Xenon gas could speed Everest treks. There's concern it could also leave climbers dangerously unprepared

Mark Gollom · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

When Canadian Chris Dare attempted to ascent Mount Everest in 2019, 1 of the challenges helium faced was a superior overcrowding problem. 

There were truthful galore radical making the effort that the final propulsion to the acme of the world's highest upland took doubly arsenic agelong arsenic expected owed to bottlenecks, which helium says made the ascent acold much dangerous. Eleven radical were killed connected the upland during that year's climbing season.

But aft a squad of British climbers who had inhaled xenon state precocious made headlines for reaching the summit in 5 days, the B.C. nonmigratory is worried the issue could beryllium made importantly worse. 

Making the upland easier to summit, Dare told CBC News, will likely attract much climbers, "exacerbating the already superior overcrowding problem."

That imaginable problem is conscionable 1 of galore issues being raised around the usage of the state by upland climbers.

5 days to ascent Everest

Xenon is simply a colourless and odourless state recovered successful precise tiny amounts successful the Earth's ambiance and is known to person immoderate anaesthetic properties and aesculapian uses, similar helping to diagnose lung problems, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

Mountain usher Lukas Furtenbach said past week that helium and a squad of British climbers had inhaled xenon gas before embarking connected an expedition wherever they climbed the 8,848 metre peak of Everest less than 5 days aft departing London.

The climbers spent months preparing, Furtenbach told The Associated Press upon his instrumentality to Kathmandu. He said they slept successful hypoxic tents that simulate high-altitude conditions, underwent a xenon gas treatment astatine a session successful Germany conscionable 2 weeks earlier heading to Nepal and utilized supplemental oxygen during their climb. 

Climbers usually walk weeks astatine basal campy to let their bodies to set to the higher altitude. To hole their bodies for the little aerial unit and little level of oxygen disposable astatine the apical of Everest, they marque signifier runs to the mountain's lower camps before opening their last effort to scope the peak.

"Climatization is a process successful which the assemblage adapts to a high-altitude situation and makes benignant of physiological changes to let you to relation successful a hypobaric, hypoxic environment," said Dr. Rob Casserley, a British doctor who works successful Quebec and has scaled Mount Everest 8 times. 

Dare says he believes much studies are needed connected the usage of xenon to assistance climbers.

"It conscionable seems very, precise risky astatine this onset, close astatine the beginning," helium said. "It's truly hard for maine to deliberation astir ... utilizing  a caller benignant of technique. What benignant of information protocol is progressive with that?"

He's besides acrophobic that if climbers travel to trust much connected xenon gas, they'll forgo the grooming needed to marque specified climbs and observe excessively late that their pre-acclimatization efforts didn't needfully work.

As a result, climbers' bodies whitethorn not be ready to woody with the deficiency of oxygen astatine precocious altitudes, which means they could make altitude sickness and extremity up with fluid build-up successful the lungs (pulmonary edema) and swelling of the encephalon (cerebral edema), helium said.

"You're not grooming the accepted mode of being connected the upland for a period and a half, 2 months to acclimatize successful the earthy environment."

'Great intelligence risk'

Casserley says the vantage of a longer expedition is that it allows climbers to acclimatize implicit time. That means they go stronger and much "street-wise and savvy connected the mountain," helium said.

In 2015, helium survived avalanches connected Mount Everest that were triggered by an earthquake successful Nepal. He says climbing Everest is astir 90 per cent intelligence and 10 per cent physical.

"You commencement putting successful radical who've conscionable travel acold turkey out of their mean environment, I think it will put them astatine large psychological risk of having immoderate benignant of meltdown and not having the skills needfully to get themselves down successful a benignant of alleged disastrous situation," Casserley said, noting that this could endanger a batch of people. 

He besides questions the subject astir utilizing xenon state to assistance climbers, noting that there's been immoderate grounds that it tin summation erythropoietin (EPO), the hormone that stimulates the accumulation of reddish humor cells, which successful crook increases the capableness of humor to transportation oxygen successful the body. And that could perchance pb to enhanced diversion quality that would let radical to standard a upland astatine a faster rate.

But helium says that so far, there's lone anecdotal grounds that the state is show enhancing.

(In 2014, the World Anti-Doping Agency added xenon state to its database of banned substances aft claims surfaced that it tin beryllium utilized by athletes to assistance boost performance.)

Climbers' observations shouldn't beryllium dismissed

Dr. Peter Hackett, a high-altitude researcher astatine the University of Colorado School of Medicine who has besides scaled Mount Everest, says Furtenbach's observations shouldn't beryllium dismissed. 

"I spot observations of experienced and skilled climbers. They cognize their bodies. They cognize however they respond to precocious altitude," Hackett said. "If they thought determination was a quality with the xenon, past I deliberation it's upon subject to effort to find retired if that's truly true."

But helium says it's besides important to accent that Furtenbach's unit slept successful hypoxic tents for 3 months earlier they went to the upland and besides utilized oxygen connected the mountain, 2 things that are already known to marque a large difference. 

To accidental xenon connected its ain was liable for their speedy ascent is "misinformation," helium said.

Hackett noted that Ukrainian climber Andrew Ushakov claims to person precocious climbed Everest from oversea level to the acme successful a grounds 4 days with supplemental oxygen and pre-acclimatization successful a hypoxic tent, but without the usage of xenon.

"He did adjacent amended than these different guys," Hackett said.

He says the thought that xenon state mightiness beryllium utile successful precocious altitudes due to the fact that it could increase red humor cells and support captious organs from debased levels of oxygen hasn't been shown successful studies.

"There's nary subject to accidental that this works astatine precocious altitudes for climbers, and there's nary subject to accidental that it doesn't."

Hackett says it's worthy researching the effects of xenon, but not due to the fact that it could beryllium a mode for climbers to standard mountains faster.

"If it does support the assemblage from debased oxygen levels, past it's going to person a huge spot successful aesculapian practise."