Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Recovery While Hiking

I have been doing some rather strenuous hikes in the S. California area recently - Baldy trail, from the Village; Deer Springs up San Jacinto - and have a question about the best way to recover while hiking.

What I have noticed is that sometimes one member of the party, perhaps carrying too much weight or not in the best of shape, will become exhausted. It seems to come on rather suddenly, although the person may have been struggling for a while. In any event, short rest stops do not seem to do the trick, even after dropping weight. In other words, after a brief break, the person soon tires. Clearly, the dropping of the weight and the brief break are not enough.

Does it take an extended stop - say 15 minutes or more - for the recovery? Is there any best approach? Is the matter so hiker specific that there is no general rule?

Any comments would be appreciated, as the brief break approach does not seem to work.

This has happened to me years ago while on the MMWT. what i did was slowed way down. I was trying to keep pace with our leader but soon found out it was to fast for me.I slowed down,recoped my breathing and did just fine the rest of the trip, i was 20 min. behind the leader at the summit.AD

Unfortunately, there are way too many variables involved to give you a simple answer to this question. To mention just a few: conditioning, weight of the individual, weight of pack, nutritional status before the hike, nutrition consumed during hike, hydration status, pace of the hike, acclimation to altitude, acclimation to heat/cold, injury status, etc. etc.

Everyone is going to have differences in these variables. If a weekend warrior decides to hike with a group of marathoners at the marathoner's pace, he or she will inevitably not be able to keep up. Know everyone's capabilities and be prepared to make allowances, if it is important to hike as a group.

The main point is to prevent the person from reaching the point of exhaustion. The best way to do this is to get into good shape and get acclimatized to altitude before doing a big climb like Whitney. The other technique that is useful is to pace yourself so that you can carry on a normal conversation while hiking. If you are breathing too hard to do that comfortably, then you are going too fast for your conditioning level. Finally, it is important to check in with yourself periodically to assess how much reserve you still have left. Learn to recognize your early symptoms of serious fatigue. Getting to the summit and then having nothing left for the downclimb puts you in a dangerous position.

Sam is right. Prevention and pacing.

Have seen this time and again with scouts. Kid stops, says he has a sudden bellyache, or wants to go home, or is tired. Actually, he just did not have the experience to feel the slow onset of fatigue, or hypothermia, or altitude. Sort of the straw that broke the camels back scenario. Person usually waits too late to slow/stop/ask for help. By then recovery, is more difficult and prolonged. And once both the physical and especially mental barrier is reached, then there is no pushing unwilling flesh up the mountain. Harvey

Given the terms of your question: you are already out on the trail with the person, what can you do......here is how I approach this common situation:

First, if I'm leading a trip, or on a trip with relative newbies, I hike in the back, so I can see what is going on. You will generally have a lot of notice that there is a problem. You know you've got a problem when they stop, and stand in the trail. Virtually universally, the person will deny that they are struggling. (Why is irrelevant). So I don't bother asking, I start to intervene, as soon as I recognize it.

I hike with the person, preferrably behind them by 20 or so yards, and let them set their pace. If I crowd them, they tend to go faster, which is bad. If I'm in front of them, I tend to go to my pace, and they will try to keep up, making it worse....plus, I can't see what they are doing.

The "sprint and crash" technique is mentally and physically exhausting. You really need to get the person to slow down.

At the first opportunity, I'll have the person sit down without their pack, and talk about pacing, and tell them that for most people, a maximum speed is about "a breathe in with one foot, a breathe out with the other foot", and if they are breathing faster, they have to slow down. I'll teach them the "rest step", which is hard to do going even a medium speed..so it slows them down. I'll show them pressure breathing, which helps them focus, and helps them breath more efficiently.

Early in the process, I'll distribute some of their pack weight.
In the worst of circumstances, I'll distribute their entire pack.
I've been on trips where I required a person to cache part of their pack contents (30# !), to be picked up on the return.

However, the KEY is to intervene early. Because of the denial, a person will struggle along, denying any problem, until they completely crash, unable to move another step. At that point, an extended rest (1/2 hour at least) is required, and mentally, they may be done, no matter what you do for them physically. Exhaustion knocks the tar out of anyone, and is no fun to experience.

Hike behind Kurt.

You may think you're going slow, but at the end of the day, you'll be glad that you've had someone setting a pace that can be maintained for hours on end. Since I quit thinking about fast times, I've been hiking at a reasonable pace. After the first time I hiked with Kurt, I pulled it back a notch and haven't had to worry of "the wall" since. (including a 26 hour sufferfest!)

You have to stay within your aerobic range...proper pace. The best way to figure out is to utilize a heart rate monitor while hiking.

Last year, I decided I would avoid the snow between Baldy Bowl and the ridge on the Ski Hut Trail. I straight up the ridge and went anaerobic most of the way up. I never got my energy back the rest of the day.

Thanks for all of the responses and the suggestions.

What is interesting is what wbtrvs seems to imply. The point where there is a collapse of some sort seems to sneak up. The people I was hiking with were experienced hikers and in good shape. It seemed that the exhaustion was a surprise and by the time it was recognized, it was almost too late. And, the further interesting thing is how difficult it is to recover once the exhaustion sets in.

The message seems to be, appropriately so, that one should try to recognize that exhaustion is setting in and slow down or drop weight before it gets to be a problem. And, the natural tendency to "gut it out" may be one's own worst enemy.

Thanks for the comments.

As mentioned above, pacing is the key. Once you're blown it's too late. As they say in the ultramarathon community: "Start slowly and then taper down".