The longer I worked in high altitude astronomy, the sicker I became.

The engineering mountain managers went to the summit of Mauna Kea two to three days per week, whereas the technicians went there four days per week. It was apparent to me that the technicians were sicker than the engineers.

Astronomers rarely visit the summit of Mauna Kea. They sit in near sea level offices and obtain their astronomical data remotely using very high altitude workers on the summit of the mountain to control the telescope and computers.

The big difference that I see between mountain climbers and observatory workers is that mountain climbers may venture from sea level to very high altitude several times a year, whereas some observatory workers do it approximately two hundred times per year.

I came to the belief that Mauna Kea was indeed sacred because all the visions that I had on the mountain were of Hawaiians.

High altitude astronomy was the only field that I worked in where workers had changed gender during their time there. Two males became females and one female that had been previously attracted to males later became attracted to females. I had not heard of this in other fields that I had worked in.

My coworker at very high altitude died from colon cancer and another coworker died from throat cancer.

The most painful experience that I had in high altitude astronomy was ear barotrauma on descent from the observatory. After experiencing this horrible condition a few times, I got wise and would always carry nasal decongestant medication with me to help prevent it. I saw many people experience the condition so severe that we had to stop descending in the car and sit at the side of the road until it subsided in the unfortunate high altitude worker.

No amount of acclimatization to very high altitude will prevent long term health problems and genetic adaptation processes from developing in the sea level adapted human.