A Lightning Fast Ascent of Everest Is Rocking the Mountaineering World – WSJ

KATHMANDU, Nepal Four men left London s Heathrow Airport for Nepal on a May afternoon. Within five days, they were atop Mount Everest, the 29,000-foot peak where an ascent typically takes weeks of acclimatization and bursts of climbing punctuated by rest.

Instead, the four British army veterans prepared for the world s highest peak using a new pre-acclimatization regime involving inhaling xenon gas once used as an anesthetic but now more commonly found in rocket propellant.

Their ascent is rocking the mountaineering community and Nepali authorities, with their use of a substance banned from competitive sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency provoking the criticism this amounts to cheating.

Nepal s mountaineering authorities are studying the climb and its implications.

On May 29, when the country marks the first recognized summit of the mountain in 1953 as Everest Day, Nepal s prime minister lamented the use of xenon. 

Dishonesty even with Mount Everest? he said. If it did happen, it should be stopped.

Alistair Carns, a climber in the group, said critics should take the long view.

via www.wsj.com

This is not cheating. Don’t be ridiculous. Climbers routinely use bottled oxygen, take Diamox (a drug the helps — a lot in my experience — with altitude sickness), and do all sorts of performance-increasing things. Climbers can claim not to have used xenon if they like. Nepal can charge for a minimum number of days on the mountain with no discounts for those who only spend five days because of xenon.