yeah
Both. He’s acclimated to those conditions, so that part isn’t a problem, but I really don’t like cigarettes.
I imagine he’s beside himself with concern over your lack of approval.
Right? He’s probably in better shape than I’ll ever be!
I don’t know, he has a dangerous job too.
It’s a bit more than just acclimatized to the conditions it’s genetics.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.01116/full
Sherpa is a subset of the Nepalese population on the Tibetian plateau that has developed over 30,000 years. During that time lots of adaptations to higher altitudes have developed. Given that the plateau averages 4500m high (approx 15,000") is a pretty strong selection pressure environment.
And genetically different. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5241213/
Yeah, Sherpa is doing a flex, pretty decent chsnce the other climbers would actually asphyxiate themselves if they tried.
Smoking is never cool. It’s so hard to quit once you start.
It’s weird how the perception of coolness plays a big part in starting up. I smoked for ten years, and teenage coolness was only half of it. The other half was the brief burst of euphoria it would give us every time we lit up, though that did subside after a few months of regular use.
I find the habit disgusting now, and I can’t help but judge smokers as being a little trashy now whenever I see it. But I remember what it was like to be dependent on them, and I definitely remember that false sense of rogue-like coolness I felt whenever I was walking down the street taking a drag on one.
I was able to get off of them fairly easy by switching to a low concentration e-liquid/vape for about a year or two, and then going cold turkey from there. I didn’t even get cravings. Just found myself reaching for my pocket every time I took a piss for a couple of weeks.
Now I just hope my daughter never starts.
I mean throwing literal trash on the ground all the time doesn’t help the image
I smoked for over 30 years and couldn’t break the habit until I tried vaping in the early years of the technology. I slowly reduced the nicotine level in the e-liquid and quit completely within 18 months. It was easy and fun and cheap. Now I see vapes marketed to kids to get them addicted to nicotine and eventually onto cigarettes. I find it crazy and not a little tragic that a technology designed to get people off tobacco has been re-purposed by the tobacco industry to cause addiction.
I never smoked smoked, but for 10 years I daily smoked joints (tabacco and weed). I stopped about 15 years ago, but when I’m drunk a cigarette will still give me sort of a stoned feeling for a few minutes.
How do you feel about coffee, as I sit here with my three machines and five cups ready to go.
I have a moderate energy drink dependency, so I’m certainly in no place to judge on that one. I’ve tried to get into coffee many times, but it always makes me feel dehydrated and as though I have a mild toxin coursing through my veins, and I don’t know why.
its hard to quit once you start
It took me 6 tries and I was young. The longer you smoke, the harder it gets.
I smoked so much from 14 to 20 it was crazy. Especially from 18 to 20. I had a job where i was bored and i would just smoke all day. I eventually quit when i was 26, and learned that i don’t really have an addictive personality, or i necer really liked smoking that much, whatever. I just stopped buying cigarettes and never touched one again.
But seeing my sister getting back to smoking after she quit when she was pregnant for about 5 years is soul crushing. She quit like 10 times in her life and will probably die smoking.
Quit smoking 4 years ago, there isn’t a day in my life now I don’t have to stifle a craving.
He has air on his pack. He’s probably stressed from having to carry all those other people’s stuff up the mountain.
Yeah, I’m leaning towards bad ass myself.
Ya the oxygen is just for bis COPD from all the smoking
This guy with copd probably still has better lung capacity than I do
I know a Sherpa guide that lit up at the summit of Everest while waiting for the rest of his group to arrive. This was many many years ago before Everest became the zoo it is now.
Badass. He’s a baller. Also, iirc, being a smoker has some kind of performance benefit for high altitude climbers. Like, you are less likely to get altitude sickness because you are used to never getting enough oxygen anyway. But this guy is doing it because he’s a blue collar worker in a developing nation. And being a high altitude porter is already much more dangerous than smoking.
Yeah…it doesn’t work like that.
I used to skydive, which takes you up to ~15,000ft.
Most normal people don’t get hypoxic untill your above ~12,000ft for 15-20min. Some of the smokers used to get hypoxic going through 8,000ft. Scary shit.
You’re talking elevations in feet and the post is using meters. 8,000 meters is approximately 26,000 ft.
I’m aware.
The elevations I’m talking about are related to people becoming hypoxic when not on supplemental oxygen.
At around ~10-12,000ft the partial pressure of oxygen is low enough that if your not used to it, you can become hypoxic. O2 @ ~20%
If you are on supplimental oxygen (which if you are climbing Everest, you are), in the “death zone” (~26,000ft) even if your are on 100% supplemental oxygen, the partial pressure is low enough that you can become hypoxic. 02 @ 100%
In both cases, if your lungs don’t work good (read; if you smoke), you’ll become hypoxic at lower levels.
You and other skydivers don’t LIVE at altitudes the Sherpas do. That’s the difference.
Just like the Bajau who’ve evolved to hold their breaths for 10mins and freedive to 50m regularly.
I was more commenting on the fact that smoking doesn’t help.
why is that scary?
Generally speaking you don’t want people to be hypoxic when they are jumping out of aircraft.
Being hypoxic means your brain doesn’t work at the right speed (amoung other things), which can be an issue when your falling to the earth at terminal velocity.
Edit: Clarity
Yeah but with climbing you also train your body. With skydiving the plane does all the lifting. Not comparable at all
If I could light up when I gotta fall to earth I think it would really take the edge off. Prolly enough time to have a few cigarettes and a couple drinks?
I’ve read a story where a guy survived CO poisoning and the medical staff said that he most likely survived that long cause he smoked like a chimney and his body was used to it.
Used it to defend my smoking habit a couple of times. No idea if it’s true tho.
Addiction, so neither
The people who live there have minor adaptations after living there so long. I forget exactly what is different but they keep the differences even after moving away.
Hopefully it’s immunity to lung cancer.
I would guess more red blood cells
Yeah. Remember reading something about first time birthing mothers had a higher chance of surviving with higher red blood cell count at high altitude. Have then selected for that adaptation.
Pretty sure you guys are onto it, believe it is theorised to be related to Denisovan genes
“Denisovans, an extinct hominin species, possessed genetic adaptations that helped them thrive in high-altitude environments, particularly in Siberia and potentially the Tibetan Plateau. A key example is their version of the EPAS1 gene, which is crucial for oxygen regulation in low-oxygen conditions and is also found in modern Tibetans, enabling them to live comfortably at high elevations without the negative side effects experienced by other populations according to a study published in Nature. This suggests that Denisovans interbred with humans, and their genetic contributions facilitated the adaptation of some human populations, like Tibetans, to high altitudes.”
If I remember correctly, Ketosis is easier to achieve for Sherpas? And in contrast to getting energy from sugar, energy from ketosis doesn’t require oxygen… Or at least, less.
Stupid… I wouldn’t consider a brave act as “bad ass” if it’s also stupid.
Smokers are evolved to use less oxygen than non-smokers.
It’d probably be pretty hard to light a dart at that level right?
Clearly not an issue
He is skilled
Gusts can be absurd, but avg windspeed at the summit is 50 mph / 80 kph.
I’ve sparked up in that level of wind before, multiple times, with an old school zippo, a good decade or so of being a chronic smoker’ll teach you how to do that.
Granted… your footing is probably just a teensy bit more of a thing you’re gonna have to be aware of, hahaha!
Maybe with flame but the wind would also make it tough. Probably a high speed flame or metal element.
Now I want a sherpa review of chewing coca leafs in the himalayas
Would be more badass if it were a blunt.
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a guy in my first unit ran a 4:08/4:24 first/second mile on the two mile apft. right before he started the run he smoked an entire cig in 3-4 inhales. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since.
Dude! Quit burning all the oxygen!
