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Edmund Hillary has altitude sickness
07/05/2001 08:09 - (SA)
Wellington, New Zealand - Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, has been struck with altitude sickness while doing charity work in the Himalayan mountains.
Sir Edmund, 81, who flew back to New Zealand to recuperate, said on Monday recurring bouts of altitude sickness won't stop him from working in the Nepalese mountains he loves.
He was hospitalised recently in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, for five days after becoming ill at 2440 metres. He was
treated for fluid on the lungs before returning to New Zealand.
"I'm still lethargic," he said. "I'm not my normal energetic self by any means, but I am very much improved."
Sir Edmund has been flown out of the mountains on a number of
occasions over the years suffering fluid on the lungs as a result
of altitude sickness.
He said on Monday he had a plan to use a helicopter and an oxygen
bottle to fly back to the Himalayas, which he acknowledged would be
completely against the advice of the doctors in Kathmandu.
"Really it's a bit of a gamble. I will probably give it a go, I
think. If we don't feel too good then we will turn around and come
back," he said.
Sir Edmund, who gained world-wide fame when he scaled Everest with
local sherpa Tenzing Norgay, described his susceptibility to
altitude sickness as a mystery.
"I used to have exceptional acclimatisation ability, but over the
decades it has gone downhill. I'm fast approaching 82 now so I
can't expect too much."
The Himalayan Trust, established in the region by Sir Edmund, has
built about 30 schools in the mountain villages of Nepal. The
teachers, village volunteers who have never been trained, are paid
by the government and subsidised by the Himalayan Trust.
- Sapa-AP
- SAPA
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