The original version of this article was published on ExplorersWeb.
A group of commercial Everest climbers plan to complete their climb in a week by chemically boosting their acclimatization and performance using a new method: They will sip xenon gas just before the climb and then push straight for the summit.
While traditional alpinists bemoan the further touristification of Everest, clients with more money than time could view the method as a perfect solution.
Yet the implications go well beyond Mount Everest.
What Is Xenon Gas?
Xenon, an inert gas often used as an anesthetic, apparently has the side effect of radically increasing the body’s production of EPO (erythropoietin, a hormone that regulates a healthy level of red blood cells). Xenon helps red blood cells multiply without acclimatizing or injecting a synthetic version of the hormone.
A small group of Furtenbach Adventures clients plan to fly to Kathmandu this spring when forecasts announce a weather window. There, they will receive xenon therapy in a clinic before flying to Everest Base Camp for an immediate summit push. The team explained the new approach to Simon Usborne in a piece published over the weekend in the Financial Times.
The plan is to climb Everest in 3 days, with full oxygen and sherpa support. They have scheduled one more day for the descent.
In the Name of Safety
Lukas Furtenbach confirmed the plan to ExplorersWeb, and said he’s prepared for a backlash from some in the mountaineering community.
Over the last few years, the Austrian guide has specialized in “flash expeditions.” Before clients even arrive in the Himalayas, they’re given hypoxic training, which uses cutting-edge equipment to help acclimate their bodies. By combining that training with even more technology used to aid during the actual climb, many paid clients can now pull off the entire trip — including the Everest summit — in 3 weeks.
Climbers are also constantly monitored during the summit push, Furtenbach added.
“We do this to prevent HAPE and HACE [pulmonary and cerebral edema], like any other way of acclimatizing, not to enhance performance,” Furtenbach said. “Ultimately, it is about increasing safety. Better acclimatization equals better altitude sickness prevention, and less exposure time on the mountain equals a safer expedition. if people are against it, they are against improving safety on the mountain.”
At high altitudes, speed is life, as climbers Inaki Ochoa de Olza and Ueli Steck used to say (both later died in mountain accidents). Moreover, the potentially lethal effects of exposure to altitude go beyond HAPE and HACE. The more time one spends at altitude, the higher the chances of frostbite, exhaustion, and mental impairment.
However, it’s also true that shorter expeditions reduce costs for outfitters and appeal to a new niche of wealthy clients. Furtenbach charges his xenon climbers $154,000. That’s mostly because xenon gas is extremely pricey: A 30-minute session costs $5,000 per person, according to the Financial Times.
Experimental Treatment
Furtenbach became a believer in xenon therapy after using it on Aconcagua in 2000. The idea was a suggestion from Michael Fries, a German anesthesiologist.
“A small team of us, including me, have used it for five years on different mountains,” Furtenbach said. “Among them are Aconcagua, Everest, and Lhotse. We will start using it with clients in 2025. I am not aware of anyone else having the experience, knowledge, and technical equipment for this treatment.”
However, taking xenon would be problematic for many professional athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has included xenon in its list of prohibited items in professional sports, for example. According to WADA, a substance needs to meet two of the following three criteria to be added to the list of prohibited substances:
- It has the potential to enhance performance
- It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athletes
- It violates the spirit of sport
WADA specifically prohibits the use of erythropoietin-receptor antagonists like EPO and variants, and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activating agents, such as xenon and some others.
Even without taking xenon gas, modern strategies like hypoxic training have reduced the amount of time needed to acclimate and reliably reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain. One of the clients of Alpenglow, another popular guiding service, completed a 2019 Everest trip in 14 days.
The company’s CEO, Adrian Ballinger, said he was proud of that achievement. He explained that the client had used hypoxic training “but no banned performance [substances] like EPO, xenon, or even dexamethasone.”
“I don’t use such drugs as a professional climber, and I hold my clients to the same standards,” Ballinger said.
‘No Doping in Mountaineering’
“I don’t use such drugs as a professional climber, and I hold my clients to the same standards,” Ballinger said.
For Furtenbach, doping is not applicable to high-altitude mountaineering. “It’s not an organized sport, so there’s technically no doping in mountaineering,” Furtenbach told the Financial Times.
Ballinger, on the other hand, believes that mountaineering should keep the same no-doping standards as other endurance sports like cycling or trail running.
“There is also a safety issue,” Ballinger said. “Banned substances like EPO involve risks, and with the limited rescue resources on the upper sections of Everest, that risk becomes huge. [With xenon,] it’s like running a scientific experiment with clients, which makes pretty interesting decision-making for a guide.”
But Furtenbach defended xenon’s record: “This gas has been used in anesthesia for more than 40 years. Countless studies show that it has no negative side effects, even with much higher doses than we are applying.”
As for the Kathmandu clinic where the treatment will be supplied, Furtenbach said the location varies, but it will always provide a full clinical setup.
WADA specifically prohibits the use of erythropoietin-receptor antagonists like EPO and variants, and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activating agents, such as xenon and some others.
Reactions From Climbing Community
Other Everest expedition leaders contacted by ExplorersWeb were unaware of the xenon treatments.
“We had no news about the issue,” said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions in Nepal.
Garret Madison of the U.S. was also “personally shocked” after reading the article: “I don’t offer performance-enhancing drugs to my clients,” he said.
The evolution of commercial climbing in higher mountains has repeatedly shown a focus on getting clients to the summit as fast, safely, and comfortably as possible. And they are willing to pay hefty sums to eliminate any uncertainty from the equation.
U.S. blogger Alan Arnette, who climbed Everest in 2011 on Madison’s team, shared his opinion against fast expeditions and favors instead to “celebrate the journey, not just the outcome [and embrace] the spirit of expedition climbing.”
However, the evolution of commercial climbing in higher mountains has repeatedly shown a focus on getting clients to the summit as quickly, safely, and comfortably as possible. While alpinists think of adventure when imagining a trip to the Himalaya, upscale 21st-century clients want to eliminate adventure from the equation. They are willing to pay hefty sums to eliminate any uncertainty.
Are Drugs a New Normal for Alpinism?
Mountaineers surreptitiously taking substances that are forbidden in regulated sports is not new. The use of EPO has been a constant rumor in base camps for over a decade, according to ExplorersWeb.
Many climbers take all kinds of pills before showing symptoms of the illnesses these medications are typically prescribed for. Other climbers inject dexamethasone (the emergency drug used in cases of acute high-altitude sickness) not only to save their lives but also sometimes merely to continue their summit ascent.
While anti-doping rules may not technically apply to extreme mountaineering, the rise of drug therapies to combat altitude raises many questions about the future of alpinism.
