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Xtreme Everest 2

Xtreme-Everest 2 - a collaboration between Duke University USA, University of Southampton and University College London

The Final Push. We need your help

We are now almost at the end of the fieldwork for Xtreme-Everest 2, the largest high-altitude research study of its kind ever undertaken. Over 200 adults and children have taken part to shed light on how the body adapts to low levels of oxygen.

One in five of us ends up in an intensive care unit. Two fifths of those admitted will sadly die. And a major cause is a lack of oxygen when it is most needed. This unique research exploits the oxygen-thin air at high altitudes to provide critical insights into how intensive care patients might be helped in the future. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives of people with a range of diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease, cystic fibrosis and congenital heart disease.

Thanks to thousands of donations, over £850,000 has been raised to fund this fieldwork. We now need a further £250,000 to ensure that the information gathered is scrutinized properly to save lives in the future.

This money is needed to create a single ‘biobank’ database bringing together the world’s most comprehensive collection of physiological data and specimens taken from people exposed to oxygen deprivation from all our studies. These studies have been carried out during ten projects, over ten years, involving more than 500 subjects, resulting in the accumulation of over 20,000 specimens.

Please browse the website to find out more and read the stories about our brave volunteer trekkers. Please also consider making a donation using the button on this page - and ask others to do so - to help us create a lasting legacy from Xtreme-Everest 2.

Thank you



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Latest News & Blogs

20th May 2013

EBC team arrive back in Kathmandu

The Everest base camp investigator team has arrived back in Kathmandu and are currently in the Kathmandu laboratory.

17th May 2013

How many Trekkers and Investigators suffered with the KHUMBU COUGH !?”

Now that the very successful Xtreme-Everest 2 scientific expedition is nearing its end, many of our wonderful trekkers and investigators will have already returned home and others will be in the final stages back in Kathmandu.

11th May 2013

Namche Community Spirit

Recently, the XE2 website has been running stories about some of the institutions that have been set up in Namche.

7th May 2013

Namche Youth Group

The breakfast room of the Khumbu lodge in Namche overlooks the town beautifully, as it is built in the centre of the ‘horseshoe shaped’ excavation of the hill.

6th May 2013

End of Trekker Testing at Everest Base Camp

Thursday was a momentous day for the Xtreme Everest 2 Everest base camp team. The 1st of May 2013 signified the last day of trekker testing at 5300m.

5th May 2013

The Shree Himalaya Primary School, Namche Bazaar

Namche has a primary school, a ‘respectable’ primary school, as that is what ‘Shree’ means.