We'll have to get working on a rocket engine design that runs on yak poop too! I guess the engines wouldn't need to be all that powerful though, since they'll be launching from 13,000ft above sea level!

-G

geoduck: how many languages do you speak?

16.4 above sea sealeve?!   I did hiking/skiing/boarding at 14k+ above sea level, I got kinda dizzy & loss some of my energy...I felt my knees buckling a lill.  16+. would be much tougher...gosh

I've been up to 5300m (17388 ft) ... yup, you feel pretty weak up there!  Got up there in a car, and became totally out of breath and dizzy after a few steps to walk around and admire the view.  

No way you can do anything active on the first day, but you acclimatise fairly fast.

If you went skiing at 10+ plus feet you would hardly feel any altitude sickness as you're never up there long enough. You would be taking the ski lift or gondola up there and then coming back down right away. Altitude sickness takes several hours before you start feeling its effects and after 8 hours you really feel sick. 10,000 ft is the threshold and it becomes increasingly worse every 1,000 ft or so. If you do not acclimatize for a week at 10k feet and just suddenly go up to 13+ feet it could be quite painful.

In my second trip to Tibet, I went trekking in Nepal and camped up at 8k+ altitude for 5 days and did not feel any ill effect but just a slight shortness of breath. Once you breach the 10k mark is when it starts to hit you. Guess the 8k+ acclimatization I had in Nepal to prepare for my trip across Tibet was far from sufficient. What made my time worse that first night at 16.4k was my friend and i finished a bottle of Johnny Walker at dinner, seeing there was nothing else to do, no women, music or anything to see. Viewing the stars was our only entertainment which went along well with whiskey. Silly thing to do on the first night as it totally dehydrated us and made the altitude sickness a lot, lot worse the next day. I couldn't get out of bed when I awoke. I coughed and stirred from my sleep all night and most shocking of all, noticed that my feet and ankles were completely swollen and our guide told us to soak them in hot water for an hour before we could get back into our shoes again. The swelling was reminiscent of seeing a dying person in hospital when they can no longer pass fluid and the entire body just swells, particularly the feet. Also my skin turned darker form the lack of oxygen and my nails and lips were a bit purple in color. Scary experience.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 13-7-2010 11:15 ]

Thats awesome information, I guess people never really consider the reverse situation, because we are the norm in this situation, being in low altitude

At places like Colorado, many hotels are 6-8k above and its take a few days to acclimate.  

Def, true that people who takes ski lifts & gondola has less effect of altitude sickness.  Personally we go off road hiking with our snowboards & hiked the 14k+ hence why i felt the knees buckling. Also mild snowstorms seem to aggrate it.  In the last yr or so, I sorta avoided the higher altitude places.

What an informative thread, evolution, hygiene and altitude sickness!

Never going to India though, thanks DArtagnan haha