altitude

[Rooster52]

How long does it take you flat landers to get used to the thin air in the highcountry ?
It usually takes me 3 days.

 

[WestT]

Honestly I'm not sure. '12 was my first trip out West to CO. Drove all night and day to get there. Stayed overnight in a cabin near our hunting spot and packed in the following day. Camped at 8,600' and hiked up to over 10,000'. Other than sucking hind tit a few times climbing I don't believe I ever experienced any "sickness". I did take Wilderness Athelete Altitude Advantage. Can't say if it helped or not...but I'll be taking it again this year when go back beings I didn't get sick last time. I may have gotten lucky or perhaps one evening of good rest prior to packing in aclimated me. I did drink tons of water as is usually recommended.

 

[LCH]

I have very limited high country experience. On my elk hunt this year, every now and then I would involuntarily take an extra gasp between breaths. It was strange, as I wouldn't even be breathing hard when it would happen. I camped at around 9k, and hunted as high as 11.5k. I was there for 10 days, and that was the only effect I noticed from the altitude.

 

[genesis273]

It took me 3 or 4 days. That's someone who lives at 700' to adjust to 8500-9000.

 

[Festus]

Live at 2800' camp at 9000' and hunt between 8000-10200 and have never had a noticeable issue as far as 'sickness'. One of our group of 4 usually gets headaches the first day or so (and one year got sick).
It takes pretty much all 4 of us 2 or 3 days to get used to the thin air.

 

[SFC B]

I live @ 6600ft and hunt at 10K+-. I can tell the difference when "working" pretty noticeably. As for actual altitude sickness, I have never experienced that. Perhaps that is due to my diligence in staying hydrated and knowing my limits or maybe just dumb luck. When it comes to actual, full acclimatization I can tell you that when we have soldiers PCS into Ft Carson from the "lowlands" they are given 60 days before we will give them a PT test. Even at that time period, your aerobic output (for us running) will not be the same as @ sea level.

 

[L. I. Yankee]

I live at 17 feet so it took me three days.....

 

[hank4elk]

I'm @7500' and go up to 9/10k quite often.I get winded @ times,but get used to el.'s quick.
Only had sickness once @ 10k from lack of h2o.........hiked up to 14k many times.

 

[huntin24/7]

I've been on 2 goat hunts and 2 scouting trips into goat country at about 9000-10,000'. This was while living in very low elevation in far NE montana. To me, it seemed like about the end of day 2 or into day 3 I was acclimating to it. Being in the best overall shape in my life for both hunts definitely helped, but I still felt the effects of the altitude. On my friends goat hunt this year, we tried altitude advantage from wilderness athlete and it seemed to help at least somewhat. The biggest thing that I've found as a flat lander up in the altitude is to not overdo it the first couple days in particular. Stop to take a break when you're tired and wait til you have your breathing back to start again. I also load up my pack with weight and hit the highest hills a few times a week during the warmer part of the day( not 90-100 degrees to avoid heat stroke). Hope this helps you some.

 

[sagebrush]

I do most of my hunting at 8500 feet and above, and live at 1600 feet. As I get older every year I notice that the uphill at elevation is really taking its toll. This past year, a hunting buddy called the folks over at Wilderness Athlete and had them put together a high altitude package consisting of their Nighttime Optimizer, Hydrate and Recover and one other product I can't recall. He sent it out to me before I left for CO and I followed their directions with very low expectations for what I considered a gimmick supplement. When I got to camp, I noticed I never once got winded while driving in the 34 tent pins with my 3 lb hammer. When I started scouting, I seemed to be in the best shape in years. The capper came when during the third week I ran out of the supplements. Two days later I was huffing and puffing climbing the same mountain to our glassing spot as we had been for the past 7 days. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I plan on testing it out again this year. I swear that stuff took at least 10 years off my tired old lungs.

 

[noharleyyet]

2 days...and one of those is driving. I'm more concerned when the first good country squat after arriving in camp occurs.

 

[LopeHunter]

I did not achieve anything near 100% of my flatland endurance after 5 days at 8 - 12K on my goat hunt in CO last year.

I am older so that is perhaps part of the issue. I took Tylenol PMs to try and sleep but the breathing is labored for a couple of nights. Felt like had a cat sleeping on my chest as tried to breathe while laying down. That means you sleep less hours and less deeply so harder to recover after climbing and hiking the prior day.

I took Advils during the day. Never got a headache. One of the guys in camp did. I made sure to hydrate and snacked several times a day rather than rely on a couple of huge meals. I would get light-headed on climbs but would stop for a couple of minutes.

Keep your daypack as light as possible if are climbing. If your legs go, hard to hunt.

 

[npaden]

Sleeping at altitude is actually where you get most of your acclimatization. If you can get there in time to pitch camp and sleep that first night, then resist the urge to go hard the next day and take it relatively easy then you should be able to put in a pretty decent day after that 2nd nights sleep.

The key is resisting the urge to go hard that 1st day. If you do you can get wiped out and it can take several days to recover.

My 2 cents. Nathan

 

[spook12]

Sleeping at altitude is actually where you get most of your acclimatization. If you can get there in time to pitch camp and sleep that first night, then resist the urge to go hard the next day and take it relatively easy then you should be able to put in a pretty decent day after that 2nd nights sleep.

The key is resisting the urge to go hard that 1st day. If you do you can get wiped out and it can take several days to recover.

My 2 cents. Nathan

This has been my experience as well. Take it easy for a day or two and by the third day i'm 100%

 

[Gr8bawana]

I live at less than 3000ft but we often hunt at 9-10,000 ft. We walk up from our camp at about 6-7000 ft. So we are at that high elevation for probably 5 to 6 hours a day and have never noticed any ill effects of elevation.
Perhaps the sleeping at elevation like Nathan mentioned might just have it's benefits.

 

[Poke 'Em]

I live at 2000', and routinely go to 8-9000' and have never had any ill effect.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Hydration is really important. I use a Camelbak while hunting at altitude, and have "Hydrate and Recover" from Wilderness athlete in the water. I drink a little from the Camelbak every few minutes. I don't wait until I'm thirsty to drink. Additionally, I take Wilderness Athlete Multi-vitamins and Altitude Advantage, and it helps a lot. I am able to tolerate the altitude much better since taking the Wilderness Athlete products than when I didn't take them. I live near New Orleans near sea level, and hunt at about 8500 feet. Fueling your body while hunting with good nutrition will also help a lot.

 

[sagebrush]

Altitude Advantage. That was the other product in my W.A. trio this year.

 

[Elkmagnet]

As a non flatlander the only time I have ever felt anything was one time I was working to hard to drink much for a few days. Dehydration/alt sick at 10k will kick your butt.
Start hydrating a few days before arrival and during the hunt.
Oh and fyi alcohol is counter productive.

 

[StrutNut]

I live in MN and hunted the mountains once. We camped at 9500 and hunted as high as 12,500. We drove straight up to camp so no slow getting used to that. We arrived at noon and the first few hours, very noticeable. By evening I was getting pretty used to it and was venturing off on scouting missions. I was drinking a lot of water, thirsty or not. I was also told to have some original Rolaids and pop those every now and than. Seem to work. By the 2nd day I was taking some longer runs without any issues. By day 3 I was pretty normal. We did have one person in camp that didnt prepare for the hunt physically that never did adjust. That dude couldnt go 100 feet without a 15 minute break. He pretty much hunted near the truck or camp. No elk for him. The other person in our party was a smoker and it took him a little while longer to adjust than I did but he was also moving pretty good after 3 days.