Correspondence - ICO Library

-19-
Binocular Vision & Correspondence FIRST Quarter of 2011
Strabology Quarterly©
Volume 26 (No.1):
A Medical Scientific e-Periodical Page 03-20
PS emails:
----- Original Message -----
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Paul E.
Romano, BV&SQ
wrote: to David Coats, after receiving and
reading his foregoing account of his climb.:
I keep re reading your account...
[fantastic vicarious experience !].
You make no mention of O2?
and how long have you been
training for this? what did that
involve?
and how in Gods name did you all
make it up 3500 vertical feet in one
day - at that altitude? that alone is
the vertical height of a major ski
mountain! and probably several
times steeper like all double black
diamonds, Uphill, no? you were
only barely acclimated to 18000
feet (only 2x keystone ! )
Unbelievable...
we plan to publish several Google
pics of that monster mountain we
found on your referenced website
along with your story... too.
how close did you get to the
canaleta? we have maps of the
summit and trails and will try to plot
your route...
I have read National Geographic
for fifty years and recall no story on
this mountain. (my memory takes
the fifth.)
p.
From: David Coats
To: Paul E. Romano, BV&SQ
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 7:12 PM
Hey Paul,You must have been asleep at the
wheel; then again, why would you need to
know about this mountain unless you were
going to climb it. About 3000 people
reportedly attempt Aconcagua annually; it is
a very popular mountain! I trained by
carrying a 60 pound pack up and down the
22 flights of stairs in my building for an
hour or more a few times a week since
September. On the weekends, I went to a
local park where I found the only hill in
Houston and I hiked with my pack, boots,
etc up and down that hill for hours until I
had no more energy or I was bored which
ever came first--usually the boredom. I often
pulled a sled behind me for a bit of extra
resistance to better simulate climbing.
As far as the O2 levels go, we mitigated this
problem by moving slowly. Last hour of
summit day, for example, it took maybe 3-5
breaths for each step. Nevertheless, many
days the climbing was brutal; just the way I
like it. Only real problem related to the low
O2 was sleep the night before the summit. I
could not sleep due to Cheyne-Stokes
respiration related to the low O2; hence I
had a taste of what it would be like to have
sleep apnea. My %SpO2 that night was 72.
For your interest, the route from high
camp to the summit followed the northwest
ridge, then crossed the Cresta del Viento
(Windy Crest). From there we did a very
long traverse of the upper part of the Gran
Acarreo, [see earlier photo page 10 ]which