Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board High Altitude and Blood

So a few years back I had to leave my beloved mountains and culture of the west coast for the flat lands of Philadelphia. I am now in my second year of medical school year and can't wait to return. I just finished an exam yesterday where there was a question where the labs showed increased amounts of red blood cells. One of the answers was that this was in reaction to his living at high altitude as he was from a town in the Poconos. I snorted quietly to myself. For those that don't know, the Poconos are a chain of foothills here on the east coast reaching maybe 2600 ft in height? t

ohhhhhhh - can one breath at those altitudes?

and I thought the brain did not start to function until 10k feet

I don't want to sound like too much of a snob, but when I first moved here I was asked what I like to do for fun. I told a few people that I liked hiking and being in the mountains. Most of the people get very excited and then ask if I have ever spent time in the Poconos. I usually don't know how to respond.

Sounds like good practice for developing one's bedside manor.

"The data obtained from altitude training suggest that a minimum altitude (>2000 m) is necessary to alter hematological status." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query...p;dopt=Abstract

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=004128

Great reference Bob, thanks. One of these days when I get a free moment, I would love to read it. :-(
Anyway, does anyone know what the snowpack is looking like this year? I saw all the data from the LA dept and such, but has anyone got a report?

This graph plots barometric pressure versus altitude. At the low altitude you mentioned there is 95% or so of the pressure, similar to the lower levels in a bad nor'easter or hurricane.

You can take an empty plastic soda bottle at sea level, cap it, take it up just 2-3000 feet, open it slowly, and hear the pressure escape. This shows you that there is some real pressure change, but not enough to crank up your erythropoetin.

OR, you can take an empty plastic soda bottle, at high altitude, seal it tightly, and listen to it 'complain' as you descend. The pops and cracks can be LOUD.............

It the Poconos are what is near you then hike them. Every mountain, hill, or bump deserves at least one ascent. I don't live by the eastern Sierra so perhaps I'm not that picky but I've managed to climb a handful of peaks that I've never heard reports or mention about and those are often as fun and rewarding as the big popular ones. Mt. Adelaide is a peak in near my home that I've climbed around 15 times. Even though it is only around 3400' in altitude it is a good workout because it is steep and loose class 2 hiking. Even though it is devoid of trees. I've gotten lost twice on it in thick fog. One of those times was with a friend who had hiked Denali and the AP. Even little humble low altitude peaks that many would overlook like the ugly girl at the dance can be fun, challenging, and rewarding.

Rafael...

snowpack status:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/current/PlotSWC

I would spend time hiking the Pokonos, believe me, but studying has me chained to my desk for about 20 hours per day when not in class. Nights, weekend, everything. I would give my left hand just to be able to spend a weekend in the outdoors!! I will have a week after I take the boards to be in the eastern Sierras and play around and I can't wait. I just hope I have not transferred to many cheesesteaks to my behind so that I am unable to hike.

Cessna, not that its any of my business but which med school do you attend? One thing Philly can brag about (I concede the Poconos are just foothills) is the number of med schools. I think we have four excellent ones within the city limits.

Drexel!!!!!

Then there are the lesser schools such as Penn, Jeff, PCOM, and Temple of Doom. But not everyone gets into Drexel so they need student too!! ;-)

I forgot about PCOM. Good luck with your studies. Doing that homeopathic thing are you? (a little Hahnemann trivia and an inside joke)

Oh and about that elevation problem we have here. Tomorrow I and my (grown) son are driving up to Hamburg, Pa to hike the AT to the Pinnacles. We need to do some incline hiking for our Whitney attempt in August. Tame stuff but its all we got.

Best of luck with Whitney!!! I am very jealous here. About then I will be in New Jersey doing my OB/GYN rotation. Hanneman was founded as the birthplace of osteopathic medicine but now Drexel is a regular allopathic school just like Penn and Temple. We have had a few lectures on homeopathy but I am a little skeptical.

Something in today's Seattle paper:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003677205_everest23m.html

cessna - While not the Sierra, at least you have the Poconos. Here in Ohio, the highest elev. is Campbell Hill at ~1550' in the City of Bellefontaine, NW of Columbus. The best hiking in Ohio is actually in southeast Ohio in the Hocking Hills area, which is only between 800-1000 feet. I, too, am a SoCal transplant now living back east, having grown up in the Palmdale area, within full view of the San Gabriels, the Tehachapis, and the southernmost Sierra, with the drive up 395 less than an hour away. At least you get to go back out west when you are done. I'm in my 25th year out here. When hiking in Ohio, I have similar issues with how to respond to locals who have never seen anything other than the Hocking Hills and think it is the most wonderful thing they have ever seen in their lives. Sometimes I just nod my head and say "It is nice, isn't it...", or depending on the situation, sometimes I'll add to that "Say, have you ever been out to California?" Then if appropriate, I can tell them about that if they want to hear it.

CaT