Elite Mountaineer Defends the Use of Xenon Gas to Enhance Safety

Acclimatizing traditionally consists of climbing mountains slowly - incrementally attaining higher and higher altitudes, then returning to lower altitudes to rest and prepare for another rotation at elevated altitudes. This preparation takes weeks prior to an 8,000-meter climb.

Through ‘acclimatizing’, the body produces red cells at an amplified rate and allows the body to become more efficient with less air. Mountaineers seeking to reduce the time of an expedition have experimented with many methods, including the use of hypoxic tents.

Angela Benavides reported in an Article for ExplorersWeb that elite mountaineer Lukas Furtenbach believes he has found a way to climb Mt. Everest, and other 8,000-meter peaks, in approximately one week with the use of Xenon gas. The drug increases the human body’s natural production of red blood cells and EPO. Now the debate gets interesting and heated.

Furtenbach believes the gas improves safety, while critics believe it aids performance and strays from alpinist purity. Furtenbach points to his climbing and guiding record as evidence of his safety credentials – as reported in ExplorersWeb.

“We are the only major Everest operator without any fatalities,” he says. “We have the highest safety standards and strictest safety protocols in this industry. Safety of climbers and staff is our No. 1 priority.”

Furtenbach points out that the use of Xenon gas contributes to a broad acclimatization strategy developed over years of pursuing faster expeditions through hypoxic training. His efforts have resulted in successful expeditions on Everest, Manaslu, Broad Peak and Ama Dablam.

“We have worked with hypoxic systems since 2001, and we had the first successful ‘flash’ expeditions in Pakistan and China more than 15 years ago,” Furtenbach explained. “Then we started with flash expeditions on Everest in 2016, and they have all been successful.”

Furtenbach will push the speed envelope this spring on Mount Everest. While his company will put seven teams on Everest, only one team will attempt the summit in one week with the aid of Xenon gas, and the use of a customized hypoxic sleeping protocol and Intermittent Hypoxic Training (“IHT”).

They will not acclimatize in the mountains. The climbers will wait for an adequate ‘weather window’ and then fly to Everest Base Camp and go for the summit in one push. In addition to their treatments, each of the climbers will use supplemental oxygen and Sherpa support on the climb.

“The [Xenon] gas treatment is done for enhanced acclimatization, not for enhanced performance,” Furtenbach insists. “The gas treatment is neither illegal, nor doping, nor dangerous. It does the same thing that a hypoxic tent does, just quicker.”

“I would never do anything that would involve an additional risk,” Furtenbach insists. “I see people dying on Everest every year. They die on traditional guided expeditions. They die in teams that are now raising safety concerns over our operation.”

“The FIS (International Ski Federation) lists oxygen as a prohibited substance for athletes, and WADA [“World Anti-Doping Agency”] is discussing including it as well,” he said. “In Italy, hypoxic tents and all forms of hypoxic training were prohibited by the national WADA organization until 2024! Yet the ones who point their fingers at us are using hypoxic tents and oxygen — both prohibited by WADA — for their clients. We are having a highly hypocritical discussion.”

“If we talk about doping in mountaineering, we need to start in the 20th century,” he says. “Hermann Buhl and his contemporaries used Pervitin (Methamphetamine) and other substances to enhance their performance during their first ascents of 8,000m peaks. We need to talk about the use of Diamox, Dexamethasone, cocaine, Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, NSAIDs, sleeping pills, codeine, asthma inhalers, Viagra, and many, many more drugs used in climbing today…And we are not even speaking about bottled oxygen.” 

“Acclimatization in real altitude, acclimatization in simulated altitude (hypoxic tents) and acclimatization with Xenon gas are all tools. Tools to be able to survive in a hypoxic environment for a certain time…Bottled oxygen is also a tool to survive as long as necessary to reach the top and come down safely, without damaging your brain and other organs.”

Furtenbach truly believes his use of Xenon gas and other acclimatization techniques simply improve safety through invention and evolution.

“Imagine an F1 race without safety tools like ABS or HALO on a modern F1 car. Is F1 still a race in the old-fashioned sense, even though the risk of dying is much lower than 50 years ago? Imagine ski touring without an avalanche beacon or an airbag…Imagine sport climbs without bolts. Science and technology improve safety. It is called progress.” 

“Reinhold Messner goes so far as to say that real alpinism [has to include] a chance of dying. If the spirit lies in the danger…then I obviously have a 100% different approach to expedition climbing. For me and my clients, dying is not an option. For me, dying is NOT part of the game when you climb mountains for the joy of it.” Related Article