Nick Talbot becomes the first person with cystic fibrosis to climb Mount Everest

jagged-globe.co.uk | May 16 , 2016

A cystic fibrosis sufferer from County Durham has become the first person living with the condition to summit Mount Everest.
It is an astonishing achievement for 39-year-old Nick Talbot who was almost killed on the mountain last year when an avalanche struck.
Nick and his team conquered the world’s tallest mountain late on Thursday (12th may) night and are currently making their way back down.
Last year he nearly died when an earthquake triggered an avalanche, leaving him seriously injured and killing his friend Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive. Mr Talbot was left with broken ribs, cuts, bruising, and worst of all hypothermia, which badly affected his lungs.
Keith Talbot, 67, told the Telegraph: "I think it's absolutely astonishing because no one with cystic fibrosis has been to this altitude before so no one really knew how badly it might affect someone."
He added: "Both Gay [Nick's mother] and I tried to talk him out of it last year, after he was so badly injured but it lasted about five minutes and it became very apparent he was going back."
Cystic fibrosis sufferers have problems with breathing and digestion because their lungs become clogged with a thick mucus.
Speaking to the Telegraph ahead of his climb, Mr Talbot, now a director of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, said he hoped the medication would make it easier than when he conquered Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world, in 2011.
His intensive six-month training for the Everest climb involved running up the 12 flights of stairs to his top floor London flat with weights attached to his ankles.
He said it was about "putting yourself through a lot of duress and building up your leg muscles; but not too much because it’s a real trade off.
"You need a lot of muscle to get up there, but equally, the more muscle you have, the more oxygen you need. It’s a difficult thing to balance."
Even at peak physical fitness, he found himself struggling at high altitude. He wrote in his blog: "It took me quite a number of breaths for each step and as anticipated I went from being one of the stronger team members to a very slow one.
"This seems to happen once over 6,000m as despite my deliberately high fitness level I can’t overcome the increasingly thin oxygen levels forever."

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