North Fork from the summit
My thought for high
altitude sickness up to 14,000 feet
First of all, I am not talking about very high altitude like
mountains in Himalaya here. I am
focusing on mountains up to 14, 000 feet with a few days hiking. Also, I am not talking about a threshold
where people better to stop hiking up or not to stay a certain altitude. They are beyond the scope of this
thinking. People need to take own
responsibility make this judgment. This
decision may impact to a life for you and people in your group.
When I look at reorganized tracking records for my past Mt.
Whitney hiking, I can see very interesting facts from the data. Please look at the data I showed in the last post.
Always have a sign
for the high altitude
If I look at reorganized tracking record in the past, I can
see my moving speed is slowing down above around 10,000 feet every time. Based on the memory, even if I did not feel
any clear symptom in the hiking, the data shows I did slow down. This means that no matter I realize the
symptom or not, there is a clear indication to see the impact of the altitude. Most of past data is for myself, however, I found some data for other people. I also see a similar trend in others as well.
The following table shows the time for each Mt. Whitney hiking in the past. Please note, in 2012, I went there with a person who did not have much experience for such long hiking. Therefore, the overall pace is relatively slower then the other years.
I really focus on ascending time, after out post camp, the altitude will be above 10,000 feet. Overall, there is not much difference for the total spending time. However, if we carefully look at the data in detail, the actual moving time is very similar for each case.
Based on my memory, I felt very tired / exhausted in 2011. On the other hand, I felt very easy in 2015. But the both cases, the actual moving time is very similar. I manage the overall pace based on my real time heart rate. I tried to keep the maximum heart late below 160bpm. But I did not really manage the pace in 2011. Especially I was plan to go to summit on the first day, that was a cause of a bit faster pace.
The resting time between Outpost camp and Trail Camp look very similar between 2011 and 2015. But how I rested was different. In 2011, the most resting time is just stop in a short time to recover, something like stop-and-go. So the rest was not a long resting, just a few minutes to stop and resume moving. But 2015, I had one long resting.
Total Time
|
Resting time
|
Actual moving time
|
||||||||||
2011
|
2012
|
2014
|
2015
|
2011
|
2012
|
2014
|
2015
|
2011
|
2012
|
2014
|
2015
|
|
Whitney Portal
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
Lone Pine Lake
|
1:50
|
2:00
|
1:45
|
1:51
|
0:04
|
0:05
|
0:06
|
0:07
|
1:46
|
1:55
|
1:39
|
1:44
|
Outpost Camp
|
0:31
|
0:38
|
0:30
|
0:31
|
0:01
|
0:02
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:30
|
0:36
|
0:30
|
0:30
|
Trail Camp
|
2:09
|
3:07
|
2:23
|
2:04
|
0:19
|
0:41
|
0:28
|
0:17
|
1:50
|
2:26
|
1:55
|
1:48
|
Trail Crest
|
2:17
|
2:24
|
2:07
|
1:42
|
0:09
|
0:25
|
0:07
|
0:01
|
2:08
|
1:59
|
2:00
|
1:41
|
John Muir Trail junction
|
0:12
|
0:08
|
0:14
|
0:07
|
0:04
|
0:01
|
0:06
|
0:00
|
0:07
|
0:07
|
0:08
|
0:07
|
| Summit |
1:51
|
1:39
|
1:29
|
1:28
|
0:19
|
0:07
|
0:04
|
0:01
|
1:32
|
1:32
|
1:25
|
1:27
|
John Muir Trail junction
|
1:22
|
1:50
|
1:22
|
1:35
|
0:23
|
0:25
|
0:13
|
0:11
|
0:59
|
1:25
|
1:09
|
1:24
|
Trail Crest
|
0:08
|
0:08
|
0:07
|
0:07
|
0:01
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
0:08
|
0:08
|
0:07
|
0:07
|
Trail Camp
|
1:05
|
1:27
|
1:04
|
1:16
|
0:01
|
0:14
|
0:03
|
0:01
|
1:04
|
1:13
|
1:01
|
1:15
|
Outpost Camp
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
1:12
|
1:24
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:27
|
0:07
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:45
|
1:17
|
Lone Pine Lake
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:23
|
0:24
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:23
|
0:24
|
Whitney Portal
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
1:12
|
1:03
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
0:00
|
0:00
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
1:12
|
1:03
|
Of course, my physical conditions are different for each
time. Some of years, I did really
decent training around the hiking and my fitness situation could be much better
than the other cases. So it is not
really simple to compare and conclude this.
However, the one I felt easiest hiking was the last one (2015) and actually
that particular year, I did not do decent training due to an injury, which is
stress fracture on my left leg. So I
think the feeling is not really the fitness level.
(To be continue)
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