Freaks of Nature

Altitude Proof (1x4)

: 01, 2013

Hypoxia, or altitude sickness, is a significant threat to any serious climber. Shyam Doss shares his story of encountering serious hypoxia while attempting to climb Mt. Whitney in a short period of time. He barely survived. However, while most people, like Doss, struggle to ascend to high altitudes, climber Don Bowie makes it look easy. He claims that he needs no supplemental oxygen to climb the world’s highest mountains due to a unique genetic predisposition. Bowie can survive under conditions of extremely low oxygen where few others can. Host Tyler Harcott meets Don on the summit of Mt Whitney. Is Bowie immune to the lethal effects of high altitude? Harcott takes him to an altitude chamber in Colorado to test his limits, and to find out whether or not such a power really exists.