Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Children

I am taking my child, who is 9, on a day hike. Does anyone have a suggestion for him to overcome altitude sickness. I have steroids (prednisone), baby asprins, and childrens motrin. Is there anything else? We have spent the last month aclimating, by climbing our local southern california mountains, but I would appreciate any advice.

Before giving a 9 year old a potent steroid, I think you might want to have a long talk with a doctor. Perhaps one of the physicians who post on this board will comment.

For general information on altitude sickness, see this web site:

http://www.ismmed.org/np_altitude_tutorial.htm

I remember once seeing a boy at the John Muir Trail junction who was literally green. When I suggested to the man who was with him that they should go down, he replied that they had to wait for the kid's father to return from the summit. And all this while a thunderstorm was building! I suspect that this boy will never want anything to do with hiking again.

If you make this hike with your son, please be prepared to turn around at the first sign of altitude sickness (headache, nausea, dizziness). The last thing a child needs is to suffer through someone's "summit fever".

By the way, while weekend mountain hiking does give the body a heads up about huffing and puffing at altitude, no true acclimation occurs. What you gain on Saturday is lost by the next weekend.

On one Whitney hike, I saw a man with his ~9 year-old grandson less than a mile from the top. They had stopped to make hot soup before the final ascent. It was pretty obvious that he was well tuned to the boy's health and abilities.

The one thing I would do with your child is to camp AT LEAST two nights at 10,000 ft. Horseshoe Meadows. Maybe even do the 12 mile (round trip) hike into Cottonwood lakes. If any trouble shows up in that time, don't try Whitney, but otherwise, go for it.

Three things: Water, Acclimatization, and a Slow Pace!

rita , maybe a talk with a cps staffer about pushing unprescribed drugs on a minor for the benefit of his mom at a cocktail party might be in order.
steroid use by children is closely monitored by a peds doctor in all cases.
To use for a hike would be dangerous.
also the use of asprin on children is closely watched as well, their is a risk of reyes syndrome.
now if your wondering what a cps staffer is its child protection services

Having started my son out backpacking in the Sierra when he was 5-1/2 (he's now 14+ and taller than I am), I can speak from some experience.

It would be a rare 9-year-old indeed that can make a 21-mile, 12,000-gross-vertical-feet hike all in one stretch. We did a 21-mile hike (Boy Scout trip) in good ol' low-altitude MO this spring and he was a tired puppy at age 14, even though we were never higher than 1,000' and probably did less than 1,000 gross vertical all day.

Nathan was 11+ when we did Whitney as a 3-day backpack. (Trip report under "highpointing" on my <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">WWW site</a>. We spent two nights at Mammoth Lakes (8,000') with a dayhike to 11,000' in between for acclimation. We then hiked Portal to Trail Camp and stayed there (12,000') overnight, doing the summit and back to TC the next day, and back out to Portal the following morning. We used nothing stronger than Advil or Tylenol the whole trip. Just lots of water and a reasonable pace. (A pace that would not have gotten us there and back in one day, I might add.) Now, of course, we were carrying full packs from Portal to Trail Camp and back, but even so, the uphill chug would have been slow.

Personally, I would be very cautious about pushing a kid to do Whitney as a dayhike. I know that they can do some amazing things, but unless you're going to have the time to be very well acclimated (and hikes a week before don't count!), it's not going to be a pleasant experience for either of you. Better to wait a few years or plan the trip as a multi-day event so you can take your time and have additional time for acclimation along the way.

If you go for it, be very attuned to your kid's condition and be ready to turn back with no regrets. Remember the prime rule of mountaineering, and its first corollary:

1. The summit is optional. Coming back in one piece is mandatory.

1.a) The mountain will still be there next year.

My son and I did the day hike two years ago, when he was 11. He loved the experience and is pushing to do it again. I did not take him before that because I wanted to make sure he would be ready to enjoy the experience. I have no strong views on minimum age, etc. because all kids are different. I can say that my son had a lot of mountain hiking experience when we did the Whitney day hike. In the weeks leading up to the hike, we did several Southern California hikes that are in the "if you can do this, you can do Whitney" category (San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek, San Antonio via Baldy Village, etc.). The Whitney hike was then a nice experience. For my money, I would not take my son if I thought he would need asprin and I wouldn't think about steroids unless it was to save his life or something. If the kid's ready to do it himself, fine. Otherwise, my suggestion is wait.

As a physician and mountaineer I always feel compelled to give my opinion when someone non-chalantly proposes doing something potentially dangerous- especially if it involves a child. I will not give specific medical advice about what to do without knowing the 'patient' BUT sometimes it is very clear what one SHOULD NOT do.

You must talk to a pediatrician before giving your child these drugs as indicated in previous responses. I won't give a dissertation on the negative effects of aspirin and steroids (already touched on by others) BUT to say- Steroids are NOT NOT NOT benign drugs- they affect every organ system and cannot be randomly started and stopped (must be tapered if given more than a few doses) and cannot be given except as prescribed by a physician for a specific condition. If your child has a pre-existing condition and is already on steroids, THAT IS EVEN MORE REASON to talk to your physician. Most of these conditions would make success less likely at altitude. Please for the sake of your child, use common sense and do the right thing.

Rita, you don't mention where you are planning to do a "day hike" too. Although this is the Whitney message board, I have read lots of information not pertaining to climbing Whitney. Maybe the other replies assumed you were trying to attempt Whitney. There are so many other day hikes in this area that you might not even have a problem with altitude. But, I would still pass on giving a child meds for altitude when it can be avoided by hiking in lower areas. Have a safe and fun trip.

Interesting discussion. As a physician who treats children, I'd say that one does want to be circumspect about taking a child into higher altitudes. First, understand that children are more suseptible to altitude sickness than adults.
Second, the most common medication used for altitude sickness, has no described usages in children...it probably works, but there is no evidence that I am aware of, either way.
I think that if your kid takes aspirin on a regular basis without trouble, that would be a good choice for headaches, if needed. Reye's syndrome is only a problem in the setting of fever.
The situation of using steroids for *prevention* of altitude sickness is certainly not established for children. I differ from other posters, in that I feel that steroids are very safe medications, *when used appropriately*. I would find it hard to justify treating a child with them, to have them attempt a high mountain they could otherwise not climb...but only because in that situation, I don't think they should be on that mountain. I certainly don't think it would be abuse or neglect to give a few doses, though, considering that virtually all parents in America give their children prescription antibiotics from time to time, when not prescribed, probably considerably more dangerous.
Hydration cannot be mentioned enough.
I REALLY liked the poster who mentioned progressive acclimatization on SoCal peaks. Great way to go!
However, all that being said, the younges to climb Everest was 15 years old!