Everest in 7 days, “door to door”, thanks to xenon gas, the new delirium of busy businessmen

Always higher, and above all always faster on the Roof of the World! The final box to check in a CV worthy of the name, Everest should be able to be “done” in a short week thanks to xenon, a gas classified as a doping agent since 2014, making it possible to chemically stimulate its acclimatization and performance. Enough to save precious weeks for the most fortunate. Because, as we imagine, this new method is not given, nor without consequences. But the candidates are already flocking there. Next departure: this spring 2025. His name is Garth Miller, he is a former officer of the Gurkhas, currently an airplane pilot, and he has set himself a challenge: to establish the fastest time between London and the summit of Everest, he explained to the Financial Times. “I’m very excited to see if we can leave home on Monday morning, be on top of Everest on Thursday evening, and come home for lunch on Sunday.” The Briton is at the head of a first group of four people who will try xenon gas this spring as part of a new and very exclusive service from Lukas Furternbach, boss of the Furtenbach Adventures agency. The Austrian says he has been developing this method since 2006 and having tested it personally on Acongagua, Everest and Lhotse. “I had no problem at the summit,” he confided to the British daily. “I was up there thinking, ‘Well, it works!’ It totally convinced me.” Lukas Furtenbach relies on the properties of xenon. This inert gas, sometimes used as an anesthetic, would have the side effect of radically increasing the production of EPO (erythropoietin, a hormone that regulates the level of red blood cells) in the body. It would promote the multiplication of red blood cells without the need to acclimatize or inject a synthetic version of the hormone. With agencies like the American Alpenglow Expeditions, Furtenbach Adventures is already known for…