Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Question about acclimation

I will be climbing the East Buttress next week. We will be doing it in one day, up the EB and down the Main Trail.

Is there any benefit to sleeping at the Portal the night before? Or would I be better off sleeping down low and getting a better night sleep at a lower altitude?

This will be my 9th time up Whitney and i have never been to the top without getting a raging headache.

My gut feeling for this trip is sleep low go fast and get back down ASAP.

Thanks,

Kevin

Kevin,

There could be various reasons you are getting a raging headache. One could simply be genetics. There are other factors though and a few techniques could help.

For one, drink lots of water. I would suggest drinking 4 liters the day before you go and drink a liter before your climb. Keep drinking all the way up and down.

Another one is pacing. Kick back your pace slightly so you know you can keep it all day. Keep a steady rhythm... no stoping and starting. Find a speed and keep it.

Also, breathing is very important. Lots of hard breathing to move lots of air will help your body get the oxygen it needs.

Bring a good variety of snack food... and food you like to eat. Sweet, salty, spicy, bland. Mix it up.

Allow yourself plenty of time for this route. You have a lot of ground to cover in one day plus about 10 of some of the finest alpine rock pitches in the country. Start early enough to avoid having to rush later in the trip.

Most altitude headaches come from lack of oxygen and dehydration. If you address both of those issues and keep a steady pace so you don't over exert you are going a lot way towards setting yourself up for success.

I like sleeping at the Portal the night before (well hydrated, of course). If you are already acclimated sleeping down low could have an advantage because you give your body a good shot of oxygen before you go up. If you aren't acclimated I'd sleep up there and start getting used to it... eating a drinking plenty.

Have a great climb!

I've read a few people say that they take two aspirin before leaving and then another two every couple of hours. I would probably do this (or take Advil instead...or both) as a preemptive measure...I figure it couldn't hurt much.

Check this:

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000173

Thanks for the responses. Maybe I wasn't clear in my question. It is more out of curiosity than anything. I am driving up from LA the afternoon before the climb. Does sleeping at the Portal for such a short period of time really help with acclimation? Or would it be better to say sleep down in the Olancha Sand Dunes where I know I will get a good nights sleep. For such a banzai trip which do you think is more beneficial?

I have just resigned to the fact I will get a headache. I hydrate, take aspirin and eat well. I just get headaches. I am no stranger to Whitney or high elevation climbing in the Sierra. I just wanted thoughts on if people really think there is a benefit from staying at the Portal for 8 hours prior to climbing.

Thanks and sorry you guys had to write all that stuff about headaches, I will try and be more clear next time.

Well, I understood your main question and actually have the same one myself as I may make a similar trip next summer when I arrive the day before the hike. I assumed I would try to camp close at close to 10,000 feet to get myself acclimated.

The only experience with high altitude hiking I've ever done is in Maui where I drove up from 0 feet (sea level) to Mount Haleakala (10,000) feet and then hiked up there. I didn't get a headache, but I was SO tired and lethargic on the way back up the trail.

I was clueless back then and just thought I was in really crappy shape, but clearly the altitude played the biggest part. I remember hiking downhill for a couple of hours and then turning around and taking 5 or 6 steps up the trail and being so tired and out of breath. It was a weird feeling and then I barely got out of there before dark.

So I'm kind of concerned this would happen to me on a Whitney hike and 14K is obviously a lot higher up than 10K. If I can arrange the trip better, I will try to do some higher elevation hikes and camping at 10K or higher before the Whitney hike, but it may not be possible, and hence I'm curious to the best answer to your question.

I think I will be rather depressed if I am one of those people who genetically don't deal with the high elevation very well. I'm hoping that I can get acclimated to it very well and won't have a problem with it, but time will tell.

Kevin, I believe there is merit in your idea of sleeping low if you are only attempting a one day attempt.
Here is why.

When you read about AMS you see over and over:
"...symptoms usually start 12 to 24 hours after arrival at altitude and begin to decrease in severity around the third day."

If you drive up to the Portal the evening before, you are right in the middle of that 12-24 hour window when you approach the summit.

If you sleep at Lone Pine and do a day hike you are finished or going down the mountain in 12 hours.

I plan to do some hiking in the Sierra for four or five days next summer and wasn't sure whether to try the Whitney hike at the beginning or end of the trip, but I think I'll do it at the end just for this reason.

I can do some easier hikes first and also guage my reaction to the altitude. If I experience severe AMS, I will just cancel the Whitney hike as I can't stand headaches and they would take away all the fun.

Headache is the first step in the continuum that starts with "simple" AMS and progresses to HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema).

No, that does not mean that you will likely die from a headache/HAPE/HACE on a one day trip up a 14K mountain. But indeed that actually has happened ( but usually on longer trips). There are statistics on that.

Some people are more susceptible to minor and major manifestations of altitude illness, and at elevations as low as 8,000 where the official medical definition of altitude illnesses begin. Your own susceptibility ( 9 out of 9) is either due to individual characteristics and/or to inadequate acclimatization, or to too fast a pace or too heavy a load, or dehydration or.....

More likely, you will either slog through it (again) , or turn around with "mountain foot" (can't put one foot in front of the other.)

Hope this is useful. Harvey