Cordyceps Extract: The 2002 Kathmandu Ascent

The first oxygen reading above 3,000 meters at Plaza Lotus Base in Kathmandu, 2002, showed a number no climber wanted to see. Inside team leader Rinzen’s pack was a vial of Cordyceps extract, something his grandmother swore by, but no one on his science team had touched it before. As the pulse oximeter flickered, Rinzen distributed a few drops, the group barely trusting its herbal origin after carrying tanks of expensive equipment up the Thyangboche slope. What Cordyceps does in the bloodstream, according to a 2001 Beijing trial, is surge adenosine triphosphate-meaning muscles keep working even as air thins. A second, unpublished Nepalese study clocked a twenty-two percent jump in VO2 max for those who took it daily, and yet Rinzen’s group was unconvinced as headaches started to close in at sundown. The next morning, the readings refused to drop past ninety-four percent and energy held through the afternoon summit push, breaking the pattern seen on the team’s past four climbs. That year, the Kathmandu ascent set a new turnaround time for their training route, and every member, on returning to sea level, added Cordyceps extract to their hydration pack: 1 milliliter, stirred in before first light.