I'm planning on going to the summit of the Kilimajaro and later the Aconcagua on the slower easier routes. What kind of preparation people do fitness-wise? I live at around 800m above sea level and work out every day. I'm fit enough so can run 10km in 1h and people said i will be fine but idk if they did so i would use their expedition services.I've already done multiple days hikes but nothing quite as high and altitude fucked me up when i was in Peru.
>>2840659>altitude fucked me up when i was in Peru.how exactly? Did you go to the hospital? Did you require oxygen and transportation to lower altitudes? Did you become unconscious?if yes to any of those things you probably can't go back to altitude ever. One single case of HAPE or HACE and you can never go back.if it made you feel a bit sick for a few days that's normal and you'll probably be fine without any particular preparation.
>>2840664I got bad headaches and was very tired but i didn't blackout or needed oxygen. I was just utterly miserable.
>>2840666that's normal, you'll probably do fine.drink lots of water and take some tylenol. Slow down a bit. Don't drink alcohol or smoke anything. Take a bottle of O2 with you if you want to really feel good.
>>2840659Get a travel nurse to prescribe you Diamox, worked for me
>>2840659>altitude fucked me up when i was in Peru.>>2840666>bad headaches and was very tiredAcclimate. Spend a week at base camp. This is the price, devil-man.
>>2840659As long as you have a solid aerobic base and actively try to maintain a slower than normal pace you should be be able to do it. For me altitude never feels good per se but when I'm fitter it's better.
>>2840664>>2840666>>2840668is using oxygen a cop out
>>2840695Not if you're rich, can't afford to take time to acclimate, and pay a sherpa to carry your shit, like a.fag.
>>2840696so it's not worth it to just go through the discomfort for next time to eventually get better at conditioning? oxygen cans are quite cheap feel like every moron carries a dozen of them
>>2840695>is using oxygen a cop outyes, but it can also be useful to help acclimate if you have the time and only use it when you're feeling particularly awful. for a quick hike it probably does more harm than good though. You won't really have time to acclimate, and oxygen is just going to make the process slower. Might be good to have in case of severe sickness though.
>>2840697>to eventually get better at conditioning?this isn't really a thing. Unless you go to altitude regularly, you're never going to get better at acclimating. Every time you go back to low country for a couple weeks you have to start over on your conditioning. Right? I live at high altitude but I still suffer altitude sickness every time I go on vacation to the beach for a couple weeks and then come home. It never gets better, and the more you do it the greater your risk of severe injury.
Didn't see anyone using oxygen to get to the summit of Kilimanjaro but there were people who were treated with it while coming back down. Funny thing is that the guides generally didn't have canisters on them, they had latex gloves inflated with oxygen and would let people who were delirious to take a hit off the glove. I used Diamox, starting with half a pill on day two, moving to a full pill on day four. I didn't have any problems with exhaustion but did have some mild hallucinations starting around the time we had lunch at Karanga. As far as condition goes, I did a good bit of hiking on local hilly terrain but didn't do anything special beyond that. 4000 ft was the max altitude for that hiking so it did nothing to help prep for altitude issues. The other big difference is that Kili has areas of lots of scree, which can be annoying if you're not accustomed to it.A year later I hiked around Ecuador and had some issues with getting out of breath at high altitude but I wasn't taking Diamox and we often drove to a high starting point so acclimation was minimal.More than anything, paying for more days on the mountain is what will have the biggest impact on your odds of success. If you can find a copy of the Imax movie about Kilimanjaro, you'll find the climb more interesting as you'll have background info on many of the things you'll see.
>>2840704>More than anything, paying for more days on the mountain is what will have the biggest impact on your odds of success.This. Kilimajaro is notorious for the frequency and severity of altitude sickness among climbers because of how quickly the budget companies try to get everyone up and down. If you can afford to take your time, do so. It will be far safer and a hell of a lot more enjoyable.>t. Dr who's provided medical support to mountaineering expeditions.
