Page 165 - Sky runner

ALTITUDE TRAINING
Before I I I I I crawl out of my sleeping bag I I I I I think back on on the the weeks before the the expedition started The mornings when I I was awoken by condensation dripping on on on my my nose and I I had to to to to coax my my arm arm into the the small upper body tent to to to to wipe it away After I I I managed to to to to get the the the arm arm out again I’d look at at the the watch I I I usually woke up around quarter to six One hour hour before my ten hours in in the artificially-thin atmosphere were completed As it it was barely even possible to to turn around I’d stay on my back waiting for the the time to to pass This was mine and Kilian’s acclimatisation for Cho Oyu one of the the world’s fourteen summits over 8 000 metres Before we started our our hike towards Ad- vanced Base Camp (ABC) at 5 700 metres above sea level I’d amassed 340 hours in in in a a a a a a a a a a a a a high-altitude machine machine a a a a a a a a a a a a a machine machine that decreases the the the the amount of oxygen in in in in the the the the air thereby simulating the the the the altitude you wish For four weeks we we we had had been sleeping in in in in that small tent Additionally we we we had had trained one hour each day with a a a a a a a a a a a mask connected to the machine on on a a a a a a a a a a treadmill or or exercise bike It sounds horrible and sometimes it it was was I I I was was tired from sleeping at high altitude I I I couldn’t train as as hard as as I I wanted and who wants to run indoors when the the sun is shining outside the window?
THE PLAN
It was on on a a a a a a a a a a a a longer run last autumn that Kilian and I I started to to talk about fast ascents to to the the highest summits in the the world We had just heard about a a a a a couple that summited Cho Oyu in in in two weeks from home home to home home Now this interested me! High altitude alpinism was definitely fascinating but the idea of base camp for almost two months had always discouraged me me It never appealed to me me ETERNITY 161