Touch The Sky, Touch Cloth - The Flatulence of High Altitude Trekking (819 hits)
Category: Science & EnvironmentalRating: 1.73 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by phuzzygish (View user info) at 2005-11-24 19:58:32 EST
First off, forgive the typing. I´m sitting in a small internet cafe, on dial up, with the world´s worst keyboard, in a place called Huaraz, Central Peru, 3090 metres up from the level of the sea.
And I´m typing a post for bloody Uber. Jeebus.
Anyway.
I´m broken. I have never felt more tired, more sore, more utterly exhausted. My calves, quads, hammies, shins are on fire. I´m chafed, windburned, sunburned and bitten.
And I have never felt more alive.
I doubt I´ll ever be able to describe, to share, to put into words the experience I´ve had in the last five days, but I´m going to give it a bash...
Starting out from a tiny little one-donkey village called Cashapampa, we headed off into the Cordillera Blanca. The Andes. A BIG fucking mountain range. We went from 2900 metres up, and on the first day climbed a couple hundred metres to camp out in a glacial valley the looked as though God threw a grenade into a mountain. Brutal, but beautiful brutality, something I´ve never experienced before. Almost like Celebrity Deathmatch.
We felt it then, the suroche, the altitude sickness; a buzzing in the ears, shortness of breath, nausea, vague hallucinations. Luckily, we were prepared - I´d gone and braved the Huarascan market place for Coca leaves, dried up bits of not cocaine that you boil up and drink, making some sort of beverage that smells like grass clippings and tastes like feet.
We weren´t quite prepared for the effects of said Coca Mate, combined with being high up in the mountains. Yes, it deals with suroche. Yes, it scours out your colon like a wire. But yes, it also amplifies Boyles Law in a way no guide book ever tells you about.
I´ll explain: If you´ve ever gone down to the coast from altitude with an inflatable boat or put a bottle of fluid into your main luggage on a airplane flight, you´ll know what I´m talking about. The pressure of a gas inside a closed object will increase as the gas expands. The gas will expand inside the object as it travels higher in altitude.
I have climbed to Punta Union at 4950 metres. I have trekked Santa Cruz in snow and raging wind. I have gone higher on terra firma than I ever thought I would go, and probably ever will go again. I have felt the exhilaration of walking the Peruvian Andes, in one of the most enlightening, enlivening weeks of my life.
I have also discovered that when the gas inside a human body expands at altitude, it comes out in comparatively exponential volumes.
Which makes for some interesting moments in a tent.
User Reviews
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-08-23 14:00:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus christ that's beautiful.
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2005-11-25 11:16:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hope you don't mind, but I'm now using that pic as my background.
That's fucking awesome.
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2005-11-25 05:54:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Plus fucking 2 phuzzy.
That is a quality pic. Makes my photos from Ben Nevis (Scotland) look like I'm on an ant hill in comparison.
There is no better feeling than being out in the wilderness. Even after a couple of days out of the city, I find my appetite increases, I'm in a better mood etc etc.
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2005-11-25 05:27:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
wow
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2005-11-25 05:14:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What a fucking view.
It totally deserves the huge pic.
-Dave
Submitted by Barnymeinhoff (user info) at 2005-11-25 04:47:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hard Fucking Core.
Submitted by sinna (user info) at 2005-11-25 04:40:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck me, a life size mountain pic.
Submitted by Fabit (user info) at 2005-11-25 03:50:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good work bru, glad you're havin fun, we're all missing you!
Submitted by The_Cyst_Master (user info) at 2005-11-25 00:23:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Resize giant fucking beautiful pic!
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2005-11-24 23:25:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+ a fucking billion.
I am trying to link up with interested parties for a Patagonia trip in 2007.
See my post "calling nature people"
Submitted by yeahthatme (user info) at 2005-11-24 21:44:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah, the pic is huge, but it's a nice pic. I'm glad you're feeling so alive.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2005-11-24 21:28:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-11-24 21:16:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
mmmmmmmmmmmm
You had me at chafed
<drools>
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2005-11-24 20:52:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Screw the haters. I really liked this.
Congratz on the summit.
Submitted by sizzlemctwizzle (user info) at 2005-11-24 20:15:30 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Bored out of my fuckin mind
Submitted by phuzzygish (user info) at 2005-11-24 19:59:52 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Fukkit that´s huge. Sorry about that...