Is a Gamow Bag Truly Necessary on Kilimanjaro?

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A  hyperbaric chamber is a sealable pressure vessel large enough for  one adult to enter and stretch out, where he or she can be supplied  with oxygen under pressure. The Portable Altitude Chamber, PAC, was  designed   to treat severe altitude sickness when immediate descent -  the  preferred  treatment is not possible. It is inflated by a foot pump  to  simulate  conditions of greater air pressure at lower altitude for   sufferers from  Acute Mountain Sickness, AMS. It is unwieldy to move,   claustrophobic to  experience and needs constant pumping to maintain  pressure as it is not air snug.
 

The Gamow Bag is only recommended  at very high altitudes such as on Everest, or staying at Crater Camp  on Mount Kilimanjaro where fast and immediate descent is not feasible.  But on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro it rarely takes more than an hour to   find  relief at lower levels except from Crater Camp, where the Gamow   Bags  should be standard equipment. One should never attempt to hike  higher  once symptoms arise on a Kilimanjaro trek as they can swiftly  develop into High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, HAPE, where lungs are fluid  congested, and it is necessary to administer extra oxygen through a   face mask. This is not possible in a Gamow bag. The other form of  severe AMS  is High Altitude Cerebral Edema, HACE, which manifests   rapidly and is potentially fatal if descent is delayed. Symptoms are   slurred speech, blindness, paralysis and coma. Rather than relying on a  Gamow Bag on Kilimanjaro climbs, you can depend on our highly   experienced guides to  identify the severity of the problem and get you  down fast and safely. We advise trekkers to take an extra day  acclimatizing on Kilimanjaro to make summit success more likely and  allow you to avoid the worst effects of Altitude Sickness