Facing acute hypoxia: from the mountains to critical care medicine

<span class="paragraphSection">It was not until 1978 that, after many unsuccessful attempts, the summit of Mount Everest (8850 m) was reached by climbers breathing only ambient air. This challenge was first accomplished by Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner. Their intriguing success renewed interest in high-altitude physiology and medicine, especially because in the preceding 60 yr a number of physiologists and high-altitude climbers had predicted that it would never be possible to conquer this peak without the aid of supplemental oxygen. This view was based on the assumption that the inspired oxygen partial pressure (PO2) of ∼43 mm Hg<a href="#aew407-B1" class="reflinks">¹</a> at the summit of Mount Everest was at, or even below, the limit of human tolerance to hypoxia at rest, leaving no oxygen available for physical work.</span>

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