Acclimitize to a 14-er

Finally scored some permits to Mt. Whitney. Heading there with 5 permits in hand in late July. Hopefully there aren't any wildfires around that time this year.

Here's my question:
How many days would you acclimitize before attempting a WA, CO or CA fourteener? Or, how many days did you acclimate before your successfull summit? At what height would you try to camp, and for how many days? Keep in mind I'm at elevation 26 feet as I type this.

As of right now, we will only have 6 days to acclimate. We will try to camp as many days as possible between 8-10K feet. We will of course carefully watch our diet, take it slow, and drink tons of water. This will be the first fourteener for all involved.

Also, would it help to camp in New England at 3K or 4K feet for a night or two before leaving? Or at least hike Washington and hang out on the summit for an entire day?

When me and the Double Doc did Rainier we stayed in Ashford at about 1800', drove to Paradise at about 5000', did a crevasse rescue course at about 6000', a day hike to Muir at about 10,000' - each day returning to Asford. For our 2 night attempt we stayed at Muir and then Ingraham Flats at about 11,000'. None of our group had altitude issues. 4 of the 7 did have conditioning (or lack thereof) issues.

Good Luck ! Take some video !

roadtripper said:

Also, would it help to camp in New England at 3K or 4K feet for a night or two before leaving? Or at least hike Washington and hang out on the summit for an entire day?

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IMHO: No, not for acclimitizing, but it sure would help for conditioning. I also don't think staying at an altitude for longer matters much. I think you get there and descend. Like if you camp at 8k and dayhike to 10k. But someone could correct.

First - I don't think it will help to camp in the Whites - not high enough. And keep in mind the planes are pressurized to 7K', so that alone will help a little bit.

For Whitney, and since you have the time, you might think about hanging out at Cottonwood Meadows for a couple of days before. It's at 10K, and lots of places to camp. You might also hike out to some of the Cottonwood lakes toward Old Army Pass (listed on some maps as simply Army Pass). That will give you a couple of thousand feet elevation gain over 4 or 5 miles - nothing strenuous, but will see how your bodies react to the elevation. This trailhead is easy to find - just head up to Whitney Portal from Lone Pine and make a left after a couple of miles. It's paved all the way.

Time permitting, you might also consider spending a day a bit further north visiting the Bristlecone Pines. Depending upon whether you drive up to the Patriach Grove, you can get up to at least 8 or 9K' as well as see some amazing trees.

Good luck with your hike up Whitney. I'm going up June 23rd, weather-permitting, with an impromptu group - the qualifying factor is that you're a Geezer/Geezerette pass holder. Will also do it again in September before winter sets in up there.

I have a rather long report on our 2002 trip to Mt. Whitney.

On day 1 we hiked along the Meysan Lake trail, then drove to Onion Valley campsite (elevation 9,200 feet) for the night. Next day we hiked over Kearsarge Pass (elevation 11,760 feet) and camped at Kearsarge Lakes (a really spectacular spot, elevation 11,000 feet). Next day we returned to Lone Pine, and the day after we started up Mt. Whitney.

I slept poorly at 11,000 feet, both at Kearsarge Lakes and at Trail Camp, but apart from that did not suffer from the altitude.

Your mileage will vary

The most important thing is what Mohamed said, YMWV. Even for the same person, acclimatization success varies from trip to trip, and it's not well understood why. Some folks succeed on Whitney without any acclimatization; others turn around with a terrible headache at Trail Camp even though they acclimatized. Research continues...

That said, 6 days should be plenty. Agree that nothing you can do in the East will have any effect.

Here's the schedule we used when we did Whitney as a day hike:

Sleep at Tuolomne Meadows every night (8400').
Monday: Tenaya Peak - 10,280
Tuesday: Mt. Hoffman - 10,845
Wednesday: Mt. Dana - 13,053
Thursday: Rest day - tourist walking at Tuolomne Grove
Friday: Mt. Whitney. We hit the trail about 4 AM with headlamps, and were successful in summiting and getting back to the car well before dark.

Again, your mileage will vary. Good luck and have fun! It's a beautiful area.

TCD

imo sleeping high is imperetive, as well as progressively ascending higher everyday. I would restday the day before. TCD's post would work fine imo.

I would have a lot of trouble with only 6 days of acclimitization, when I go to CO for 3 weeks it's really only the last week that I feel good at 12k. On the other hand, many people acclimitize more easily than I do.

So I would go to the mtns as soon as possible and save sightseeing in SF for afterwards, and try to walk an sleep higher every day.

Of course if you are in peak physical shape you will have more energy to begin with and that's something that is under your control. And hiking and sleeping at 5k in the White Mtns is not the perfect prep but it's better than nothing.

yeah, 6K isn't high enough to do anything. and even if mt. washington was 10K, the effects would wear off by the time you actually landed in CA.
(IMO - as everyone seems to like to disclaim, even though pretty much everything on this board are peoples opinions. )

i've spent a few days in CO..
day 1: slept at 8K
day 2: slept at 10K on my way to a backcountry mammoth rock spire
climbed it (12K) on day 3
back at 8K on day 3 to sleep
climbed some local crags on day 4
slept back at 10K night of day 4 at a cool campground
hiked up to 12K on day 5 to climb a bit on longs peak and -then- got altitude sick.

yeah. unpredictable.

This looks like a good article for some pointers. The "Climb high, sleep low" advice is repeated here; go higher during the day and then sleep lower at night. This is pretty much what we did, but it was more coincidental than by design.

you can try this on your flight over..

two benefits.. you can acclimitize and also not pay for plane fare.

http://www.altitude.org/survival.htm

Cool site Courtney!

I have found every trip differs in how well or not I acclimate...

Wish I could import those coca tea leaves from Peru...

My last trip to the Sierra's (Palisades) wiped me out because we hiked up fast and then never rested and it crushed me for several days. When I hiked Whitney I went up and back in a day and now prefer that over taking the time to acclimatize.

As Darl58 says, I have found no consistency in acclimating.

Acclimating.

Roadtripper: For what it's worth my wife and I climbed Whitney in 08.
I agree that the only thing climbing in NH is for conditioning.
For starters we Climbed the high points Black Mesa OK,Humphery Az,and Wheeler NM on the drive out.So you will not benefit from that.
However Kevin is right on the money and I recommend you camp at Cottonwood meadow and fyi hang on to your steering wheel as you leave Tuttle Creek rd.for the ride to the meadow.No gaurd rails and watch for rocks from above. We hiked up to Cottonwood pass and hiked south on the Pacific coast tr. for about an hour then came back to the pass and bushwhacked [rock scrambled] to the peak on the left at 12,000ft. decided to hike to chicken lake just a little north of the pass to see it. You could also rock hop up to the peak on the right for good measure also 12,000+.
Stay over again at the meadow for acclimation. The rule according to the Hi-Pointer magazine A-Z is Climb high,sleep low.
We next camped at Whitney Portal and hiked to Lone Pine Lake at !0,000 and hiked back down to the Portal and camped.Climbed toTrail camp at 12,000 the next day and Whitney the next. We had no problems at altitude and felt fine,however after 12,000 you will slow down ,we did, but again felt fine. We must have been acclimated because 2 days later we climbed Boundary Peak Nev. with no problems.
In addition if you have time go to Independence and Kearsarge pass and do the same, by hiking High and sleeping low.That should do the trick,espec. if you are younger than we are and you do a lot of climbing.I was 70 at the time so if I can do it I am sure you will too. Good luck and enjoy it,it is one beautiful place as is Cottowood Pass.
Also take note of the unbelievable trail building by the CCC boys all the way up Whitney.Especially the area of the 98 switchbacks.

leaf said:

you can try this on your flight over..

two benefits.. you can acclimitize and also not pay for plane fare.

http://www.altitude.org/survival.htm

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I like that quote:

"unconsciousness reduce the body's need for oxygen."

Good to know. Drawback is it also considerably slows down your progress on the mountain.

Another data point

I have twice gone from sea level to approximately 14,000 in a period of 48 - 60 hours. My friend and I climbed Grand Teton about 50 hours after liftoff from JFK. I had a mild headache, but not not so bad that I had to take Advil or anything. On a second instance I went from liftoff at JFK to the summit of Vestal Peak (slightly less than 14,000') in Colorado in 60 hours. On the Vestal Peak climb I felt a bit lethargic, and was traveling probably only 2/3 my normal speed. Again, mild headache, but no Advil.

People later warned me that I could have gotten altitude sickness, and I suppose it is possible. I think you just have to listen to your body, and not push it too hard. I felt reasonably comfortable in my two instances so I continued forward to the objective.

pudgy_groundhog said:

I have twice gone from sea level to approximately 14,000 in a period of 48 - 60 hours. My friend and I climbed Grand Teton about 50 hours after liftoff from JFK. I had a mild headache, but not not so bad that I had to take Advil or anything. On a second instance I went from liftoff at JFK to the summit of Vestal Peak (slightly less than 14,000') in Colorado in 60 hours. On the Vestal Peak climb I felt a bit lethargic, and was traveling probably only 2/3 my normal speed. Again, mild headache, but no Advil.

People later warned me that I could have gotten altitude sickness, and I suppose it is possible. I think you just have to listen to your body, and not push it too hard. I felt reasonably comfortable in my two instances so I continued forward to the objective.

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There is a certain amount of time delay before the more serious symptoms hit--something like 8-24 hrs. You are likely to be ok if you get back down soon enough--the big risk is that you get stuck up high. For instance, the recent death on Shasta. (They were forced to overnight near the summit (14Kft) and one developed what appears to be HACE.)

Doug

RoySwkr said:

And hiking and sleeping at 5k in the White Mtns is not the perfect prep but it's better than nothing.

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Yes, entirely agree. My brother lives at 5k in Lakewood, Colorado, and has a huge advantage the first week we hike together in the Rockies, even when he has not been higher than 5k for the previous few weeks.

pudgy_groundhog said:

I have twice gone from sea level to approximately 14,000 in a period of 48 - 60 hours.

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A few years ago, we flew from Boston to Denver, and then drove to Keystone and skied that night at 12,000+ feet. Very clear that this is not the same as being on your own out on a hike, but I earned some respect for elevation gain of this magnitude in a short period of time. I also should have rejected the offer of beer to rehydrate myself as we skied. A few local females were slightly scornful as I tried to hold my head still on the gondola ride to the top.

Seriously, take your time and listen to what your body tells you, even it you're not paying too much attention!

RoySwkr said:

And hiking and sleeping at 5k in the White Mtns is not the perfect prep but it's better than nothing.

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Dr. Dasypodidae said:

Yes, entirely agree. My brother lives at 5k in Lakewood, Colorado, and has a huge advantage the first week we hike together in the Rockies, even when he has not been higher than 5k for the previous few weeks.

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Your brother has been at 5K continuously for an extended period and is fully acclimatized. (Full acclimatization takes ~6 weeks.) A day or two at 5K is better than nothing but will likely only have a small effect.

A hiking store employee in Estes Park (~7.5K ft, Rocky Mtn NP) told me that he was sufficiently acclimatized that he can go to 14K ft without much difficulty. (I ran out of steam around 12K ft about 3 days in from sea level. No headaches etc, just no umph. On another visit at 2 days from sea level I was able to do some short hikes off Trail Ridge Rd (~12K ft, RMNP) without difficulty by intensional hyperventilation and pressure breathing.)

Doug

In addition to my Whitney trip I went to Colorado early in the summer of 2002. Day 1 I flew to Denver, rented a car, and drove to Silverthorne (elevation 9,000 feet). That day I walked around town (pretty flat) huffing and puffing away. Next day I climbed Ptarmigan Mountain (12,498 feet), lots of huffing and puffing but no difficulties. Took a day off, then hiked Quandry Peak, a 14er.

The point, of course, is that I slept at the moderate elevation of 9,000 feet, just going higher for a few hours. So this is not really relevant to an overnight on Mount Whitney (not sure how relevant it is do Mount Whitney in a day).