Kenyan mountaineer embarks on daring quest to summit Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen

A Kenyan mountaineer has embarked on a daring quest to attempt a summit of the Mt. Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Cheruiyot Kirui, a banker working with KCB, will attempt to summit the earth’s highest mountain above sea level in his quest to test the limitations of the human body.

"Climbing Everest has been done before. I think the only difference is what I'm trying to do, climbing without supplemental oxygen. That has not been done by any African. It's the tough way to climb Mt Everest,” he told reporters.

“It is riskier than climbing with supplemental oxygen. So you need to be extremely fit. The success rate of climbing without supplemental oxygen is less than 40 per cent.”

At 8,849 metres, Everest’s summit has approximately one-third the air pressure that exists at sea level.

This significantly reduces a climber's ability to breathe in enough oxygen. Because of this, scientists have determined that the human body is not capable of remaining indefinitely above 6,000 metres.

The banker added that climbing with supplemental oxygen will be quite easy, and that is not what he wants.

“The challenge for me would be without supplemental oxygen; otherwise, I wouldn't feel like I've achieved much. So I want to see how my body can cope in such altitude,” Kirui said.

“Climbers who ascend higher than 8,000 metres on Mt. Everest enter the ‘death zone.’ In this area, oxygen is so limited that the body's cells start to die, and judgment becomes impaired.”

He added: "There, your body is not structured to survive with that oxygen concentration, which is around a third of what is at sea level. The idea is that when you are there, you get to the summit as fast as possible and then down before your body starts shutting down or dying."

Summiting Mt. Everest requires a lot of experience in mountaineering elsewhere, a certificate of good health, equipment and a trained Nepalese guide.

The snow and ice on the mountain create deadly hazards, such as avalanches, and there is only a limited climbing season due to bad weather conditions.

Kirui says he would conquer that with him being in good shape.

“You have to be in really good shape to be able to get to the summit and down before your body shuts down,” he stated.

The mountain, which lies at a latitude of about 28 degrees, straddles the borders of Nepal and China.

Kirui developed this passion during a work boot camp at Outward Bound Training Centre in Kajiado County.

In 2014, he climbed Mt Kenya during the Easter holidays and Kilimanjaro. He has now climbed Mt Kenya more than 15 times.

"I've lost count. The last two weekends, I climbed Mt Kenya. The next two weekends, I'll be there still. I climb up and down in less than seven hours. It has become relatively easier over the years," he said.