Safer mountain climbing using the climbing heartbeat index

摘要

As the numbers of middle-aged and elderly mountain climbers have increased with the general aging of the population, accidents during mountain climbing have increased recently. A possible cause of such accidents is an excessively difficult expedition plan. To enjoy safe mountain climbing, the plans must take account of the climber's fitness level. We developed a method to plan mountain climbing using the climbing heartbeat index (CHI). This study is based on the assumption that the work expended when climbing a mountain is equal to the potential energy of the body and load weights elevated to the height of the mountain, and that the work is proportional to the heart rate. The CHI was calculated by the following equation