EBC trek altitude sickness and Rescue
People never see your hard work behind reaching the Everest Base Camp. It’s only you who can feel the difficulty; it’s only you who can bear the troubles and hindrances on the trail. The Everest base camp is all about adventure, hard work, passion and dream and lifetime achievement. You may be worried that you have never achieved anything in your life. The single answer is Everest Base Camp trek. There are few things you should know about altitude sickness, rescue during Everest Base Camp Trek in Nepal. Life would drastically change and you will understand the beauty of life once when you go for the Everest Base Camp trek with us. Go hurry up start the bag pack and join us for this exciting Everest Base Camp trekking.
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It’s obvious that different people have their own story regarding the trek. Most people feel altitude sickness, some of them can’t trek and stop on the trail, some feel too much thirsty on the route and many of the people feel afraid of climbing high hills. Once you climb hills, small mountain ranges, you feel like you have achieved something that would remain for the lifetime. That’s correct, you have successfully climbed Kalapather hill.
The history of the Everest region is that most people are victimized by altitude sickness. Some of the trekkers return in the middle of the trek and few of them even return back after 3-4 days of trekking journey to Everest Base Camp.
Our team discussed the issue and concluded many solutions for it. Keep reading the article to know detail about the solution.
Everest Base Camp Trek Acclimatization
Generally, Acclimatization means the process by which the body adopts a new environment and weather. Normally, two kinds of altitude zones are found in the Everest Base Camp Trek. One is from 2500m to 3500 m called a high altitude zone and next is from 3500 m to 5500 m called a very high altitude zone. There exists extreme danger zone, death zone in the Everest base camp trek too, but you don’t need to reach higher than 6000m. so, you will be facing these two zones.
Trekkers react differently to a different zone. The reaction starts above 2,400 m. Passing this altitude, people start feeling a change in weather and whole the environment. As a result of this, altitude sickness starts. So, acclimatization at this time is important during the Everest Base Camp trek.
You can notice the Sherpa people residing in the Everest region don’t need the process of acclimatization because they are familiar with the environment. But it’s a completely new environment and hence this is the reason why acclimatization days are kept in our Everest Base Camp trek Itinerary.
Symptoms and General Meaning of Altitude Sickness
First of all, let me make you clear about the altitude sickness. In simple words, the fear of altitude is altitude sickness. Generally, when people go above 2400 m, our body can’t resist the altitude more. As a result, people suffer from altitude sickness.
As the trekkers reach higher elevation, the environment changes. The air becomes thinner and thinner. As a result, the level of oxygen decreases. Due to lack of sufficient oxygen, people start to feel headache, nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, loss of appetite, and breathing problem.
Generally, we have listed the symptoms as:
Most of the people suffer from mild altitude sickness. The problem can be solved within 1-2 days and there’s nothing to worry at all. Just make sure you have quality food and water. You may face these symptoms during mild altitude sickness:
Shortness of breathing
Headache
Dizziness
Lack of sleep
Loss of Appetite
Nausea
Moderate
On continue of mild altitude sickness, you may face moderate altitude sickness. The disease is dangerous and should cure before ascending more. The symptoms are:
Migraine Headache
Vomiting
Muscle Weakness
Shortness of Breath
Severe
It’s the worst condition of this sickness. You have to descent rather than ascending during this time. you feel uneasy in walking. Following are some of it’s symptoms:
Severe shortness of breath
Hallucinations
Unable to Walk
Fluid build up in lungs
Our Advice for Everest Base Camp Trek
Altitude sickness has become of the rising thread in the Everest Base camp trek and other trekking in Nepal. If you feel any kind of headache, nausea during the trek, think it’s altitude sickness. Physically fit and fine people can easily get rid of this but others can’t. Most of the people start feeling altitude sickness from 2400 m and very few from 3200 m.
Tips for getting rid of Altitude Sickness
Don’t go further, if you feel any of the above symptoms
Descend if needed
Drink and make your body hydrated all the time
Never smoke and drink alcohol during the trek
Ascend slowly and follow the method: Trek high-sleep low
Go with a tour operator that has procedures in case of altitude sickness
If you feel the symptoms after resting at the same place, descend down
Take medicine as soon as possible
Medicines for Prevention of Altitude Sickness
People usually use Diamox. But, the medicine shouldn’t be taken by pregnant women and Kidney problem patient. We have found that many countries don’t use medication but in the context of Nepal, taking medicines during the trek is compulsory. The altitude is high and the history suggests us to take the medicine with us.
Insurance
The trekking insurance covers 2000 m in most of the country. In Nepal, you will need the insurance covering up to 6000 m. There’s nothing to worry at all because your insurance company will provide you helicopter rescue service in case of emergency condition.