Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail Camp Altitude Sickness

So far I've been lucky but my lady friend Roxana got hit pretty hard at Trail Camp, and our experience has me wondering about overnighters who stay at Trail Camp when they are obviously sick. Putting aside the possible causes, Trail Camp appears to present a line for many people. Does seem like a large number of people get sick much lower and that would be a separate issue. Obviously you dont get better by going up farther. But you don't get better staying where you are either. You have to go down. Given how fast you can recover by descending only a little bit- has anyone on an overnight, who fell sick at Trail Camp, tried going down to Consultation Lake or lower even, and woken up the next day able to ascend more without hitting a line and feeling sick again??

Here's how it went for us if you are interested-
Roxana was fine even just below Consultation Lake, but somewhere right around there she turned red.
Having gotten little sleep and early start for our day hike made tougher by starting from the Portal Campground we Really needed some rest, and REAlly needed some Food. At first i didn't completely realize Rox was nearly passed out from sickness, but was getting suspicious.
COMIC CLUE- around 11000 a woman said she was not feeling well and Rox offered her some advil/ Roxana was still fine there/ at Trail Camp i mention to a guy Rox was not feeling well and he offers us.. advil.. /doh/ When Roxana forgets to take it herself, something is wrong. She is always on top of that kind of thing. Now i Know she is sick. I let her rest while i cooked but told her she would have to head down ASAP even though she wanted to sleep there awhile. Sickness was making her very sleepy, not good. We ate a meal, and i sent her down and told her to keep track of how long it was until she felt better. At a very slow pace she was fine in 20 minutes. Maybe 500-1000 feet lower, and she's fine.
I went up the 99 a little ways myself, then turned around and caught up with her above Mirror Lake and she was 100% ok, wide awake. Well enough we stopped off at Lone Pine Lake on our way down.

Still More if you want the rest of the story.....

This was the "H" of our Lazy Man's Low to High. We were shadowing a group of backpackers who hiked the FULL distance from Badwater to Summit in our own car trip and had day permits for the same day the L2H crew would ascend to Trail Camp...
So really our goal was only Trail Camp and maybe the 99. I was more than a little happy with the view i got and just being on the 99 is fantastic. I did an overnight summit myself last year and Roxana just wanted to get on the mountain. For how well she did up until she fell sick, Victory!
As far as causes, well we could go on all day about the possibilities, but i do think a slower pace may have helped. I try to stop and catch my breath before it runs out. Trail Camp was our main destination, Rox pushed it extra hard as we got close. I think it may have been a main factor in making her sick
We did spend the day and night before at the Portal but did not get enough sleep, and she probably didn't eat enough in the morning. But really you could do everything right and still fall sick if you don't have a week to get fully acclimated.

You and/or R. might consider talking to your doctor about Diamox (acetazolamide). Yes, it is possible in some cases to stay put until you get better (depends on symptoms), and then continue up when symptoms resolve. Diamox can help. I recovered sufficiently from AMS at 16,000', with help from Diamox, to summit Kilimanjaro the next day completely symptom free (your experience may differ). In my experience, it can help to keep walking slowly sometimes (even in circles) at your resting altitude to keep your respiration up, rather than lie down. Pain relievers, proper hydration can help; for me, eating honey and/or Clif shots sometimes helps (my brain seems to crave the glucose hit at altitude sometines).


Here is a primer written by one of the most respected high altitude doctors that addresses this. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2016/the-pre-travel-consultation/altitude-illness. Be warned: some doctors who are not familiar with altitude can over prescribe the dosage for Diamox, which can make you very sick, so it pays to self-educate. And I find electrolytes supplements are critical if I'm taking Diamox.

yeah my Mom uses diamox, it helps. Good to know it might kick in in an emergency, we thought it only works if taken well in advance. When people are hit suddenly, and notice they recover by dropping a little... sounds like they will hit the same wall again the next day without medicine. it will take a longer time to acclimate... was amazing how much better she got once she descended a little.

I have found the info on Diamox out there is incomplete with respect to my own experiences.

It works extremely quickly for me -- within an hour it starts to take effect (as I found out the first time I used it to solve a periodic breathing problem I was having when trying to fall asleep at the White Mountain trailhead). I don't have to bother with pre-dosing the day or two before I travel -- I can take my first dose a couple of hours before I go to sleep the first night at 11,000' or above. And for Sierra elevations, I do fine with 62.5 mg once a day (when sleeping at or above 11K), which is something like a quarter of the recommended dosage (I have had to take more when sleeping at super high elevations like those in Nepal or on Kili). I think a lot of the analysis is based on men, and women's (or just individual) experiences may differ. As always, folks should consult their own physicians....

THANKS! this could really help us out in the future= from what you say i feel like an emergency supply is definitely worth having when we go up to elevation next summer. I can probably even get some and run a test at the Bristlecones or somewhere.....