Mount Adams

Quote: petroglyph

I have been advised I need to do so, but know nothing about it and it scares me a little. Do you think it is possible that if the chamber screws up while I'm in it, I might get the bends if it loses pressure to fast?

First of all standard scuba involves compressed air (not gases). The initial gas to worry about is nitrogen (air is 78% nitrogen).

(1) If you dive too deep you get "nitrogen narcosis" which is like being extremely drunk. It's not particularly dangerous except you might make a mistake. Nitrogen narcosis vanishes once you get to the surface.

(2) The biggest danger with nitrogen is diving for too long, which is primarily a function of your depth. That syndrome has been known as "the bends" after a popular 19th century dance. It was first noticed in the pressurized chambers that allowed people to work underwater on the Brooklyn bridge. Initially they didn't know the cause or the treatment, and they made it worse by exposing the workers to more pressure even after they were sick.

(3) In a hyperbaric chamber they feed you a gas which is more oxygen than normal and less nitrogen. So you are in absolutely no danger of getting the bends . However, too much oxygen is toxic and the effects on a diver are much worse than the bends. The reason is that you can go into seizure involving vomiting which almost always results in a SCUBA diver drowning. There are some cases of seizures from oxygen toxicity by people in hyperbaric chambers, but they are very rare. Because you are not trying to breath through a tube, the operators of the chamber can drop the pressure and keep you from choking on your vomit.

So in short oxygen toxicity is very serious for a SCUBA diver frequently resulting in death, but I don't know of anyone dying while in a HBOC. You have no chance of getting the bends.

There are only 14 FDA APPROVED USES FOR HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY (HBOT). Everything else is considered experimental

In the 1960s, doctors in the Netherlands discovered that HBOT could treat a life-threatening infection called gas gangrene, which can occur after severe wounds, such as those from gunshots and car accidents. The oxygen kills the anaerobic (nonoxygen-using) bacteria that cause the infection. In 1965, Japanese doctors used HBOT to treat carbon monoxide poisoning from a coal mine fire. The oxygen displaces the carbon monoxide that is stuck to red blood cells. The doctors also found that burns healed faster among patients treated with HBOT, generating another use for the therapy. Oxygen can reduce the secondary inflammatory reaction that accompanies any injury-the activation of the immune system's white blood cells and their subsequent discharge of toxic chemicals and enzymes, which further damages tissue. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS)-an organization representing physicians, nurses and technicians in the field of hyperbaric medicine-met with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended HBOT for 14 specific conditions. These conditions are eased or aggravated by reduced oxygen level in body tissue. More than 30 years later, those approved conditions remain much the same:

HBOT for Air or Gas Embolism
An air or gas embolism is caused by air in the arteries caused by diving or an invasive medical procedure that punctures an artery or lung.

HBOT for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning or CO poisoning complicated by cyanide poisoning. Also includes poisoning from methylene chloride.

HBOT for Gas Gangrene
The medical names for these severe infections of the muscle are clostridial myositis and myonecrosis.

HBOT for Crush injury
Acute ischemias (loss of blood flow)-usually caused by heavy equipment.Harch Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Inc. The Oxygen Revolution

HBOT for Decompression Sickness
Decompression sickness is one of the first conditions treated with HBOT. It is brought on when a diver ascends too quickly and does not allow the oxygen in the body to expand at a safe rate.

HBOT for Arterial Insufficiencies
including problem wounds; this category includes diabetic foot ulcers, which afflict one out of five people with type 2 diabetes and can lead to amputation. Recently added to this category was central retinal artery occlusion, or "stroke of the eye," from blockages in the arteries of the eye.

HBOT for Severe Anemia
Severe Anemia is any acute, severe blood loss, such as from a wound on the battlefield or severe trauma.

HBOT for Intracranial Abscess
(an accumulation of infected material); these abscesses of the brain are common in patients with abnormal immune systems.

HBOT for Necrotizing soft tissue infections
From "flesh-eating bacteria," these severe infections usually progress rapidly.

HBOT for Osteomyelitis
Chronic bone infections that resist standard treatment most common in the lower leg after severe trauma.

HBOT for Delayed Radiation Injury
Radiation damages blood vessels, and the lack of blood supply eventually can cause wounds to form in soft tissue and bone.

HBOT for Compromised Skin Grafts and Flaps
Grafts and flaps of skin and other tissue (cartilage, bone, fat) are used in reconstructive surgery (such as breast reconstruction after a mastectomy). In some cases, blood supply to the graft or flap is compromised, causing complications.

HBOT for Thermal burn Injury
From fire or heat.

HBOT for Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Classically defined as a hearing loss of at least 30 dB over at least three contiguous frequencies - occurring within three days. This is the latest approved indication added by UHMS Board of Directors late 2011.

Quote: Pacomartin

HBOT for Delayed Radiation Injury
Radiation damages blood vessels, and the lack of blood supply eventually can cause wounds to form in soft tissue and bone.

This is the condition my Dr's mention the HBOT for.

Thankyou for posting this info.

Quote: Nareed

Hal got psychotic and then senile. He was never dumb.

I was referring to this scene. I think dumbing down is an appropriate way to describe it.

Quote: petroglyph

Thankyou for posting this info.

This wikipedia article on oxygen toxicity contains the following statement.

Protocols for avoidance of the effects of hyperoxia exist in fields where oxygen is breathed at higher-than-normal partial pressures, including hyperbaric medicine. These protocols have resulted in the increasing rarity of seizures due to oxygen toxicity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity#Hyperbaric_setting

Quote: Pacomartin

Well it certainly limits your geography Of the 46 peaks over 14,000 in the USA are in four states
26 in Colorado
14 in Alaska
5 in California: Mount Whitney, Mount Williamson, White Mountain Peak, North Palisade, Mount Shasta
1 in Washington - Mount Rainier

Where does this list come from? I grew up knowing that Colorado has 53 fourteeners because climbing all of them is one of my father's proud accomplishments. He did it in the early 50's when technical equipment was pretty basic. I think my cousin in Alaska claims 29 for his state.

Maybe your list uses a stricter prominence qualifier.

Quote: JimRockford

Maybe your list uses a stricter prominence qualifier.

I used 500 meters for prominence. I should have annotated as such.

I've seen a list for Colorado that used 300' prominence that came up with 53 for Colorado.

Since the Wizard lives in Las Vegas, he is not likely to climb bag 53 peaks in Colorado without getting divorced. I was trying to give him a list for bragging rights based on prominence in CONUS.

Quote: Pacomartin

Alaska excluded from the following list.

Prominence feet - Mountain name- State - Altitude in feet
13,210 Mount Rainier Washington 14,417
10,080 Mount Whitney California 14,505
9,772 Mount Shasta California 14,179
9,093 Mount Elbert Colorado 14,440

8,845 Mount Baker Washington 10,786
8,339 San Jacinto Peak California 10,834
8,294 San Gorgonio Mountain California 11,503
8,258 Charleston Peak Nevada 11,916

8,136 Mount Adams Washington 12,281
7,838 Mount Olympus Washington 7,980
7,706 Mount Hood Oregon 11,249
7,568 Wheeler Peak Nevada 13,065

7,518 Glacier Peak Washington 10,545
7,196 White Mountain Peak California 14,252
7,077 Cloud Peak Wyoming 13,167
7,076 Gannett Peak Wyoming 13,809

Just published my blog entry on Mount Adams. Please have a look. I welcome all comments.

Quote: Wizard

Just published my blog entry on Mount Adams. Please have a look. I welcome all comments.

"That summit high feeling is always better when shared."

So you admit you're a summit junkie, then.
What would rehab look like for this illness.
Nothing but jocks.

Quote: Wizard

Just published my blog entry on Mount Adams. Please have a look. I welcome all comments.

Can you comment on this video of glissading. Looks like a potential impalement trying to film yourself with a selfie stick.


Is there some special equipment for glissading? I should think a rock poking through the snow would do some serious damage to the family jewels.


Losing control on Mt Whitney

Quote: Pacomartin

Can you comment on this video of glissading. Looks like a potential impalement trying to film yourself with a selfie stick.

I can't approve of holding a selfie stick and glissading with an ice axe. Good way to have an embarrassing moment caught on "film." However, the snow in his case was much softer than when I did it.

Quote:

Is there some special equipment for glissading? I should think a rock poking through the snow would do some serious damage to the family jewels.

Just an ice axe. There were some protruding rocks towards the beginning of my glissade. I had on three layers of pants, including ski pants and a hard shell outer layer so was decently protected. I would imagine the expert male glissaders also use a cup to protect the family jewels. Still, I bet glissading is a common form of injury.