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High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

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Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#51

Post by arminiusreturns »

I grew up in the mountains at about 8500 ft, but was often spending my freetime at higher elevations surrounding the village. There are lots of little things about living at high altitude people don't think about, such as cooking times and quirks, sealed containers exploding when going up, etc. My favorite has to be just how superhuman (when I was in my prime) going down to low elevation made me feel.

The biggest issue people don't talk about? Remote high alt places often become unlivable for people when they get elderly due to altitude interference in certain medical conditions, and the general distance away from hospitals.

I miss the mountains so much all the time, and hope to retire back up there.

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#52

Post by sharadov »

mch17 wrote: post #30
purpleflame1257 wrote: post #7

One other fun thing about living at altitude is that the recipes you use need to be redesigned because the boiling point of water is lower.

It's not just the boiling point. Food tastes less salty as well. I once cooked a stew for friends at 8000 ft. I thought I had made a mistake because it tasted so bland. After the trip I had the leftovers at sea level and realized it tasted just fine. It gave me an appreciation for the fragile relationship between location and following recipes. (Humidity also changes taste)

Probably why airplane food is made extra salty to compensate for the rise in altitude

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#55

Post by jedberg »

My in-laws have a timeshare at 8300 feet. The first couple of days we have to take it easy and drink a ton of water, but then we kinda get used to it. And definitely feel superhuman when we return to sea level!

The hardest part is getting used to cooking at the elevation.

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#56

Post by mixmastamyk »

akshitgaur2005 wrote: post #38
akshitgaur2005 wrote: post #26

I am originally from the Himalayas (Garhwal specifically), although not quite as high as in the article, my village is at 5000 ft and damn did I have a shock when I took my desi friends up there (desi means people from the Indo-Gangetic plains, I unfortunately had to come to New Delhi for college and you can imagine the contrast!). While in Delhi, I am one of the more unathletic nerds, but as soon as we were in the m…

I really do wonder how big of that is a genetic factor and how big just being more acclimated to the altitude and the region?

It sounds like you didn’t lose your acclimation while away at school?

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#57

Post by mylifeandtimes »

Syzygies wrote: post #33
bix6 wrote: post #4

> The best defense is to start at 5,000 feet and stay there for 3 days, drinking water like crazy and resting. Then, come up to the higher elevation and give yourself a day or two to adjust. That usually works. This is crazy to me as I usually only get 1 acclimation night in before going up. I’m curious how people can find their limits / needs?

I met Charles Snead Houston, who lead the first two American attempts on K2 and became a doctor. (He fell the furthest in "The Belay", the most famous belay in mountaineering history.) He asked me to explain my work on card shuffling, so we traded. He taught me about altitude sickness, for which he was the foremost expert. I then read his books before my own mountaineering, and his advice worked for me. In a nutshell…

I'm interested in your work on card shuffling. Or perhaps you could point me to a starter website?

Alas, I don't have much to trade for it except respect.

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#58

Post by dismalaf »

exabrial wrote: post #9

I lived at 10,600 feet for 6.5 weeks last summer, coming from essentially sea level. I felt like I was adjusted 90% adjusted about 2 weeks in, like I could walk at a normal speed. My Garmin watch agreed with this adaption. However, trying to mountain bike with the locals was hilarious... even at week 6 I barely started to be able to keep up on climbs. I rode my mountain bike nearly every day, or at minimum took a sev…

> people living in small towns in the mountains _love_ the outdoors

You have to. There's no activities besides outdoor activity and drinking and almost every other aspect of living in the mountains is more difficult (versus a normal, big city in a more hospitable terrain and climate).

When I lived in the mountains everyone was either there for the activities, or was a drug addicted hospitality worker there because they couldn't find jobs in cities.

Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)

#60

Post by mikestew »

mykowebhn wrote: post #23
jajko wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mountains are objectively aesthetically pleasing to humans. They also retain the most wild and specific nature around, especially in western world where in the past mostly agriculture changed environment forever. You can find entire states in Europe where 'wilderness' is basically a well curated park that was a field some time ago. Air is much cleaner, you see far and you feel utterly insignificant up there. Mountain…

> Mountains are objectively aesthetically pleasing to humans Not sure about that. I find them aesthetically pleasing, and probably most people do, but I know at least one person who remains unmoved when looking at mountain scenery. Of course I find that strange, but there it is. So not sure about the "objectively". Maybe "Mountains are aesthetically pleasing to MOST humans"

Exception proves the rule, blah, blah. I’m sure OP wasn’t speaking about every single person on the planet, without exception.
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