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Diabetic climbers reach new heights in researchBy MEG JONES
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 Photo/DOUG BURSNALL A climber nears the summit of Mount Aconcagua, 22,834 feet above sea level in the Andes. The International Diabetic Expedition to Aconcagua, known as IDEA 2000, put 10 of its 11 summit team members on top of Mount Aconcagua last month. |
It was a sight he had struggled, sweated and frozen to see. And as his teammates came up to join him one by one they hugged each other, cheered, took photos and checked their blood sugar levels.
The Madison man was part of a unique expedition of Type I diabetic climbers that last month successfully reached the summit of the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. The International Diabetic Expedition to Aconcagua, known as IDEA 2000, put 10 of its 11 summit team members on the top including Manwell, the only non-diabetic on the summit squad.
"Aconcagua is a couple thousand feet higher than anything around it so you're well above everything that you can see," Manwell said last week after returning home from Argentina.
"You're kind of in the midst of a sea of peaks. You're in the Andes. Looking toward the Pacific Ocean I could just make out where the ocean was beginning. That's looking clear across Chile."
Also on the IDEA 2000 team were three other men from Madison - David Panofsky, Jay Handy and Mark Timmerman. Handy and Panofsky are Type I diabetics and Timmerman is a sports medicine physician who is not diabetic. Manwell was used as a control subject in research performed by team members on the effect of high altitude on diabetics.
Since there's practically no information in medical literature on the effects of high altitudes or hypoxia - lack of oxygen - on diabetics, team members and doctors collected data and kept journals logging their blood sugar levels, oxygen saturation levels and other pertinent data. The information will be coordinated with the International High Alpine Medical Association.
Handy and Timmerman were part of the trekking group, carrying supplies to base camp, and left for home once the summit team moved up to camps higher on the mountain.
One didn't reach peak
Panofsky, who did not reach the summit because of bad weather, and illness unrelated to his diabetes, was thrilled to see his comrades reach the top and return safely. While the diabetic climbers had to continuously check and regulate their changing blood sugar levels by eating food or injecting insulin, no one suffered any serious injuries or illnesses.
"It was a much bigger success than I could ever have hoped for," said Panofsky.
The team reached the summit Jan. 12. Panofsky was not feeling well that day and turned back. He attempted to climb to the top two days later but the weather turned stormy.
"I was certain that the team was going to reach the top. Everybody was moving well," Panofsky said. "There certainly was some personal disappointment, that I wish I could have been part of that. But as expedition leader there was so much satisfaction having the group (do) what it did.
"The way we're judged is that everybody made it back safe and had a good experience. The summit was just sort of icing on the cake," said Panofsky.
The team had planned to take the so-called Polish direct route, across the mountain's Polish Glacier, but that would have entailed small groups of two to three climbers roped together. It also would have meant the whole team probably couldn't reach the summit on the same day. But when everyone felt strong and rested at Camp 2 they decided to climb another route, Falso de los Polacos (False Polish route).
The team flew in to Mendoza, Argentina, on Dec. 27 and started walking in to base camp on Dec. 29. They carried all of their supplies, which included insulin, blood sugar monitors, cold weather gear and food ranging from tea, powdered milk and dried fruit to pasta, black beans and rice and Cap'n Crunch.
In their downtime, team members wrote in their journals, read books, took photos, sent e-mails to their families and friends and slept. At base camp, gathering water took a lot of time, about six to seven hours a day to walk to the water source, haul it back and then treat it by either boiling, filtering or with chemicals.
Team members were surprised to learn that so many people in Latin America knew about the expedition and had visited the IDEA 2000 Web site at www.idea2000.org. The group is continuing to raise money for diabetes research and for Latin American diabetics.
"Climbing is a personal thing, you're climbing by yourself even when you're with a group," said Manwell, who has climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska. "To do it with more purpose in mind than a personal ascent was really unique. It had a special meaning for that reason."
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Feb. 5, 2001.
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