Potentially odd question, I’m training for a trip where the majority (days on end) will be spent riding at above 4000m, sometimes nearer 5000m.
If you take the altitude out of the equation, it would be hard work but none of the numbers look particularly scary, but then I remember we’re going to be higher than I’ve ever been whilst not in a plane I live near enough to sea level to basically have no idea what that’s like.
So… What’s the best approach to take? Realistically I’m not going to be able to do altitude training in the sense of “go somewhere high and train”, so I’m taking a more broad “just be as conventionally fit as I can” approach, but I thought I’d ask in case anyone had any better or more specific suggestions?
If you don’t have time to acclimate, you can get some acetazolamide from your doc for prophylaxis. You start taking it the day before ascent.
Acidifies the blood by dumping bicarb in the urine. Shifts the Hb dissociation curve to the right (which is what will happen naturally via 2,3-BPG in a period of weeks as an acute response to altitude). Rightward shift means more O2 gets released in the tissues. Obviously natural acclimation is going to be better, but not everyone has weeks to spend at altitude.
I usually grab AZT before going to the mountains. It saved my bacon one year when I did Triple Bypass two days after another commitment at sea level (unforeseen scheduling conflict). Since you’re going on a multi-day trip, I would get some just to have on hand for altitude sickness treatment, even if you do have time to acclimate. Being that high, you should also know the symptoms of HACE and HAPE, which are medical emergencies, and can be lethal if you don’t descend.
EDIT: I should add that high altitude illnesses are a bit a dice roll. Being out of shape increases risk, but a high fitness level isn’t reliably protective (nothing is reliably protective, as far as we know). You could have two highly trained athletes with identical stats—one might get AMS and the other might be fine. We don’t really know why. You can even have someone who has done the same ascent each year for ten years without issue and then gets AMS on the 11th. Everyone is susceptible, given enough ascent in a short enough timeframe.
@Pbase Nice tips, think I’m going to drop to an 11-34 as well to reduce instances of insufficient gears. Also, are you thinking 7-8k ft rather than m? Highest mountain in Colorado has a peak of ~4500m, which is definitely a height we’ll be above plenty of times:hushed_face:
@Samus Acclimatisation isn’t an option really, usual personal logistics reasons, there’s a day at the start, a couple of off days and the altitude ramps up gradually from the start (albeit from ~3500m ), but I’ll look into AZT. Have a long time to prepare so I’d better get looking.
@Jolyzara Tibet, starting near Lhasa at ~3500m, then the altitude increases as we go west towards Everest. Just checked and the highest point is just shy of 5200m
I live near enough to sea level to basically have no idea what that’s like.
