Mountain Climbing with the Wizard

Quote: Wizard

W Perhaps living in Vegas, which is at about 3,000 feet where I live, has helped with that.

I live at 400' so when I go to Vegas
I can really feel choked for air if
I do any walking. I get used to it
after about a week, but I really don't
like it.

Quote: Wizard

I think the higher you live the easier high-elevation climbing is.

If you live at 5,750' you have 20% less pressure than someone at sea level, while at 10,800' you have 33% less pressure. It is easy to believe that a person who changes from 20% less to 33% less will already be partly acclimatized.

But you live at 3,000' so you are only 10% less pressure than sea level. You wonder how much of your basic biological functions can change with only 10%.

Quote: Pacomartin

But you live at 3,000' so you are only 10% less pressure than sea level. You wonder how much of your basic biological functions can change with only 10%.

I only notice it on long walks in Vegas. And
because I'm in my 60's. But if I'm there
10 days it's gone when I leave.

I wonder if high altitude dwellers ever get the bends at sea level or suffer other ill effects of too much oxygen?

Many high altitude hotels maintain oxygen tanks for emergency use even though injuries occur during reperfusion more often than during desaturation.

I wonder if Denver residents can join the Mile High Club via a motel room rather than the usual activity in an airplane? Eons ago I flew with a pilot who had cracked up an entire restaurant crowd when awarding a Mile High Club certificate to a 43 year old male and an 18 year old female that had "qualified" in the back seat of a Cessna 182.

It seems humans are incredibly adaptable in basic physiology as far as oxygen levels in the blood and brain.

As to walking Broadway, I knew three guys who did that decades ago one Saturday morning. They also did it giving wolf whistles to underage girls so it was not just exercise but was dangerous exercise. Life in Manhattan was fun back then..... if you had money. I imagine its pretty much the same way now, just a far higher amount of money is needed, though I understand the Dinty Moore bars still exist. A full meal on the cheap as long as you keep swilling beer.

Quote: Fleastiff

I wonder if high altitude dwellers ever get the bends at sea level or suffer other ill effects of too much oxygen?

Well first of all the bends are caused by too much nitrogen, not too much oxygen. Today we associate the bends with 4X or 5X normal atmospheric pressure when you are SCUBA diving. Historically it was associated with workers on the Brooklyn Bridge who spend 8 hours working at probably 2X normal atmospheric pressure.

If you have been SCUBA diving for several days you should wait a day before getting in a jet which is normally pressurized at equivalent of 6000' to 8000' atmospheres. So I suppose if you have been SCUBA diving in Mexico and you drive home to Falstaff AZ in less than 6 hours (altitude 7000') then you are vulnerable.

But I doubt that you could have a problem from descending from high altitude cities to sea level. You get a rush from the oxygen doping, but that is normally considered a bonus.

Quote: Aussie

Problem is there is nowhere over here to train with that variable. The highest point in Australia only tops out at maybe 7,500 ft.

I did the tour of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last summer. They had a huge gym where they could adjust the air pressure. The purpose was to trail athletes for the elevation of the stadium of whatever Olympics they were training for. Not suggesting you have access to such a facility, but I thought it was a clever idea.

Quote: Pacomartin

Well first of all the bends are caused by too much nitrogen, not too much oxygen.

True and it is also associated with that dissolved nitrogen boiling out of the blood not into it. So 'bends' was really an incorrect term to use. I merely meant do high altitude dwellers feel untoward effects of too much oxygen. There are 'oxygen bars' all over the nightlife oriented areas but I don't know if those are effective to actually dissolve additional oxygen into the blood.

I know people do use low pressure chambers at sporting events for emergency medicine and for improved performance. Hyperbaric chambers are used in Europe for a great many conditions but in the USA for a relatively few.

Mike, I have you and this thread to
blame from my new obsession with
hiking videos. I have been watching
them for at least 90 min a day since
the middle of July.

I love it. My faves are Dixie, (Homemade
Wanderlust, she's a cool chick), Darwin,
IBTAT, hurlgoathiker, Whimsical Woman,
Nightcrawler, Jay Sets Out and few others.

The 3 main trails are Appalachian Trail,
Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide
Trail. PCT is the most beautiful after you
get to the Sierra's. The rest of it north
is just gorgeous. I'm hooked on the
experiences of these athletes, and talk
to some of them on a regular basis.

I blame you.

This is Dixie. I gave her advice on her
ingrown toenails when she was on the
trail this summer.

Quote: Evenbob

Mike, I have you and this thread to
blame from my new obsession with
hiking videos.

I happily accept responsibility. That chick looks like my kind of woman -- athletic, strong, and adventurous.

I probably said this before, but I'm hoping to do some big hiking adventures myself starting in 2020, until I get too old. 2020 is when my son graduates from high school, so I'll have just one 14-year-old left in the nest. It wouldn't hurt for me to come into some more income to justify not working months at a time.

p.s. Have you seen my little climbing resume page?

Quote: Wizard

I probably said this before, but I'm hoping to do some big hiking adventures myself ]?

My advice would be the PCT and skip
the desert part. Takes 40 days, not worth
it. Start about 100 miles before the
Sierra's begin, that's the best terrain and
views all the way to Canada.

The AP is a hard trail and can be very
boring and over populated with hikers
of all kinds. Hot and mosquitoey too.
And rainy a lot. 'Embrace the suck' is
the motto on the AT.. Lot's of Lime
disease ticks (I saw 2 hikers get it just
this summer).