Thursday, July 05, 2007

More on oxygen

It appears that only plants can pull oxygen out of water (I've misplaced the reference) animals - not even fish - don't. Animals depend on the plants to secret oxygen similar to plants waiting on us to give them CO2. No wonder I find myself thanking plants and trees as I start to come across them during a decent when I'm above treeline and really hurting from the lack of air pressure.

This of course doesn't stop some bright folks from selling oxygenated water. Wonder if it does any good? The only problem of course is that water is heavy. It's actually lighter to carry O2.

Maybe I'll just carry a plant with me - I'm sure weirder things have been done. :)

I was also toying with the idea of getting an inexpensive oximeter, but it seems like to get one that works at all I would have to spend about $200. There are claims that the $60 one aren't accurate at all. (Not sure if I believe that.) While it would be interesting, I don't really feel like I need it.

I'm really looking forward to this climb. I'm in shap for it (assuming I don't completely slack off this month) and I have the climbing skills to get up the steep class 3 section of the route near the summit, and I have the time to chill for a day if I need to.

The only thing left is to figure out food.

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