Experiences Of Climbers Research Articles

Analysis of the Influence of Destination Image, Tourist Attractiveness and Experience of Climbers on Interest in Repeat Visits with Satisfaction as an Intervening Variable

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the influence of destination image, tourist attraction, and experience of climbers on intention to return with satisfaction as an intervention variable for climbers of Mount Gede Pangrango. Instruments used in this research were questionnaires to 150 respondents with descriptive and quantitative data processing and analysis. Descriptive analysis in the research aims at describing the characteristics of the respondents and describing the research variables, while quantitative analysis is carried out using SEM - PLS (Partial Least Square) tools with the aim of testing the hypothesis. Based on the results of the analysis in this study, it can be explained that the image of the destination, tourist attraction, and experience of climbers has a positive and significant effect on satisfaction among climbers of Mount Gede Pangrango. Destination image, tourist attraction, climber experience, and satisfaction have a positive and significant effect on intention to return to climbers of Mount Gede Pangrango. Travel image, tourist attraction, and climber experience have a positive and significant effect on Repeat Visit Interest with Satisfaction as an intervention variable for climbers of Mount Gede Pangrango.

The collective vs individual nature of mountaineering: a network and simplicial approach

Mountaineering is a sport of contrary forces: teamwork plays a large role in mental fortitude and skills, but the actual act of climbing, and indeed survival, is largely individualistic. This work studies the effects of the structure and topology of relationships within climbers on the level of cooperation and success. It does so using simplicial complexes, where relationships between climbers are captured through simplices that correspond to joint previous expeditions with dimension given by the number of climbers minus one and weight given by the number of occurrences of the simplex. First, this analysis establishes the importance of relationships in mountaineering and shows that chances of failure to summit reduce drastically when climbing with repeated partners. From a climber-centric perspective, it finds that climbers that belong to simplices with large dimension were more likely to be successful, across all experience levels. Then, the distribution of relationships within a group is explored to categorize collective human behavior in expeditions, on a spectrum from polarized to cooperative. Expeditions containing simplices with large dimension, and usually low weight (weak relationships), implying that a large number of people participated in a small number of joint expeditions, tended to be more cooperative, improving chances of success of all members of the group, not just those that were part of the simplex. On the other hand, the existence of small, usually high weight (i.e., strong relationships) simplices, subgroups lead to a polarized style where climbers that were not a part of the subgroup were less likely to succeed. Lastly, this work examines the effects of individual features (such as age, gender, climber experience etc.) and expedition-wide factors (number of camps, total number of days etc.) that are more important determiners of success in individualistic and cooperative expeditions respectively. Centrality indicates that individual features of youth and oxygen use while ascending are the most important predictors of success. Of expedition-wide factors, the expedition size and number of expedition days are found to be strongly correlated with success rate.

Hypomania Secondary to a Change in Altitude in an Adolescent Male

Introduction Altitude-associated changes in renal and endocrine function and lithium pharmacokinetics have not been applied to persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Development of a mood or affective syndrome secondary to a change in altitude has been a topic of some debate. Research is limited. This may represent an emerging area of concern for clinicians. Psychiatric and neurologic changes associated with altitude have been published. The potential for altitudemediated mood changes was evaluated both naturalistically and experimentally. Mood symptoms were evaluated as a function of rate of assent, climber experience, elevation, and duration of exposure. Adverse mood symptoms were found to be affected by altitude changes (1, 2). Acute changes secondary to altitude included new-onset anxiety disorders (3) and, rarely, cerebral edema (4). Additional altitude-associated neurological changes reported in the literature include headache, fatigue, and/or ataxia. Experimentally, researchers subjected experienced climbers to high-altitude conditions via a hypobaric chamber. They found a significant negative relationship with a personality measure for emotional stability (5). The designation of low versus high altitude may represent a valid point for discussion. Designations varied with the research design. When investigating the pharmacokinetics of lithium, one set of researchers defined low altitude as 600 meters, high altitude as 4,360 meters (6). High altitude for other researchers ranged from 3,000 to 8,848 meters (5). Changes in mood and cognitive and motor functions were reported with elevations above 3,000 meters (2). The treatment center in this Case Report was located at 1,088 meters. In persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder, changes in lithium pharmacokinetics may offer an alternate explanation for mood changes secondary to high-altitude exposure that may result in a number of physiological changes. One of these changes is an increase in circulating red blood cells (RBC) (7). This is an important consideration with lithium use. Intraand extra-cellular transport occurs via erythrocytes, where lithium is tightly bound (6). The question of whether mild-to-moderate cerebral hypoxia may constitute a hypoxic affective syndrome and contribute to physical illness was raised by some researchers. One theory focused on biogenic amine production: if hypoxia was a function of altitude, then a neurochemical process formed the basis for behavioral and physical changes (8). Changes in lithium pharmacokinetics were studied in healthy volunteers at high and low altitudes. Those at low altitude transitioned to high altitude. Findings were compared with a second group of volunteers exposed to long-term high altitude. Both the acuteand chronic-exposure groups demonstrated increases in hematocrit and RBC counts. Researchers concluded altered lithium pharmacokinetics were secondary to changes in altitude and may be important clinically (6). We report the first potential case of altitudeassociated hypomania, secondary to a change in lithium pharmacokinetics, in an adolescent patient following a change from a high-altitude residence to a return to low altitude.

The epidemiology of mountaineering and rock climbing accidents

From 1981 through 1986, 43631 climbers registered for climbs in the Grand Teton National Park, USA. There were 108 climbing accidents. The accident incidence was 2.5 accidents per 1000 climbers per year, or 5.6 accidents per 10000 climber-hours. There were 23 fatal accidents and 25 fatalities. Mountaineering appears to be a more hazardous activity than rock climbing; travel over snow or ice-covered terrain accounted for high numbers of accidents, climber errors, and fatalities. Effective use of proper equipment (ice axes and helmets), climber experience, self-reliance in difficult situations, and appreciation for the dangers involved in mixed (rock and snow) climbing are all preventive factors that can decrease accidents and injuries among climbers.