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acute mountain sickness

HAPE: What it Actually is and How to Avoid it

HAPE Hyperbaric Chamber

High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, or HAPE for short, is something every hiker wants to avoid at all costs. HAPE is a life-threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema. Mayoclinic.org says this happens when you gain elevation at a rapid rate and your lungs start to constrict, causing increased pressure. This increase in pressure causes fluid to leak to your lung tissue […]

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Artur | February 1, 2021
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Moving On Up: Elevation Immigration Possess Health Risks

  As COVID impacts people around the country. We are seeing lowland dwellers moving into mountain towns, unaware that they are stepping into thin air. Summit County in Colorado is seeing a boom of new residents moving in. The county has an elevation range of 7,947ft to 14,270ft.  At those elevations, people can suffer from three types of altitude sickness. […]

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Cameron Griffin | February 20, 2020
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The #1 Killer at Altitude: High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (H.A.P.E.)

Oh Oxygen

  One of the number one killers at altitude, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), is not well understood and affects individuals who are otherwise physically fit. It sounds a bit illusive, doesn’t it? An individual’s susceptibility to the illness and its direct cause may not be fully grasped, but we do know what it is and the sings and symptoms […]

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Jenah MacGrain | October 20, 2017
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HAPE: The Leading Killer at High Altitudes

High Alpine Mountaineering

Reports often come out about people passing away in the mountains due to altitude sickness.  Altitude sickness, otherwise known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), is when you feel like you came down with the flu or have a hangover, due to less oxygen being at higher elevations.  However, altitude sickness does not cause death, but it can lead to more […]

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Mitch McDermott | October 1, 2017
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High Altitude Pulmonary Edema: The #1 Altitude Sickness Killer

HAPE symptoms

High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, also known as HAPE, is the deadliest but least understood acute mountain sickness killer and can be deadly within hours of experiencing symptoms.  HAPE is a build up of liquid in the lungs which makes it difficult for the affected person to breath properly do to quick elevation gains. When a person who is susceptible to […]

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Brian Werner | October 1, 2017
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Altitude Sickness | How to Recognise, Cure and Prevent Severe Acute Mountain Sickness

altitude sickness, hape, hace, climbing, mountaineering, everest, death zone

There are two ways of categorizing death at altitude; traumatic and non-traumatic. Traumatic deaths occur from the usual hazards of mountaineering; falls, avalanches, and extreme weather. They usually occur lower down rather than high up, and are quite unusual. It’s more likely that climbers die from non-traumatic causes, most notably altitude-related illnesses.  Altitude sickness has three forms. Mild altitude sickness is called acute mountain sickness […]

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Steven Agar | August 21, 2017
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HAPE: No One is Immune

Hikers on Mountain

According to an investigation report in the Academic Forensic Pathology journal published in 2018, an estimated 30 million people travel to high elevations every year in the western United States alone. Every single time a person travels to high elevations, they put themselves at risk for experiencing high-altitude pulmonary edema, more commonly known as HAPE. This sometimes-overlooked high-altitude illness (HAI) […]

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Liam Abbott | December 8, 2016
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