Controversial method

Doping? Seven days to Mount Everest

Tyrolean Lukas Furtenbach has climbed five eight-thousanders and four times on Mount Everest.(Bild: Furtenbach Adventures)

A flight to Nepal, a helicopter ride to base camp, three days to Mount Everest, back down again - and back home on day 7. This is how the Tyrolean company Furtenbach Adventures is forging ahead in the market for controversial guided Everest expeditions. The gas Xenon, which is on the doping list and whose effect in mountain sports has hardly been proven, is supposed to make it possible. But GF Lukas Furtenbach is not dissuaded by criticism.

"Krone": Mr. Furtenbach, your project is starting soon, in May. What is the aim of this expedition?
Lukas Furtenbach: The idea is to make the Xenon accessible to everyone. Not necessarily with the goal of seven days, that is of course also provocative. But at some point everyone can do it, simply as an additional safety element on an eight-thousander.