High-altitude trekking is different from general trekking. The following points need special attention:
1. Altitude sickness
Altitude sickness refers to a series of changes in the body to adapt to changes in air pressure, low oxygen content, and dry air after a person reaches a certain altitude鈥攁 natural physiological response. Symptoms of altitude sickness generally appear 6-12 hours after reaching a high altitude above 3,000 meters above sea level; a few occur after 1-3 days, recover typically within 3-7 days, and the recovery time in severe cases can reach more than two weeks.
The more common manifestations of altitude sickness are: chest tightness, shortness of breath, dry cough, headache, dizziness, fatigue, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, insomnia, slight fever, etc.; And the root of nails turns purple, and some people will also have rough skin, chapped lips, and bleeding from the nostrils due to dry air; Smell, taste abnormalities, hallucinations, etc., swelling, shock or cramps may also occur. Symptoms and severity of altitude sickness vary from individual to individual. Some only have a single or a few symptoms mentioned above, while others have more; some have sensitive and robust reactions, while others are mild or almost none.
Key points to prevent altitude sickness:
Keep a good attitude, drink enough water, pay attention to cold protection, have a proper diet, go to bed late and get up early; necessary drug-assisted treatment, ventilation, and timely communication.
Altitude sickness, also known as “altitude insufficiency,” is a general term for various clinical manifestations caused by insufficient adaptation of the human body to the hypoxic environment of the mountains. The main symptoms are dizziness, headache, tinnitus, nausea, vomiting, rapid pulse and breathing, numbness of the limbs, and severe coma. Symptoms can be relieved after oxygen inhalation. It can be divided into seven types: altitude sickness, altitude edema, altitude coma, altitude hypertension, altitude erythrocytosis, altitude heart disease, and mixed chronic altitude insufficiency. The most deadly ones are alpine pulmonary edema and alpine cerebral edema. These two alpine diseases have a fast onset and high mortality rate, and they should be paid enough attention and vigilance. To deal with alpine pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, it is necessary to actively prevent, pay attention to observation, identify as soon as possible, treat in time, and withdraw quickly.
Mild acute mountain sickness requires no other treatment except drinking plenty of water to replenish the moisture lost due to sweating, rapid breathing, and dry air, and it will get better in a day or two. Taking ibuprofen and drinking plenty of water can help reduce headaches. If symptoms are more severe, acetazolamide, dexamethasone, or other medicines may be prescribed.
Alpine pulmonary edema is sometimes life-threatening and must be closely monitored, on bed rest, and oxygen is given. The patient should be transferred to a lower altitude without delay if ineffective. Nifedipine works quickly but only lasts for a few hours and cannot replace the transfer of severely symptomatic patients to lower altitudes. Alpine cerebral edema can also be life-threatening and can be treated with dexamethasone, and if the condition worsens, transfer to lower altitudes. Delayed transfer to lower altitudes can be life-threatening if the condition worsens.
After moving to a lower altitude area, symptoms usually get better quickly. If there is no improvement, other causes should be sought.
There are many misunderstandings about altitude sickness: people with good physiques are more likely to have high altitude sickness, and men are more likely to have high altitude sickness than women. It will intimidate some timid people who want to go. At least in the past ten years, I have led hundreds of people to hike on the plateau, the highest altitude is more than 6,000 meters, such as the eastern Himalayas, camping at an altitude of 6,136 meters, and I have never found these phenomena. There are two main points to deal with altitude sickness: 1. Gradually and gradually adapt; 2. Once the high reaction is severe, immediately descend to a lower altitude.
Lessons Learned:1. When you reach the plateau, don’t mess around until your body has adapted; 2. When the high reaction is severe, you should immediately descend.
2. Hypothermia
Hypothermia is one of the most common and overlooked hazards in high-altitude hiking.
Hypothermia is a phenomenon in which the body’s ability to generate heat and keep warm is less than its ability to dissipate heat for a long time, resulting in lower and lower core body temperature. This process usually occurs slowly, but there are also rapid occurrences, such as slipping into the water. Climbers exposed to rain, snow, wind, and cold for a long time can easily fall into hypothermia. On a cold and windy mountain, it is dark and still wearing sweaty underwear, and the clothing is not warm enough. After lying down, you do not exercise. The body heat production is lower than the heat dissipation, which can easily lead to hypothermia.
The loss of temperature depends on two factors: body heat production, ability to keep warm, and rate of heat dissipation.
There are many reasons for hypothermia. Wet and cold clothes, air-cooled body surfaces, hunger, fatigue, old age, and frailty can all cause hypothermia. For example, in high-altitude areas, the oxygen content of the air above the snow line is low, and the normal metabolism of climbers is affected. If long-term exposure to low temperature, strong wind, and hypoxia, coupled with the lack of appropriate thermal protection measures, is also prone to hypothermia.
Hypothermia can be divided into mild hypothermia and severe hypothermia. In mild hypothermia, when the patient’s body temperature drops to 33-35 degrees Celsius, symptoms include severe chills, cold limbs, pale face, severe fatigue, slurred speech, uncontrolled muscles, sluggishness, memory loss, mood Altered or lost sanity, slowed pulse, hallucinations, etc. Severe hypothermia means that when the patient’s body temperature drops below 32 degrees Celsius, the patient loses consciousness and enters a state similar to hibernation. The specific manifestations are that the muscles are no longer spasm, the pulse and breathing speed are slowed down, the blood circulation on the body surface is significantly reduced, and consciousness is lost. In severe cases, patients with severe hypothermia will lose all vital signs. In this case, do not give up the rescue easily.
1. Prevention methods
Because of the causes of hypothermia, prevention mainly starts from three aspects: humidity, cold, and wind. Don’t let cold, wind, and wet clothes come together at the same time. In cold and windy weather, pay attention to keep warm; even if you change wet clothes, especially in rainy and snowy weather, do not continue walking or rest in wet clothes.
On the march, pay close attention to the physical condition of yourself and the team members, find and deal with them in time; arrange the marching route and work and rest time reasonably, avoid prolonged exposure to the low-temperature environment, rest and replenish heat in time; change clothes frequently, Keep your body dry and keep warm and cold.
2. Rescue measures
1) Maintain physical strength, stop activities or make an emergency camp, and constantly eat high-calorie food.
2) Get out of the harsh environment of low temperature, take off cold and wet clothes quickly, and replace warm and warm clothes.
3) Prevent continued hypothermia, help regain body temperature, and eat hot sugar water.
4) Keep awake, give digested hot food, lie down and throw a thermos into the sleeping bag, or conduct the body temperature of the rescuer.
5) Those confused and in serious condition should be soaked in 40-degree warm water.
6) Loss of consciousness, artificial respiration, warm water below 40 degrees from the anus, and colorectal lavage directly to the center to review.
7) Do not drink alcohol or massage your limbs.
Case Study: In May 2017, 8 backpackers from Yunnan traveled with Aotai and encountered a blizzard. , equipment, and people separated, all died of hypothermia.
Lessons Learned:1. Carry enough equipment according to the worst plan; 2. Protect the equipment from getting wet; 3. If hypothermia is detected, use thermal gear before you can, such as camping in situ and putting all your clothes on in a tent.
3. Wild animal attack
In general, the beast always finds you before you find it, and the beast is far more afraid of people than people are, but there are exceptions. Once you encounter a beast, you should quickly force yourself to calm down, look it in the eye, and let it not see your next move. You want to be vigilant, but don’t take the initiative to attack; you will expose yourself. Don’t turn your back on each other; doing so in nature signifies that you are the hunted. Facing each other, step back slowly. At the same time, you can’t let it see that you want to run away (in nature, when some animals back up, it means it is ready to attack, and beasts know this). If it follows up, then it should stop backing immediately. Note: When backing up, you must walk slowly and at a constant speed, and don’t run fast even if the opponent is not approaching. The wild is the world of wild animals, which can easily catch up with you. Try not to climb the tree unless it doesn’t spot you or you are confident that the backup team will arrive in time. Climbing a tree is equivalent to self-cutting and retreating, and beasts are good at waiting. If it doesn’t think you are the food and sees that you can’t hurt it, watch it, and it will leave. All you have to do is find a way to make it understand both.
Bears: I often hear about bears breaking into outdoor camps. This is because some people used to feed the bears with their own food, and then they were banned because of the danger. But the bear doesn’t know this, and he still thinks your camping lunch box is for him, so he’s in for a treat. It should be noted that the bear will not take the initiative to hurt people, and people are not delicious in its eyes.
(1) Generally, there are only two situations in which you actively attack humans: you stand between the mother bear and the cubs (mother-child problem);
(2) you stand between the bear and the cub, Between the bear’s food. So when you’re traveling in a bear-infested area, it’s best to wear a bell on your body and whistle along the way; the bear can hear it, know it’s a (terrifying) human coming, and will avoid it.
(3) But you must remember: the fairy tale’s “playing dead on the ground” is unworkable because someone has tried it, and the result is: he is being fanned by a bear With a slap in the face, and after losing a large piece of scalp, he jumped up and shouted and climbed up the tree. Of course, the bear wasn’t idle while climbing the tree–it was scared away by the roar. Remember to: Bears infested; pay attention.
Dogs: Generally speaking, dogs are cute and won’t bite you as long as you don’t mess with them, except for mad dogs. When you see a dog on the road with its head down and its tongue sticking out, stay away from it. When the dog is chasing, crouch down immediately and pick up the stone and throw it at it. You need to “squat” whether there are rocks or not. The dog will run away immediately. If you meet a barking dog at the door, you should be fine as long as it doesn’t enter the leash. The dog also knows that if you break free from the leash, you will be beaten (except for police dogs).
Wolves: Wolves are the most dangerous animals. A single wolf is not dangerous. However, wolves are mostly group activities. If you find only one wolf on the move, don’t take it lightly, especially if it’s following far away. The wolf rarely attacks alone. When it thinks it cannot obtain prey independently, it will notify its group and follow the prey, leaving a mark on the way, attracting more wolves to join, and it will attack at night. Get back to the road or to a safe camp as soon as possible when you spot a wolf following. Wolves are afraid of fire and can use this to escape. Don’t think that you can escape by killing the following wolf. On the contrary, this will only lead to the hatred of the wolves. When the wolves want revenge or want to rescue the captured wolf, they will call other wolves (until they think there is an absolute strength to win) to attack together; at this time, the fire cannot make it retreat. The ancient Indian tribes circulated such a piece of advice: Never harm wild animals for no reason, nature is their world, nature also has “laws,” and wolves are its envoys of law enforcement.
Case study: My two experiences: In 2007, when Altyn crossed the no-man??s land, once I encountered a bear; I was shocked and did??t know how to deal with it; okay After the bear ran away by himself; then we saw a group of wild yaks, we drove the off-road vehicle and took pictures, but the yak got angry and came directly at us, almost overturning the off-road vehicle.
Lessons Learned:1. Do not take the initiative to provoke animals; 2. When encountering wild animals, don’t act rashly; keep calm first.
4. Drowning
Many high-altitude hiking routes require repeated wading, such as Wolf Pagoda, Wusun, Schatt, Huanbo, etc. In order to avoid drowning incidents, the following points need to be paid attention to: avoid hiking in the rainy season; choose a place with an expansive water surface and slow water flows to cross the river; protect yourself before crossing the river; protect yourself before saving people.
Case Study: In June 2010, 8 backpackers crossed the Chate Road in the summer. Six travel buddies, including the team leader, were washed into the river, and two travel buddies drowned.
Lessons Learned:1. Do not take the wading route in the rainy season; 2. Choose an experienced team leader; 3. Be careful when crossing the river before entering the water.
5. Slipping
Slip and fall incidents also often occur during high-altitude hiking, which is mainly prevented from the following aspects: do not go alone on immature routes; bring ropes when exploring the road to be safe Wear technical equipment such as belt
s; protect yourself in dangerous places first.
Case study: On 2017 “May 1” her breath was weak. Then, she was rescued down the mountain, taken to an ambulance, rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, and finally passed away.
Lessons Learned:1. Don’t take the immature route alone; 2. It is best to bring a satellite phone and call for help crossing the no-man island.
6. Getting lost
While being lost for a short while isn’t immediately fatal, what if you happen to be injured, lose contact with your phone, and run out of ammunition?
In the inaccessible wild environment, especially in the woods where shrubs grow or where there are large rocks, it is easy to get lost unknowingly because the footprints cannot be seen. It is also sometimes possible to get lost in the rain, fog, or evening due to poor visibility.
When you get lost, don’t panic and walk around, this will only make you more lost. First, you must be quiet. Rest for a bit. Then, get back to the places you are confident you will find. Be marked along the way. And record the location of these marks in the book.
To avoid getting lost again, choose the direction first and try again after returning to the location where you are confident. Make marks along the way and pay attention to the surrounding terrain, landforms, or natural objects until you find the right direction and issue a distress signal at the appropriate time. Of course, if you still have a sign on your mobile phone, call your nearest team leader or partner as soon as possible.