Hotel at 15,000 feet in Italy: Why people risk their lives to sleep above the clouds

Standing atop the 4,554-meter (14,941-foot) summit just shy of 15,000 feet at Punta Gnifetti, the Margherita Hut (Capanna Regina Margherita) is the highest building in Europe and a gruelling testament to human endurance. Reaching this ‘alpine masterpiece’ requires a treacherous and lengthy expedition across the Monte Rosa Glacier, navigating hidden crevasses and unpredictable storms that have historically taken their toll on climbers.The altitude also presents a subtler and more insidious biological threat; Research done at the hut’s research laboratory has shown that 100% of visitors who do not acclimatise experience some measure of brain swelling (oedema), with more than half showing evidence of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). The copper-clad haven has withstood gravity and the extreme hypoxia associated with the atmosphere for more than 130 years. It is a perilous yet powerful sanctuary for those who are passionate about climbing in the thinnest air in the world.The Margherita Hut's origins stem from an ambition of the monarchy. In 1893, Queen Margherita of Savoy ascended to the summit and inaugurated the hut. According to the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), it was built in the valley, then moved piece by piece by porters using the ‘man line’ to transport everything to the top. It is now preserved as a cultural heritage site and is the world's highest permanent laboratory for research on human survival under conditions of ‘subacute hypoxia’, an idea recognised as such by the National Library of Medicine.Although it serves as a hotel, its main purpose is to be a world-class research facility dedicated to high-altitude medicine. Research published by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) has shown that the oxygen level is so low at this altitude that 100% of subjects in a rapid-ascent study showed measurable brain swelling (vasogenic oedema) on MRI scans.In addition, several studies have documented that 60.9% of mountaineers who stay in the hut will develop mucosal lesions and clinically significant ulcers in their gastrointestinal tract as a result of low oxygen, published in the High Altitude Medicine & Biology. According to the British Mountain Medicine Society (BMRES), in between each period of sleep, there is often a period of 'periodic breathing' when the brain struggles to regulate carbon dioxide levels, causing the sleeper to momentarily stop breathing before gasping for air.Getting to the hut is an exercise in technical mountaineering, using crampons and ice axes to pass along the Lys Glacier, which has so-called ‘hidden crevasses’, or gaps or cracks in the glacier that are filled in by snow to give the impression of being safe to walk on. Accidents associated with falling are the primary reason for the majority of fatal emergencies that occur at high altitude in Alpine environments. The lack of oxygen at high altitudes can also lead to the impairment of your judgement and your ability to reach your destination or negotiate the steep, icy slopes where a single slip can be fatal.