I'm not sure if this topic deserves its own listing, and if that is the case then I assume Mr Moderator will do whatever voodoo it is that he does to make this thread move somewhere else or simply disappear. But in reading through quite a few of the other threads, I have never seen this issue addressed. There have been a few threads going in the other direction. That is to say, there have been discussions dealing with deep water marine organisms and their rapid evolution, but I have not found anything that deals with high altitudes.
It will take a giant leap of faith (so to speak) to even discuss this, but I have noticed that on numerous occassions, we (evolutionists) have allowed the creationists to make impossible claims in order to keep the debate going. For example:
1. Where did all that water come from?
2. Where did all that water go?
3. How did all the animals get to the ark?
4. How did all those animals fit on the ark?
5. How did all those animals disperse so quickly after the flood?
Their explanations for each the above examples can easily be disproven, but we (evolutionists) will simply point out those facts and then forge ahead. In the spirit of fair play, I would ask that you please grant me the same courtesy and continue to allow numbers 1-4 to be events that did occur.
If so, then we would have Noah and his kin on a floating menagerie bouncing around on the open ocean. Ok, fine...impossible...but let's just say it happenend. If all the mountains were covered by at least 20 feet of water, then Noah and his boat load of passenegers were floating around at an altitude of nearly 29,000 feet. We can argue one way another over a few feet (Everest is increasing in altitude at a rate of about 1/4 per year) but creationsists claim that all mountian peaks were covered, and last time I checked, Mt Everest was at an altitude of 29,035 feet.
I personally have never been on Mt Everest, but I have read some books and watched some fascinating documentaries about the difficulties of trying to reach the summit. There are many obstacles one will encounter at high altutiudes that need to be overcome and the following list is just but a small fraction:
1. Temperature. The average daily temperature at the summit of Mt Everest during the warmest month (July) is still a whopping -19 Celsius. And it NEVER gets above freezing. I hope Noah had some warm cloths. What about hummingbirds...how did they survive the bitter cold. For that matter, what about tropical animals in general?
2. Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). Your average, in shape, young recreationalist will start to show symptoms of AMS at altitudes as low (high?) as 8,000-14,000 feet. Only experienced climbers can ascend safely above 14,000 feet (after a period of many days of acclimatization) and only a select few of those can journey above 18,000 feet (and most of them use supplemental oxygen because of the low atmospheric pressure). And we're still 11,000 feet below the summit of Everest.
3. High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and Hight Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). Both of these are very serious types of AMS that are fatal if left untreated. And guess what the primary treatment is? That's right, you guessed it...an immediate descent in altutide. Kinda tough to do when you're on a boat that is already at the lowest possible elevation.
4) Have you ever watched a climber walk at those altitudes? The current speed record for an ascent (starting from base camp at 17,500 feet) is 12 hours 45 minutes, and was set by a Sherpa. I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure Noah wasn't a Sherpa nor was he (or anyone one else on board the ark for that matter) acclimatized to high altitudes. Now, according to my calculations (and please feel free to check them, I do not claim to be a mathematician), that's an
average pace of 15ft per minute. And I can assure you that the pace was much faster at base camp than it was during the last 1000 feet or so. I can just picture poor ole Noah and his family, trying to care for all those animals while only being able move around at 3-5 feet per minute. All that daily work to do at such a slow pace...while also suffering from AMS, which will certainly kill him and his family in just a few days if the flood waters don't recede.
Well, that's enought for now. There are plenty of other obstacles that Noah and his family (and all the other animals on the ark) would have to deal with regarding high altitude survivability. If someone out there can explain to me how they all got past even the few things I'v mentioned, I would aprreciate it.
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