Everything A Sherpa Guide Carries To The Summit Of Everest | Inside Everest | Business Insider

Sherpa guides risk life and limb to make sure climbers safely reach the summit of Everest. To survive through bitter cold and perilous heights, they must choose the correct gear for each elevation. Here's everything a Sherpa guide needs to help climbers reach the highest point on Earth. The most important thing is the headlamp. Guides leave base camp as early as 3am. A headlamp is essential for surviving the pitch black climb. Oxygen is used from 7,500 to 8,000. If there's an emergency, it's used more than that. The longer you eat, the less oxygen you need. Getting stuck at a high elevation and running out of oxygen is a common cause of death on Everest. Knowing how to regulate oxygen use is a crucial skill for a guide. It keeps going up and up. This is zero. This is 0.5. This is 1.0. Sherpas use 0.5. Sherpas use 1.0 if they can't reach the top. The members eat 2.0 and 3.0. If they can't reach the top, they eat 4.0. Using something that's 0.5 takes 15-16 hours. Eating 4.0 takes 3-4 hours. It's important to wear glasses. Glasses help protect your eyes from the sun. They protect you for 24 hours. Glasses help your eyes heal. Snow blindness can occur quickly, damaging your eyes before you realise what's happening. And the higher you climb, the further you are from rescue. Crampons attach underneath climbers' boots and grip into the ice. Bust them by Sherpa makes it look easy, but this is something new climbers struggle to use. And the boots are just as important. Before base camp, climbers use regular hiking shoes. But to summit Everest, they need boots that are designed to be used above 8,000 metres. These can cost $1,000. High quality gear and the knowledge of how to use it is essential, because climbers entrust their lives to the harness, hardware and helmet. Guides also use an ice axe to climb technical terrain. As they ascend, climbers require different types of clothing to handle the increasingly harsh conditions. The down suit comes in a one or two piece. And it has a special zipper in the back for going to the bathroom. Climbers wear fleece-lined down gloves for low temperatures, but need another pair with better dexterity when using ropes. Climbers also need a sleeping bag that is designed to be used down to minus 40 degrees Celsius. The medicine kit includes things like antibiotics, altitude sickness tablets and bandages. This is a thermos. At high elevations, your ability to taste decreases, but climbers still need high-calorie foods to maintain their energy. Preferably ones that are also high in carbohydrates and antioxidants. In a few days, Bus Timba Sirpa will guide a group of climbers to the summit. Maintaining all of the equipment is key to a successful expedition. If you lose, you have to pay for the new equipment. So you have to buy everything yourself.