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High Altitude Skiing and Wilderness Travel: Tips for Safety and Enjoyment

Stephen Bezruchka, M.D., author of Altitude Illness: Prevention and Treatment, has trekked in the mountains of Nepal for decades. He offers the following tips for skiing, hiking, or climbing in at high altitude in comfort and safety.

· Spend at lest one night below 10,000 feet (3050 meters) before ascending higher.

· Raise your sleeping altitude by no more than 1000 feet (305 meters) each night above 10,000 feet (305 meters).

· Climb as high as you like each day as long as you follow the “sleeping altitude” rule.

· Build into the schedule a sleeping altitude halt every 3000 feet (1000) meters.

· If you don’t feel good, do not raise your sleeping altitude until you feel better.

· If you don’t get better by staying at your current sleeping altitude, descend to where you first felt sick.

· Don’t take a headache higher to sleep under any circumstances.

· Be especially concerned and vigilant if a headache comes on during the day’s ascent and gets worse.

· Don’t urinate into the wind or uphill if there is any wind.

Three rules to avoid dying from altitude illness:

1. Learn the early symptoms of altitude illness and be willing to recognize when you, and others, have them.

2. Never ascend to sleep at a higher altitude with any symptoms of altitude illness. Anyone with symptoms of altitude illness who ascends will get worse.

3. Descend if your symptoms are getting worse while resting at the same altitude.

- Adapted from Altitude Illness: Prevention and Treatment by Stephen Bezruchka, M.D. (The Mountaineers Books, $6.95 paperback)

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