Silent Summit

HPO.TECH builds technology for environments where getting it wrong has consequences.

Hypobaric and hyperbaric chambers are still unfamiliar to most people. For athletes, teams and individuals trusting them with their health and performance, claims about safety and effectiveness only go so far. The technology has to prove what it can do.

Karolina Pakenaite offered an extraordinary test. Living with Usher Syndrome, her hearing and vision are progressively deteriorating. She is preparing to climb Everest before her remaining sight fades further, attempting to become the first DeafBlind person to reach the summit.

For her, reducing the time spent acclimatising on the mountain is more than performance. Every extra day at altitude adds risk and complexity. HPO.TECH’s chamber allows her to prepare for the thin air of extreme altitude before she gets there.

We are following Karolina across two climbing seasons as she prepares for something nobody has done before.

The story begins far from Everest. Training inside HPO.TECH’s altitude chamber in Bath. Graduating from university. Retiring her guide dog. Learning how to keep moving through a world she can see and hear less of each year.

Then the mountains.

We travelled with her to Himlung Himal in Nepal, a 7,126-metre proving ground for Everest, documenting the training, the expedition and the decisions that come when preparation meets reality. The story will continue through her attempt on Everest, where reaching the summit would make Karolina the first DeafBlind person to do it.

Her goal reaches beyond the mountain: to make Usher Syndrome and the DeafBlind community harder to overlook.