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In order to contribute to the study of psychological adaptation to extreme environments, a discourse analysis was carried out on 10 European lowlanders during a 3‐week scientific expedition under survival conditions at the top of Mount Sajama (6542 m). This discourse analysis was part of a large scientific investigation (involving 12 scientific and medical research procedures) on human adaptation to high altitude chronic hypoxia. The study of discourse was carried out on several freely delivered oral accounts on the same topic, which was always the survival experience itself. This study involved a method developed by Benzécri and Reinert which is partly described in the first part of the article. With this textual analysis technique, it was possible to determine the main word distribution patterns within a discourse and to identify the repetitive language patterns most frequently used. The results on the overall corpus, consisting of the pooled discourses, indicated three specific classes of vocabulary from which three different types of discourse were identified. The data showed that the speaker's discourse did not change during exposure to extreme environmental conditions; the discourse was not correlated with the events but referred only to the speaker himself. The three types of discourse had one main focus: the anxiety, fear or extreme fear (anguish) experienced by all the subjects as psychological states. In response to these feelings, they used various psychological strategies to escape or to face the situation in different ways, as shown by the terms of the different types of discourse. One question which arises about this discourse analysis is: what was tested when the subjects were examined with regard to their psychological acclimatization to altitude? The biological effects of severe chronic hypoxia, or those of stress in response to the fear caused by the extreme environment or/and by psychological adaptation to high altitude.

The purpose of this study was to test an ascent program for ideal psychological adaptation to high altitudes. A psychological approach was used to test a model describing a gradual step-by-step ascent. Seven subjects spent nine days between 3,500 m and 4,400 m altitude, followed by eight days climbing 500 m each day from 3,500 m to 5,400 m. They performed a cognitive-motor task three times, once under normoxia, once under acute hypoxia, and once under chronic hypoxic conditions. Durations for these subjects were compared with those obtained by a control group tested under normoxia. Subjects' emotional state was assessed by analyzing their remarks during an interview conducted at 5,400 m and by calculating from the answers given to the three questions, a mood index for each subject. Analysis showed that the performances of both groups improved on the second and third administrations of the test. There was, however, no interaction between the group and the time of administration. Mood indexes indicated that the majority of the subjects had no trouble in adapting to the situation and few cognitive or emotional disturbances were observed. These findings may be attributed to the ascent being well designed and planned thereby preventing various possible forms of mountain sickness and other pathologies from developing in the subjects.

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