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Hey guys, I've hiked a lot, and I'm in excellent shape, but this year's hike to Mt. Baldy (SoCal) at 10000 ft was a difficult, though ultimately successful, undertaking. I'll redo the Mt. Baldy trip next year to see if perhaps I just had a bad day. Assuming that my second Mt. Baldy trip is smoother, how crazy would it be to try to summit a 14000 ft mountain next? I am eyeing White Mountain Peak (near Bishop, CA) in particular. I know a trip to 14000 ft requires mortals like myself to acclimate first. Would it be sufficient to spend an evening+night at 8700 ft to acclimate for a 14000 ft summit? I am eyeing staying the night at Grandview Campground (and taking my telescope along for a short evening of stargazing), and then heading to the summit in the morning of the next day. I know the campground is dry, so I would take a shitload of water with me, and I have a high ground clearance vehicle to get me to the trail head. The trip to Mt. Baldy would probably happen in May, maybe April depending on snow. The trip to White Mountain Peak would happen in June/July, again depending on snow. Is this a stupid/naive idea? Thanks.
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Dec 9, 2016 05:43
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 05:58 |
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Only commenting on altitude: I think that plan is sound. I get sick easily, for me 0 - 10000 ft in a day consistently makes me worse than useless. Camping at 8000 - 9000 ft on the other hand seems to work well. As you apparently know, don't skimp on water, keep your piss from getting yellow. Good luck!
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Dec 10, 2016 06:49
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meselfs posted:Only commenting on altitude: I think that plan is sound. I get sick easily, for me 0 - 10000 ft in a day consistently makes me worse than useless. Camping at 8000 - 9000 ft on the other hand seems to work well. As you apparently know, don't skimp on water, keep your piss from getting yellow. Good luck! And that's all I was looking for, so thanks. Let's hope my work travel schedule doesn't interfere with these trips too much.
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Dec 10, 2016 07:47
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Realistically, acclimatization to 14k is not going to happen by spending one night at 8.7k. The main effect of that one night will be to (probably) make any AMS symptoms less severe than they would be if you camped at the 12k trailhead right away, and to give you a much better chance of a good night's rest. But your performance at 14k is inevitably going to be significantly worse than it is at 10k, and even >1 week of acclimatization can only help this so much. See for example: http://www.usariem.army.mil/assets/docs/publications/articles/2004/altitudeacclimatizationguide.PDF You should expect to take up to 50% longer than you expect based on your previous experience at ~10k. As long as you give yourself plenty of time, manage expectations about your pacing and athletic performance, and do what you can to minimize AMS symptoms, you should probably be fine. Personally, I do most of my trips around 10k, and if I go significantly above that I am usually OK as long as I give myself much more time than I normally would need and accept a slower than normal pace, especially when ascending. That said, every now and again I'll have a trip were I just know I'm going to feel miserable as soon as I get above 10k, and I almost always spend a night at ~8k first. Some people use acetazolamide to reduce the symptoms of AMS, but it wrecks your aerobic performance. Still, if you find simply feeling terrible is your problem and can deal with a much slower ascent, it can be a good option. Personally my problem at these altitudes is less the AMS and more that I sometimes find myself having to stop and catch my breath like every 10 steps on ascent.
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Dec 13, 2016 12:29
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good point on time/speed. Old geezers consistently get less AMS climbing mountains, and it's probably because they're slower
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Dec 14, 2016 06:20
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Morbus posted:Realistically, acclimatization to 14k is not going to happen by spending one night at 8.7k. The main effect of that one night will be to (probably) make any AMS symptoms less severe than they would be if you camped at the 12k trailhead right away, and to give you a much better chance of a good night's rest. But your performance at 14k is inevitably going to be significantly worse than it is at 10k, and even >1 week of acclimatization can only help this so much. Thanks for the reality check. I made numerous mistakes at 10k. I was wearing too many layer (burning up), carrying too much poo poo in my backpack, took too little water. In addition, in the two months leading up to the hike I was not exercising because I was sick. I'll repeat the 10k hike with these new insights and if things improve substantially (faster than 1 step every 3 seconds for the last half hour), then I'll greenlight the 14k hike. Camping at the trailhead to properly acclimate for 14k is an option. I would prefer the campground because they at least have bathrooms (pits), but I'll trade a first world comfort for a day if it helps me be successful in the high altitude hike.
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Dec 14, 2016 06:53
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Dec 14, 2016 23:08
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You just want to see me in this thread, don't you?
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Dec 17, 2016 20:15
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theHUNGERian posted:You just want to see me in this thread, don't you? The best thread
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Dec 18, 2016 11:41
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theHUNGERian posted:Thanks for the reality check.
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Dec 26, 2016 03:35
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bawfuls posted:I think what would help more than simply camping at 12k instead of 8.7k is an additional day or two of acclimation. If you can adjust your schedule to give you multiple days above 8k before you start your hike that will help. Bottom line though is that 14 is no joke and will be a challenge regardless. When I did Mt Whitney I spent three days in Mammoth beforehand, being active from 8-10k and sleeping at 8k each night, and the summit day was still brutal. It should be easy to adjust my schedule to spend multiple days at higher elevation before the hike. As much as I dislike camping, I do want to summit such a high mountain once in my life, and it's only going to become more challenging as I get older. Just came back from Christmas, where my cousin (lives in San Joaquin valley in CA) told me how she went on a hike to 15000 feet in Colorado ... without any preparation ... on an injured foot. I didn't have the heart to call bullshit. theHUNGERian fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Dec 26, 2016 |
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Dec 26, 2016 21:14
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That's all the more impressive considering there are no peaks higher than 14,500 in the contiguous US
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Dec 27, 2016 04:23
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bawfuls posted:That's all the more impressive considering there are no peaks higher than 14,500 in the contiguous US That's why I know the story is not entirely true (altitude) and easy to disprove, but I didn't want to be a dick/sperglord.
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Dec 27, 2016 04:43
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You'd be surprised at the number of flatlanders who bang out Quandary, Bierstadt, or Grays/Torreys. Your cousin's number is off by about 500-700 feet, but otherwise I mean  Unless she was talking about ""bagging"" Mt. Evans from the parking lot at the top of the road (14,240'), which many, many, many people seem to do. Looking at the info for White Mountain it seems like that's 2k of gain over 7 miles? Sounds like your best bet is to sleep a night or two at 7k+ and then hit the trail. 2k isn't a crazy amount of gain. As long as you stay aware of the signs of AMS and get down if you start to get light headed or get a headache. Just curious when you did your 10k hike, were you getting altitude sickness, or just really fatigued? How much gain did you do that day? Also keep in mind that any 14er is just going to be a difficult hike in general. I've got 20 under my belt (+2 repeats) and there's almost never been a point at which I didn't stop for a moment and think long and hard about turning around and heading back down because gently caress all that noise. The key will be differentiating between "this is exhausting" (it will be) and "this is dangerous." And don't worry about getting too old. The mountain will be there next year. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 19:06
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 05:58 |
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Dangerllama posted:You'd be surprised at the number of flatlanders who bang out Quandary, Bierstadt, or Grays/Torreys. Your cousin's number is off by about 500-700 feet, but otherwise I mean I remain skeptical, but I don't care enough to argue for/against. But she is smart/knowledgeable, and I didn't want to interrogate her over a detail. She had a very serious foot injury and she was just happy that she was able to be walking normally again. Dangerllama posted:Looking at the info for White Mountain it seems like that's 2k of gain over 7 miles? Sounds like your best bet is to sleep a night or two at 7k+ and then hit the trail. 2k isn't a crazy amount of gain. As long as you stay aware of the signs of AMS and get down if you start to get light headed or get a headache. Just curious when you did your 10k hike, were you getting altitude sickness, or just really fatigued? How much gain did you do that day? I slept at a hotel at 1600 ft the night before, drove to 6000 ft, then hiked to 10000 ft. I was nauseous and exhausted. The exhaustion was in part because I was dehydrated. The dehydration was because I was wearing too many layers and I took too little water (2 Liters). The other part of my exhaustion was mental.(?) I had decided to turn around and one of the hikers immediately asked me if I was ok. I told him I was fine but that I had consumed half of my water and that was a 'turn-around decision' for me. The hiker informed me that there was water at the peak, so I resumed my hike, and I was in much higher spirits (less exhausted) but the nausea remained. I did not have a headache, and I did not feel light headed, I was just slow, tired, and a little bit nauseous. Everything but the nausea disappeared withing 10 seconds of starting my descent from the peak. The nausea disappeared ~an hour later.
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Dec 31, 2016 23:32
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