Blue View - Coping with the Altitude

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In the old days when we were younger and living in Colorado, the higher altitudes of the Colorado Rockies didn’t bother us very much. We spent many a day camping at 10,000 - 12,000 feet, and hiked or climbed many of the state’s ‘14ers’... the 54 peaks higher than 14,000 feet. Above 12,000 feet, we’d get short of breath and perhaps develop the occasional slight headache, but no real altitude sickness.

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After living at sea level on our sailboat Nine of Cups, we gained our sea legs, but lost our altitude acclimation. This was quite obvious when we returned to visit family in Colorado or traveled to the higher altitudes of South America, especially Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Both of us, Marcie especially, would develop the symptoms of altitude sickness, but we were usually able to acclimate after a few days or a week.

Now, probably because of our added years, we’re finding that the symptoms come on sooner and the time to acclimate is longer. A couple of years ago, we tried camping at Cedar Breaks National Monument at 11,000’. We had difficulty breathing during the day, but the worst was during the night. We both had splitting headaches and when we did fall asleep, we’d wake up gasping for breath.  I suspect it’s because when we fall asleep, our respiration rate slows, causing our already low oxygen levels to drop further until our body senses a problem and wakes us up with a start, and we feel as though we’re suffocating. We gasp and pant for several minutes, but never seem to quite get our breath back. Then, after 30 or 40 minutes, we drift back to sleep, only to repeat the cycle. At first light, we broke camp and headed to a lower elevation, where we quickly recovered.

While some forms of altitude sickness can be quite serious or even fatal, the type we are prone to is acute mountain sickness. This is the least dangerous type of altitude sickness and affects close to half of all people that climb to 14,000’ from sea level without taking enough time to acclimate. The symptoms include:

  • Nausea or vomiting 

  • Fatigue 

  • Headache 

  • Dizziness or lightheadedness

  • Difficulty sleeping 

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There are several medications that can help, mostly of the prescription type. In Peru, the local remedy was to chew coca leaves. One Peruvian lady we met insisted that the leaves worked best if they were licked, then stuck to the forehead... but we were never sure whether this actually worked or whether she just wanted to see just how gullible we Yankees were.

Mountain climbers, especially those at the really high altitudes over 16,000’, use the adage ‘climb high, sleep low’. Climb three or four thousand feet with supplies, drop them off, then drop back down a couple thousand and set up camp for the night. Then the next day, climb another three or four thousand feet, drop off the supplies and drop back down again. Works well for them.

Our remedy, if the symptoms aren’t too severe, is to take 600mg of Ibuprofen 3 times a day, take it easy for 2-3 days, and avoid alcohol, which is always the tough part... the cure may be worse than the disease. If that doesn’t work or the symptoms are unpleasant enough, we return to a lower altitude, preferably at least 1000’-2000’ lower, and usually the symptoms disappear almost immediately.

On the rest of this trip, we’ll be choosing our campgrounds carefully. We’ve been working on our altitude adjustment, ( and as long as we can have our evening wine, we won’t need an attitude adjustment). As I write this, we can now handle up to about 9500’. So, as we do our planning, the primary criteria is that the campgrounds have to be no higher than 9500’. And as  long as I’m on the subject of our campground preferences, I’ll list our other criteria. Based on the numbers of people we’re seeing on the roads, we’re avoiding the big name places... Arches, Zion, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain NP. We’ll seek out the lesser known national parks, monuments and forests. Next, we really prefer the public campgrounds. The commercial RV parks and campgrounds just aren’t our thing. Finally, we have an aversion to the parks and campgrounds that are reservation only. We understand the need for a reservation system. If you only have a week’s vacation and you’re traveling hundreds of miles to visit a special campground, you want to be sure you can get a space. We, on the other hand, rarely plan anything more than a few days in advance, certainly not the 6-12 months in advance needed to find a campsite in many parks. The compromise is, of course, to set aside some portion of the campsites to those that prefer making a reservation and leave the rest as First Come First Served. That’s how it will be when I’m appointed campground czar... rest assured.

See you next week.