Science on Mount Everest
Physicist, speaker, writer and adventurer Dr Melanie Windridge is attempting to climb Mount Everest this spring, and plans to carry out science communication from the highest place on earth.
Supported by a grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry’s outreach fund, Melanie is making a film about the chemistry of high-tech outdoor clothing, and this will form part of a series of videos about the science and technology being used for Everest expeditions.
Melanie spoke to us about her hopes for the climb, and about the amazing links between mountaineering, science, history and culture.
Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?
I just think it’s fascinating. It’s the highest point on the planet, so that makes it geographically interesting, and because of that people have wanted to climb it for a long time, so it’s historically and culturally interesting as well.
When I was just out of university I went trekking in the Annapurnas in Nepal but I never went to Everest base camp, because I kind of knew I didn’t want to go to Everest until I was ready. It sounds weird now because back then Everest was just an incredible dream – I would never have even considered actually climbing it.
And then, by 2013, I’d done some more climbing and some expeditions at altitude, and suddenly I realised this was something I could actually do. I had the chance to do something incredible.
Are you scared?
No, not at the moment, but I have been! When I first realised that I wanted to do it I was scared and I almost wished I hadn’t got the opportunity. But I just thought "Now I think I can do this I don’t want to walk away."
When you start thinking about death and that kind of thing, yes it is scary and yes it is upsetting. But I feel like I came through that and I’m more excited than scared now.
Why did you want to tell the story of the science of Everest?
I wanted to share the excitement of the science in a new, interesting context. When I started looking into the history of Everest, I realised that the reason they finally succeeded in summiting in 1953, where they had failed in the 20s and 30s, was very much due to the science and technology that they had available.
For example on the 1953 expedition there was a physiologist called Griffith Pugh who did a lot of work into high-altitude physiology and acclimatisation. He did oxygen experiments on the climbers, including Edmund Hillary – I don’t think they liked it much! He helped design the clothing and the nutrition plans, and he worked out the optimal flow of oxygen through the breathing apparatus.
It’s interesting how science and exploration drive each other, and I want to tell those stories, including the stories of how technology has changed things more recently. And I think the best way to tell stories is to experience things – because you can’t really tell things truly and accurately if you haven’t experienced them.
I also hope that by telling these stories I can show young people especially where science can lead – it’s not just a lab job or a teaching job, although those are great too. You could work for a ski company or a clothing company or a communications company. There are so many interesting applications for science.
Do you think the advances in clothing technology and mountaineering equipment have had an impact on our daily life?
Almost certainly, and it goes both ways – some things that were developed outside mountaineering, such as communications technologies, have proved very useful in a mountain environment.
Clothing is a good example because a lot of lightweight waterproof and windproof fabrics were developed for extreme conditions, but they actually improve our comfort in daily life as well.
Another thing we learn from the mountains is an understanding of how our bodies perform at altitude, where there’s not much oxygen. A lot of people who die in intensive care die from hypoxia – lack of oxygen – but it’s not well understood. It’s difficult to isolate and study the effects of hypoxia in a situation where people are already ill with lots of different things. But when you take healthy people to altitude you can study how their bodies react in response to the oxygen deprivation, and this provides information that helps save lives in intensive care.
What are you looking forward to the most?
Just being there. I want to look up and see the view of Everest. And I’m looking forward to going beyond basecamp and into the Western Cwm. I want to see the mountain up close.
I want to see the mountain. I want to be there. I want to see how far I can get. And I want to come home – that’s main thing!
What are you looking forward to the least?
The Icefall – I’m scared of that. It will be beautiful and interesting but I just don’t want anything to fall on my head!
Follow Melanie on her website, on Twitter, or on Facebook and keep an eye on our social media channels as we’ll be sharing updates from her as well.
She is also crowd-funding for some of her videos. If you’d like to help the campaign inspire as many young people as possible, you can donate through her JustGiving page.
Melanie’s team will be sharing updates over the course of her climb and her videos will be going out on YouTube before and after the expedition. As well as the video about the chemistry of clothing, there will be others about weather forecasting, oxygen, fitness and more.
Watch her first video, about statistics and preparation, below.
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