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High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
41–50 of 84 posts
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#42I grew up in Memphis TN but lived in Boulder CO for a few years. I worked at a hospital in both cities; my job was checking people into the ER. In Memphis, I’d probably see 7-10 heart related issues a day, with about 2-3 of them being actual heart attacks. Every single day. By contrast, in Boulder I saw maybe 1-2 heart attacks a year. It was absolutely astounding. Now, there could be some confounding variables like i…
You have experience in 2 very different places demographically. High altitude may be on the list of factors but I would guess it’s pretty far down.
Boulder is a small college town of mostly affluent younger people. Memphis is an urban city in a hot climate that is older, poorer, and in the middle of the section of the US that has some of the worst health overall.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very asymmetrically, too. There's a (relatively) small impact on cooking grains and pasta and stuff, but even at 5000 ft where I live beans can easily take 2x as long to cook. It's a challenge.
Hmm, is coffee a problem? (some of the extraction depends on temperature, but if water boils before reaching that temperature then the extraction wouldn't work...)
Espresso machines work at high pressures (8-9 bar) so it's less of an issue with those. I went up to the observatory on Mont Blanc a few years ago and had an espresso there. That's 3500 meter. I definitely was out of breath. The coffee was fine.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#44I lived in Breckenridge (9,600ft) for a few winters post college.
Before college, when I had last been to CO, I didn't get any altitude sickness. Post college, I discovered (by blacking out on the slopes at Vail) that I now got bad altitude sickness. It now takes me almost 2 weeks to aclimate, but once I do, boy, is it amazing.
The most fun time was when I flew home to the East Coast after being there 4 months. I felt like absolute Superman. So much energy, barely needed any sleep! I only wish those effects lasted more than 5 days...
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#45I grew up in Memphis TN but lived in Boulder CO for a few years. I worked at a hospital in both cities; my job was checking people into the ER. In Memphis, I’d probably see 7-10 heart related issues a day, with about 2-3 of them being actual heart attacks. Every single day. By contrast, in Boulder I saw maybe 1-2 heart attacks a year. It was absolutely astounding. Now, there could be some confounding variables like i…
Boulder is one of the most fit places in the country. Lowest obesity rates, as you would expect from the first statement.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very asymmetrically, too. There's a (relatively) small impact on cooking grains and pasta and stuff, but even at 5000 ft where I live beans can easily take 2x as long to cook. It's a challenge.
Hmm, is coffee a problem? (some of the extraction depends on temperature, but if water boils before reaching that temperature then the extraction wouldn't work...)
Coffee takes compensation, but even ambient pressure extraction can be tuned for great results — Denver and Boulder have good coffee scenes, for example. The bigger challenge is that Mr Coffee style brewers (bubble pump) have no way to adjust extraction time; and some fancier brewers try to closed-loop control temperature, and end up boiling the water continuously while brewing. Pour-overs obviously give you control to succeed, but for traditional machines I’ve found it critical to find one that allows a set point temperature JUST below local boiling, as well as time adjustment. The Breville Precision is my current workhorse, although I have some mixed feelings about it.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#47Earlier 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…
"And its a different recharge compared to some beach holiday, much more active and I dare to say a more effective one" That depends on the type of person I think. Plenty of stuff to do at the beach or in the water as well. Surfers (with ambitions) are pretty active people for instance. But sure, on average most people are way more active in the mountains than on the beach and personally I do prefer the mountains. (An…
I do tropical paradise vacations too, ie few weeks ago in Indonesia - Sulawesi, Togian Islands. But the heat takes away any attempt to serious efforts, without AC one is just chilling, diving/snorkeling, checking culture or history and traveling around. Sure there are ie some higher volcanoes, but I wasn't in such place this time.
I always lose few kgs of muscle on a vacation like that, despite ie full diving suit weighting maybe 40kg. Surfing is very active sport I didn't master yet, but can't imagine doing that around equatorial with that humidity, ie in that Sulawesi sea was 29-30C, air 32-33C day and night and 90-100% humidity.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#48I 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…
I was thinking there's probably a correlation between high altitude living and getting exercise which may explain the lack of hear attacks. My main high living experience was the Everest area like Namche Bazaar and there are no roads or cars so everyone walks.
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I visited Mexico City a couple weeks ago and it is at 7200 feet. As I got off the plane I was gasping a bit and I woke up 3 or 4 times the first night gasping for air. I didn't have any problems visiting Denver at 5000 feet in years past but I was absolutely feeling it at 7200. I didn't stay long enough to see if I would acclimate as I continued to feel bad and returned home early.
My dad visited Machu Picchu. He was doing poorly and the guides put him on oxygen. They were well prepared for it, as it happens a lot and is not very predictable. It's at 8,000 feet. I remember staying overnight at Estes Park, 7500 feet. I got a headache. I didn't try anything strenuous. I recall reading about Mt Everest climbs. Even on supplemental oxygen, your brain measurably dies a little. No thanks. People who…
Yes people who climb Everest (in this time) are touristic idiots, even people who climb it "~alpine style".
However people who climb more interesting (for example Gasherbrum IV 8000m, Muztagh Tower 7200m, Thalay Sagar 7000m or Trango Towers 6200m) Mountains (in alpine style) would call people who sit 8 hours a day in front of a screen "idiots" ;)
Re: High Altitude Living – 8,000 ft and above (2021)
#50Higher UV…
Theoretically solar cells designed for more more UV intensity could produce quite a lot more electricity.
I imagine solar panels for space craft are designed with this in mind.
Of course the economics of this, that there’s only a few places where this is useful wouldn’t justify it all.