I climbed it awhile ago on a whim. It's pretty high so just be warned. Gets cold up there too in case you didn't know.
Very cool! You think a 57 year old dude in decent shape should be OK?
Although it’s hard to predict how an individual will respond to altitude, in general, older people are a bit less likely to suffer mountain sickness.
If you take your time, you should be fine. Looks like 7-8 day itineraries have the highest success rates.
What was you most difficult training hike? What elevation?
I have an 8 day hike, and a prescription for altitude sickness pills which is supposed to work well.
I’ve been doing a lot of 10 mile hikes, about four hours, 2k elevation change, at about 8k feet. I wanted to get higher but just didn’t have the chance.
Diamox?
8K probably a bit too low to know how you’ll handle higher elevation, but plenty of time to acclimate + meds should make it do-able.
ETA 10 miles with 2K elevation gain in 4 hours is really good! What hiking boots are you using?
Yep - Diamox. And I got some fancy Lowa boots. I’ve broken them in pretty good.
8K is a bit low, but I’ve been as high as 12k and haven’t had any issues at all, so I think I’ll be ok there.
Will you be taking the Diamox prophylactically? FYI,
Wilderness Medicine Society guidelines :
Multiple trials have established a role for acetazolamide in the prevention of AMS. The recommended adult dose for prophylaxis is 125 mg twice daily (
Table 2). While higher doses up to 500 mg daily are effective at preventing AMS, they are associated with more frequent and/or increased side effects, do not convey greater efficacy, and, therefore, are not recommended for prevention. Recommendation grade: 1A.
No. I will not.
Unless my chicks are into that…
FWIW, I used Diamox prophylactically on Denali. At the time, I was cycling, running and hiking regularly, arguably in the best shape of my life, at age 40. And I don’t typically feel altitude until ~13K feet. But I decided to maximize my chances of a summit, or minimize AMS, at the minimum. There was already plenty of suffering.
I did fine during our 13 day expedition, but had to descend from 17K High Camp, when one of my team members developed frostbite.
Of note, my oxygen saturations (how much oxygen the blood carries) dropped into the low 80’s around 14K; normal is >94%. Surprisingly, I felt OK with those numbers, when I’d surely be gasping for air under normal circumstances.
Hopefully YMWV. Good luck and keep us updated!