A Matter of Altitude

After a couple of days at close to the same altitude, we've started to climb.

Yesterday we gained about 500 meters to around 1800 m. Tuesday  we ended up at 2600 m.   On Wednesday we stopped in Lho which is at 3180 m.

There is still a ways to go.  In 3 days we will be sleeping at over 4000 m and the next day we will climb over our first pass at around 5100 m.

It's important to gain elevation gradually or risk altitude sickness.  Many of us also have a medication, Diamox, which we can take to help us acclimatize.  I haven't decided what to do.  I'd like to see if I could do the climb without the med, but that risks coming down with altitude sickness which would mean the end of the trip for me.

We're at Sama now (Thurs), at an altitude of around 3500 m.  I've decided to start the Diamox in the morning.  I feel fine, heart rate normal, breathing good, lots of energy, but I don't want problems on this side of the pass.  The only option is to get over that 5100 m pass. 

Some of the chemistry of Diamox... It's a diuretic, helpful because at altitude the body tends to retain water.  This can cause problems in the lungs and the brain.  The drug also inhibits an enzyme that controls how much CO2 is bound up in the blood.  This is important because the CO2 level is one of the triggers that speeds up the breathing rate.  So far, my breathing and heart rates are pretty normal.

After one dose of Diamox, I'm showing no side effects and I feel fine after our afternoon activities.

PostScript:  Our climb from Daramshala (Larke Phedi) at 4480 m to the pass at 5100 m was uneventful.  I felt a little bit of leg fatigue and needed to pant a bit here and there, but at the summit I felt very good.

Unfortunately, an older French man in another group collapsed just at the summit.  Two from our group, Kobus and Mark, administered CPR but to no avail and he died from cerebral edema.

The unfortunate part of this is that his symptoms were probably visible the night before and certainly during the climb.  The most significant issue here is nobody in his group (including their guides), noticed or did anything.  Odd because we knew that he was having trouble as we came up from behind and were going to warn the group.  He collapsed before we reached them.

The episode certainly reminds us how important careful acclimatization is and also having the watchful eyes of other group members around, not to mention being aware of how your own body is responding.