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Better Climbing Performance at Higher Altitudes
By Editor | February 11, 2008
Many times when going climbing at high altitudes you may experience headaches and difficult, hard breathing so these tips will surely come in handy for giving you some endurance at altitude.
Keep Hydrated
When hiking at high altitude, one of the most importantly thing is to keep hydrated.
One technic used when hiking in very cold mountain conditions is to blow the water back into the hydration bag, this is so that the water will not freeze inside the tube. If you are planning to camp at high altitude, you should go to sleep with a hot-water bottle. In the morning you will have cool water to gulp.
Consume Food at Regular Intervals
High altitudes plays trick on your hunger indicators. High elevation supresses your appetite, and a low calorie intake worsens the effects of high altitude. This combination is not good and basically you cannot rely on your body anymore to tell you when to eat. To combat these effects, you should take a 10 minute snack break every hour to ensure that your body has the necessary caloric intake to keep your body going.
Sleep Low, Climb High
If you are climbing a mountain with the height of around 14,000 feet, basically all you need is one night at basecamp at 10,000 feet. This amount of rest should be good enough for a 12 hours ascend to the summit. If you will be higher than 10,000 feet for longer than half a day, you will need to spend more time acclimatizing.
Reduce Sweating
One thing to avoid when climbing high altitudes is to waste energy. Energy is wasted when your body temperature fluctuates between hot and cold. Keeping your internal temperature steady, by working your clothing layers is important. Basically, the minute you feel yourself sweating, start taking layers off, and as soon as the you feel cold, put the layers back on. It sounds tedious, but it will help regulate your body temperature and help reduce energy loss.
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