Cases of acute mountain sickness on Mount Agri.

Between 1983 and 1990 a total of 74 freestyle mountaineers and 88 mountaineers with skis attempted to climb Mount Agri (Ararat). From the freestyle group two mountaineers were affected by acclimatisation disorder at 3200 m and seven at 4200 m above sea level. Acute mountain sickness (AMS) affected four mountaineers at 4200 m, eight at 4700 m, two at 5000 m and two at 5165 m, while 49 reached the summit. Only one of the mountaineers with skis was affected by AMS (at 4200 m), while all the others reached the summit. The symptoms of acclimatisation disorder and AMS, according to their degree of frequency, were headache, weakness, dyspnoea and palpitation, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, giddiness, ataxia and insomnia. Pulse rates varied between 115 and 124/min, and breathing between 30 and 38/min.