Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for the report and I had heard before of this law of diminishing returns
for altitudes over 10,000 feet as far as the effect of the lack of oxygen has
on visual acuity.
Even if there are real physiological reasons for the visual acuity dropping,
all it takes is for those other common woes at altitude, like a splitting headache,
shortness of breath, dehydration, etc, to kick in and put a real damper on what
otherwise would have been a great night's observing in ideal seeing conditions.
Ironically and apparently for reasons not completely understood, altitude sickness
tends to affect fit, young males more than other demographics. Though it may
not be wise to therefore take on a regimen of a meat pie and two beers for
lunch everyday for a year before going to the top of Mauna Kea in the hope one
might better escape the effects of altitude, it is nice to know that you don't
have to be a twenty year old bandana wearing mountain climbing champion either. 
Really looking forward to your stories. How did the observation runs go
and how was the weather and seeing on the nights in question?
Best regards
Gary |
Hi Gary,
I have posted a detailed report on the whole trip as a word document within one of my posts on the Terrestrial Images forum.
Bill Henley, the Keck guy that showed us around, sat us down and went through the symptoms we may experience that might require administering oxygen or immediate evacuation. Apparently if you arrived at the summit without a cough and start to develop one, that is an early sign of a cerebral oedema and possible death if no action is taken.
Bill told a great story about showing a Lieutenant that looked like he could run through a brick outhouse around, Bill thought this guy was struggling but every time Bill asked how he was the Lieutenant would reply fine sir, right up to the point where he collapsed.
Trevor