One horrifying TikTok video shows just how dangerous entering the suitably named 'death zone' on Mount Everest really is, as the impact it has on your body is not to be underestimated.
Millions of people across the world have 'climbing Mount Everest' – the tallest summit on the globe – on their bucket list, with around a thousand of those people attempting the incredibly dangerous journey each year.
It's certainly not for the faint of heart and requires an incredible amount of training in order to attempt as the risk of death is very real, but those who have managed to go all the way to the top and lived to tell the tale certainly seem to believe that the effort is worth it.
That's not to say that it's without any downsides though, as the physical strain it causes can have a significant impact on your health, with one 'terrifying' video shared on TikTok showing that in plain view.
Advert
17-year-old TikTok user Bianca Adler (bincaaadler) is quite the experienced climber despite her comparatively young age, and she's the youngest woman to have reached the summit of the 8,163 meter Manaslu and 6,812 meter Ama Dablam, and she decided to undertake the ultimate challenge earlier this month.
She started her attempt to reach the top of Mount Everest earlier this month with her dad, and has recently shared the extreme difficulty that she faced when attempting the mountain's 'death zone', which is the final 848.86 meter stretch before the summit that holds an oxygen pressure that's too low to sustain human life.
Its name is not an exaggeration either, as this last section of the mountain has directly caused numerous deaths both directly and indirectly, and staying there too long without the proper apparatus will lead to a deterioration of bodily functions.
Advert
Unfortunately the extreme conditions in the death zone meant that Bianca was unable to reach the mountain's summit, turning around roughly 400 meters before the peak.
"The winds were way too strong for what I believed was right for my own safety," she explained in an Instagram post. "I could feel my hands and toes going numb, the first step of frostbite. I couldn't see anything, there was snow blowing everwhere.
Advert
"It was an extremely tough decision, but I always want to choose life over a potential summit. I felt strong, like I could summit, and was devastated."
She did, however, decide to attempt the climb again the next night after returning to the fourth camp at around the 8,000 meter mark, but she once again had to turn around as she was too exhausted from the first climb.
She has since shared how the hours that she spent in the death zone has affected her body in a harrowing TikTok video, as the skin on her face is covered in blotches and she can barely get any words out as she struggles to breathe.
Advert
"I feel horrible, my throat and my lungs. I'm so out of breath, even though yesterday I was at 8,000 meters," she painfully explained in the video, and it's certainly a cautionary tale for any with serious aspirations of attempting the climb.
She also revealed that both her and her father – who had stayed down at the second camp while Bianca attempted the death zone – were both diagnosed with high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and dehydration, with the former being a life-threatening form of altitude sickness.