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The ‘death zone’ is known in the mountaineering community as the altitude above sea level where the quantity of oxygen in the air we breathe is lower than the minimum that the human body cells require to live. Therefore, above that altitude the human body would start deteriorating and in some unfortunate cases this can lead to death.
This happens at altitudes above 8,000 meters and there are only 14 mountains above that level. There are two strategies to deal with the death zone, if you are trying to summit of these mountains. The first is to use artificial oxygen, it is simple, the lack of oxygen is replaced with bottled oxygen through your stay into the death zone. This strategy is widely used in the Himalayas and Karakorum, especially for the commercial expeditions. This method does not remove the technical difficulty of that particular mountain or the physical and mental endeavor that is required to get to the summit, but certainly makes it more easy, and some believe it to be a form of cheating.
For those who do not what to take with them bottled oxygen to the mountain, the strategy is to make their stay in the death zone as short as possible. For that a high altitude camp would be installed in the death zone threshold area. Physical and mental preparation are extremely important, as well as a very good acclimatization, as, without it, the stay in the death zone could last only minutes before developing high altitude sickness. Then you would wait for a window of good weather and try to assault the summit and get back to the high camp within 12 hours or less, if possible, sometimes it can take longer, but for sure you would avoid spending a night in the death zone.
The Pyrenees are not so high and dealing with lack of oxygen in the air will not be a problem. However, even at 3,400 meters people can develop altitude sickness, if the body does not acclimatize properly to sudden changes in altitude and pressure. For that reason, we will be progressively gaining altitude from our first day at Barcelona, and then moving to the base camp at El Poblado, etc. Keeping our bodies hydrated will always help and being fit for purpose, as well.
I am looking forward to my first trip to the Pyrenees and hope to meet the Lions team very soon.