Safety18 April 20266 min read
Why we carry more oxygen than we need
Eight bottles for each climber, and spares at every camp. The arithmetic of a safe summit day.
Words by Dr. Tomas Reiner
A summit day on Everest from the South Col uses three bottles of oxygen at a flow of three to four litres a minute. Most companies plan for that. We plan for the day going wrong: a slow climber, a stuck queue, a long wait at the Hillary Step.
Every climber has eight bottles on the mountain, and every Sherpa partner carries a spare on summit day. It costs more. It also means nobody has to choose between turning the flow down and turning round.
