Anyone on here have experience with this? What was it like?

3/24/2009 3:47:24 AM

extremely cold. no seriously what do you want to know?

3/24/2009 9:02:06 AM

i saw a show about people going up mount everest.

people lose fingers and toes.

3/24/2009 9:38:17 AM

how high?

best i've done is ojos del salado in the andes (chile/argentina), but it's only about 6,900m, IIRC...even then, we didn't do the last part requiring climbing, just stopped where the hiking ended (around 6,200m, maybe?)

*shrug*

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 10:42 AM. Reason : i forget how far from the summit we were]

3/24/2009 10:36:32 AM

I lived for a summer at 11,000 feet out in New Mexico. Just walking around was tiring.

3/24/2009 11:11:35 AM

I'm climbing Mount Fuji which isn't all that tall in the grand scheme of things Just wondering if anyone experienced high altitude sickness or had any tips.

3/24/2009 8:17:06 PM

im going to glacier natl park in june for our honeymoon. there are mtns there up to 10000ft. the lake there is at 3100ft. i hadnt thought about elevation...

we will see...

3/24/2009 8:23:02 PM

^i've hiked all over glacier. about the highest you can get in the backcountry trails is ~8000 ft. no worries about altitude unless you're a fat pile with asthma or emphysema or something

3/24/2009 8:26:24 PM

I've done the Mexican Volcanoes (topping out at 18,500) and a few peaks in the Andes (over 22,000 ft). The latter included technical ice climbing at elevation. Probably going to do a technical climb in the Himalaya in the next couple of years.

The best way I can think of when climbing when you are not acclimatized very well is: take four or five shots of tequila and then do very hard physical labor like climb stairs with a giant pack on. The worst headaches I ever had were at a camp at 19,000 ft.

Once you acclimatize you're a freaking beast at lower elevations, though.

3/24/2009 8:41:53 PM

Quote :

"ojos del salado in the andes (chile/argentina), but it's only about 6,900m"

That's high elevation to me. People routinely get pulmonary edema on Pico de Orizaba which is much lower than 6000m. Though Ojos del Salada seem like a scree slog to me.

3/24/2009 8:46:11 PM

^^ hahaha do you want me to die?

It looks like because of when our bus arrives at the base we're going to end up climbing halfway, then taking a couple hours break, then climbing the other half. Kind of sucks but no point just hanging around the base of the mountain.

3/24/2009 9:04:21 PM

3/24/2009 9:23:28 PM

^I'll second that.

Although Mt. Fuji is nowhere close to Everest, and there are many mountains higher than Fuji San in the US.

3/24/2009 9:32:25 PM

I actually liked this better:

3/24/2009 9:42:27 PM

Having read both, which account are you more apt to believe? I've only read Krakauer and debated getting The Climb.

3/24/2009 9:45:31 PM

i have read into thin air, but not the climb but from what i gathered from krakauer's response to the climb it seems like the accounts of what happen only differ when it comes to boukreev's actions near the summit and why he descended before his climbers.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 9:48 PM. Reason : .]

3/24/2009 9:48:07 PM

3/24/2009 9:48:29 PM

3/24/2009 9:51:18 PM

I thought Boukreev's book was more believable, though it's probably been 10 years since I've read them.

I seem to remember Boukreev's biggest contention being that Krakauer downplayed his own climbing experience. Krakauer is actually a fairly experienced mountaineer, but he did little to help on Everest.

3/24/2009 10:00:19 PM

^
Krakauer did some wicked shit back in the day. Besides his famous solo attempt of the Devil's Thumb he also did hard routes in Patagonia. Other accounts of the '96 tragedy mention how strong Krakauer was compared to the rest of the clients. So he did downplay his strength on the mountain even though he didn't have any real high elevation experience at the time. With that said, I'm partial to Krakauer's account over "The Climb"'s.

Other good mountaineering literature I love: anything by David Roberts, "The White Spider", anything by Joe Simpson (the Touching the Void guy), K2-The Savage Mountain by Houston, Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman are some of my favorites. A whole list of good shit is here:
http://www.summitpost.org/list/257435/Best-Mountaineering-Literature.html

[Edited on March 25, 2009 at 12:33 AM. Reason : x]

3/25/2009 12:30:45 AM

I've hiked up to the top of Peak 8 at Breckenridge wearing ski boots and carrying my skis and poles. Its only a 160 ft verticle climb, but at the top its 12,998ft and I've never felt so exhausted. Of course 2-3 minutes of enjoying the view and I was good to go down some chutes.

Altitude sickness can affect people in very different ways. When I was in CO for 5 days our cabin was at 9600 ft and I felt fine. Most of our skiing was done between 13,000-10,000 ft and everyone felt the altitude to do a degree, but everybody was fine except later in the week one of the guys kept getting nauseous.

I'd imagine that not being in good shape only amplifies the effect.

3/25/2009 12:58:12 PM

Physical prowess aside, nearly anyone can succumb to the effects of altitude sickness.

My brother and I did a hike up red ridge in NM a couple years back and he was blowin chunks all the way back down the mountain. He's in stupid good shape too.

3/25/2009 1:04:23 PM