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The members of the expedition did undergo the physical condition tests in the Sports medicine institute of Helsinki and the results were very promising. In the scale of 1-7 the average physical condition level of the expedition members was 6.7.

The sherpas of the expedition are now selected even though in this test the target was to examine the basic physical condition and the changes in the respiratory system during physical exertion.

One interesting finding was the usage of the respiratory reserve. Usually top athletes use 15-25% of their respiratory reserve in maximal exertion and part of the expedition met this criteria. It has been thought that climber?s adaptation to high altitude is related to the use of the respiratory reserve and couple of members achieved calculated reserve of 5% or even -10% during maximal exertion. This on top of good aerobic condition can be a very good combination. We got lot of valuable information for the coming expedition and we will follow up during the actual climbing how climbers with different respiratory control mechanism will perform in 6000-8000m altitude.

The expedition leaders can already now be very satisfied. The performance in low oxygen environment will be evaluated in another exertion test during February-March before going to Himalaya.

Lack of physical stamina is not an issue with this expedition.