|
|
|
|
|
|
Everest oxygen week follow up: Interview with Rich Cantrill, a Summit Oxygen system user
13:31 p.m. EST Feb 4, 2004
Last week ExplorersWeb interviewed Neil Greenwood, the creator of the Summit Oxygen system. It’s a new setup that delivers oxygen on a demand basis, versus constant flow and utilizes a nose tube instead of the traditional mask. In the three-part series, Neil spoke about the idea behind the system, its advantages, and how it’s regulated to ensure maximum safety. Follow the link to the left to read Neil's interview.
Today Rich Cantrill, a member of the Royal Navy/Marines Everest team that was the first to test out an early version of the Summit system tells us about his experience using it on Everest.
ExWeb: Rich, can you tell us a bit about yourself - your involvement in the military, how you came to be on the expedition, climbing background, etc…?
Rich: I am a Captain in the Royal Marines. I joined in 1996 as a 2nd Lieutenant and specialized as a Royal Marines Mountain Leader in 2000. I have been climbing for about 10 years, starting out whilst at University. I enjoy rock climbing, mountaineering and Ski touring. I applied for the expedition in 2001, responding to navy-wide advert, and submitting my climbing CV. I didn't think that I had much chance of getting on the team, having no real experience beyond the Alps; other than a trip to Mt Hunter, Alaska. However, I was interviewed by a panel and then told a few weeks later that I would be part of the 10 man climbing team; I was surprised and very pleased!
ExWeb: What were your initial thoughts about the system? It's very different from the traditional setup, where you excited to try something new, or a bit apprehensive about it?
Rich: I was initially completely ignorant about supplementary oxygen but thought that if the new system could reduce our oxygen carriage by 2/3 then it was an exciting prospect. I was slightly concerned that we would be the first to use it, but knew we had a good period of time to test and adjust before heading of to Tibet. Also, having never used Poisk I guess my mind was pretty open.
The comfort and 'wearability' of the nasal cannula seemed a particularly good feature and the oxygen conservers (pulse dose box) a great idea (but I did wonder about their durability and battery life). I tried to immerse myself into the technical side of the system, as far as possible, hoping this would allow me to manage the system on the mountain (my 2nd job on the trip was to be in charge of O2, if didn’t know that). It was great to be able to chat about it with George Band and get his comments; he liked the lightness!
ExWeb: What was it like introducing the system to the sherpas - how did they take to it? What were their reactions afterwards?
Rich: Our 4 high altitude sherpas were initially very skeptical about the system, as I imagined they would be. They weren’t too concerned about the electronic-box part (they were all intelligent and technical guys) but they couldn’t quite accept that the cannula would deliver the oxygen effectively or that the short ‘pulses’ of oxygen were going to give them what they needed (and I was in a similar mind myself!). They just weren’t happy unless they turned the O2 conservers (pulse dose box) to Constant Flow and could feel that good old ‘hiss’ of gas coming through! So, it was slight concern when I waved them off as they went off up to set up the two high camps. They would be the first to test the system out, at height, in the cold.
On their return, however, I was really pleased to hear them strongly praise the Pulse-Dose system. They had used it from 7000m to 8300 m and thought it was excellent. They liked the endurance, they liked the comfort (they could drink tea and shout at their passing mates!) and they felt it was giving them all the gas they needed; and 4-times summiteers Chhring Dorje Sherpa was in a good position to comment! They were completely converted (not least, I think, because it looked to all their mates on other expeditions as though they were hard-coring without O2!).
ExWeb: Did you ever have problems, or did any of the team have problems breathing through the nose, sometimes at altitude people get colds and their nose gets stuffed up?
Rich: My experience of using the O2 was that it was reliable, super-efficient and easy to use. I was affected, however, by the simple fact that I had a cold during my summit bid. It sounds daft but it effectively either reduced the efficiency or completely blocked my cannula, depending on how much stuff was coming out of my nose. We had back-up masks but they could only be used on constant flow and obviously we wanted to go Pulse-Dose.
This caused me a lot of problems on the final summit day, from Camp 6, and meant that I had to de-glove frequently to adjust and clear the cannula (you cannot easily pull a thin cannula away from your face with mitts on). This could have been a contributing factor to me getting frostbite but I couldn’t say for sure. My summit day ended at 8500m, at the top of the 2nd step, having realized I had frost-bitten fingers and making the agonizing decision to turn around and let my mate carry on to the top (and I’m pleased as punch that he did!).
ExWeb: How many bottles did you use yourself?
Rich: I used less than 2, 4 liter cylinders for the summit attempt, amazingly. We started on O2 at the North Col, much lower than most, because we knew we had the endurance. I used 1/3 of a bottle to get to Camp 5, I slept on less than a 1/3 at Camp 5 and continued to use the Cylinder to Camp 6, the next day. On arrival at 6, I still hadn’t finished the cylinder. I then used less than a cylinder to get to 8500m and back, and sleep at Camp 6. I did actually grab a new cylinder for the descent from 6, but only because it was available, and Dave and I were both able to breathe O2 all the way back to ABC. It would seem to me that that sort of endurance is a step-change in capability and Dave’s summit shows it works all the way!
ExWeb: What were your likes/dislikes about the system?
Rich: Likes: comfort of the cannula, super-efficiency, and excellent service from Summit Oxygen staff. Dislikes: problems if you have a cold, lacking a bespoke, insulated mask.
ExWeb: How did any of the other teams react when they saw it?
Rich: A lot of other teams were very skeptical about the system. Some very vocally, kindly giving us their opinion! Some were very interested and were keen to see if it worked for us. It did.
ExWeb: Would you use it again?
Rich: Yes, I would use it again and would recommend it to others.
Comparison
Summit:
3L bottle – 615 USD, 3345g, 22.6 hrs of use on 2L of flow (20 breaths per minute)
Regulator & Dosage Regulator – 1680 USD (210g + 200g) = 410g
Total weight: 3755g
Total cost for 1 setup: 2295 USD
Refill from Summit 100 USD
Poisk:
3L bottle: 310 USD, 2600g, 6 hrs of use on 2L of flow
Regulator: 300 USD, 350g
Total weight: 2950g + mask
Total cost for 1 setup: 660 USD
Refill from Poisk: 120 USD
Summit: 22.6 hrs of O2 = cost of 2295 USD and weight of 3.7kg
Poisk: 24 hrs of O2 = 1540 USD and weight of 10.7kg (1 regulator and 4 bottles)
All information in comparison from respective company’s websites.
Image of Dave Pearce, Richard Cantrill and Chhring Dorje Sherpa after summit success courtesy of RNEverestNorthRidge2003.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Top Feature Stories
|
 |
Everest Supercouloir: "What is a summit compared to a friend's lif
Full Story
|
 |
Mystery Chopper's Utopia summit - VIDEO
Full Story
|
 |
Annapurna South: "It was such a great climb"
Full Story
|
 |
ExWeb Special report: The Ropes and Summit Push on Everest...
Full Story
|
 |
Real men
Full Story
|
 |
Christian Kuntner - a mountaineering legend is gone
Full Story
|
 |
14 x 8000: Ed Viesturs joins the world's most exclusive...
Full Story
|
 |
ExWeb Special: Ed Viesturs "I still have peaks that I want...
Full Story
|
|
|
| Latest News |
|
| Andrew Lock on Annapurna tragedy: "I wanted to keep on climbing" Jun 6, 2005 | | Gabriel Filippi and Sean Egan's soul, together on the summit of Everest Jun 6, 2005 | | "Supermom" Monica Kalozdi update: Everest Summit and hard descent Jun 5, 2005 | | Robert Milne dies during summit push Everest South Jun 5, 2005 | | Grania Willis summits Everest this morning Jun 5, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week-In-Review Jun 5, 2005 | | Himex summit - Update from climber Jun 4, 2005 | | No Mountain top too high, my Love Jun 4, 2005 | | Jagged Globe team summits again! Jun 4, 2005 | | More summits for DCXP/Project Himalaya this morning Jun 4, 2005 |
| | End of season... Jun 4, 2005 | | Ranulph Fiennes turns back on Everest Jun 3, 2005 |
|
|
|
