Originally Posted By: Harvey Lankford
This graph is the famous oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve. If standing on the top of Everest ( without using bottled O2) the horizontal PaO2 would be 25-30 range, incompatible with life. But on the vertical axis you see that with a high-altitude left-shifted curve, ones hemoglobin saturation % ("O2 sat") is a just barely life-possible 60%. I can tell you that it really doesn't feel good unless it is 75, and even that would be low enough to put you in the ICU back home.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Perfect Harvey smile I wish that I would have taken my O2 sat at the summit but quite frankly - I did not care!!!!
My focus was on getting back down to Camp 4 at 26,000 ft. It took 18.5 hours from Camp 4 - summit - back to Camp 4 (because of the crowds). Crazy stuff!