The dream of achieving the extreme has always appeal to the human race. But extremes are things such as flying, bungee jumping and most importantly summiting large mountains like Everest.
Like any type of extreme summiting mountains do have their set backs. Dangerous things like losing amounts of oxygen, frost bite and "mountain sickness".
The earliest known written account was taken in the first few decades of the first century A.D. The account was written by a general in the time of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty. The general wrote about the sever headaches that people experienced. In this time people were not lured to mountain climbing because of the thrill but because of military campaigns and most importantly hunting and trade.
During the years of 602-664 A.D, the worlds "first mountaineer" Xang Zang, wrote of his travels to the high mountains. Dr.Houston uncovered these writing and found and outstanding remarks. Intrestingly enough Xang Zang referred to the cold, harsh weather and mountain sickness as a fierce dragon. Because of this belief people were advised never to wear red garments and if these rules were in the slightest way violated, disaster would happen.
In more recent times, a spanish Jesuit priest(Jose de Costa) in Peru during1590, wrote of the ill effects that he observed to his companions in a high mountain pass in the Andes. He wrote of the harsh coughing and the green and yellow mucus that was spit up along with blood.
Later on 1850 the "full swing of flying was in act". This lead to ballooning. In 1862 a hot air balloon manned by Sir James Glaisher and a companion flew about to the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest. The written account by Glaisher describes in detail about his experience, up until the point where he became unconscious. He wrote about how his arms started to feel heavy and unable to move and his world was spinning.
In 1875 humans realized that the higher altitude the harder it is to breath. So people started to test their capabilities. One of these tests included people testing their abilities to withstand higher altitude.
In 1891 what I believe as a breakthrough arose. On september 2, 1891 author Dr. Houston wrote about a tragic day in the Mont Blanc Mts. "a young French physician lay desperately ill high on Mont Blanc. He had hurried up from the village of Chamonix to help build a new observatory. The next day he climbed to the summit(4,800 meters), and within 24 -hours wrote to his brother that, due to mountain sickness, he had never passed so terrible night. He died three days after arrival, a victim of altitude, and was called 'a martyr to science.' His is the first well-documented case of high altitude pulmonary edema"
Like any type of extreme summiting mountains do have their set backs. Dangerous things like losing amounts of oxygen, frost bite and "mountain sickness".
The earliest known written account was taken in the first few decades of the first century A.D. The account was written by a general in the time of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty. The general wrote about the sever headaches that people experienced. In this time people were not lured to mountain climbing because of the thrill but because of military campaigns and most importantly hunting and trade.
During the years of 602-664 A.D, the worlds "first mountaineer" Xang Zang, wrote of his travels to the high mountains. Dr.Houston uncovered these writing and found and outstanding remarks. Intrestingly enough Xang Zang referred to the cold, harsh weather and mountain sickness as a fierce dragon. Because of this belief people were advised never to wear red garments and if these rules were in the slightest way violated, disaster would happen.
In more recent times, a spanish Jesuit priest(Jose de Costa) in Peru during1590, wrote of the ill effects that he observed to his companions in a high mountain pass in the Andes. He wrote of the harsh coughing and the green and yellow mucus that was spit up along with blood.
Later on 1850 the "full swing of flying was in act". This lead to ballooning. In 1862 a hot air balloon manned by Sir James Glaisher and a companion flew about to the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest. The written account by Glaisher describes in detail about his experience, up until the point where he became unconscious. He wrote about how his arms started to feel heavy and unable to move and his world was spinning.
In 1875 humans realized that the higher altitude the harder it is to breath. So people started to test their capabilities. One of these tests included people testing their abilities to withstand higher altitude.
In 1891 what I believe as a breakthrough arose. On september 2, 1891 author Dr. Houston wrote about a tragic day in the Mont Blanc Mts. "a young French physician lay desperately ill high on Mont Blanc. He had hurried up from the village of Chamonix to help build a new observatory. The next day he climbed to the summit(4,800 meters), and within 24 -hours wrote to his brother that, due to mountain sickness, he had never passed so terrible night. He died three days after arrival, a victim of altitude, and was called 'a martyr to science.' His is the first well-documented case of high altitude pulmonary edema"
