(Picture: Recording Li Hui’s O2 sat and heart rate)

We have moved on, right on schedule to Tingri this morning after a 4-hr drive.

Tingri, at a height of approximately 4370m, is the final populated town before Cho Oyu base camp. Tingri is a quaint settlement with rudimentary facilities and surprisingly fantastic food! We had heard so much about not being to eat well on the expedition, but the food we had at Tingri far surpassed our expectations and contributed much to our general good spirits.

Another high point worth mentioning at this stage, is how well the team is doing physiologically. Since our arrival in Kathmandu, we have been faithfully measuring and recording our blood oxygen saturation percentage and resting heart rate in order to be able to better gauge our acclimatization.

In general, the higher the altitude, the lower the expected oxygen saturation rate in the blood as the body struggles to acclimatize. Concurrently, the expected resting heart rate increases, as the heart has to work harder to circulate the less-oxygenated blood around the body.

Thus, although our blood oxygen saturation percentage and resting heart rate have decreased and increased respectively, the readings are still better than expected and this is a sign that our bodies are adjusting well.

To illustrate better, we can compare the average blood oxygen saturation level at sea level and resting heart rate, against Li Hui’s readings:

Altitude/ Blood Oxygen Saturation %/Resting Heart Rate:

Average Adult
Sea level
98-99%
72 beats per minute

Team Member Li Hui’s Readings
Kathmandu 1500m
98%
62 beats per minute

Zhangmu 2300m
95%
65 beats per minute

Nyalam 3677m
90%
70 beats per minute

Tingri 4365m
89%
85 beats per minute