Re: Acclimating to High Altitude

Although my wife & I live close to sea level, I've always been fortunate in that I acclimate to altitude fairly quickly. My wife is not so fortunate. We'll be heading to Rocky Mountain NP next week and starting our stay on the (much higher) west side (we'll be staying in Grand Lake which is a little below 8500') with pretty much all hikes being up from there. We've done this before (starting in Grand Lake and then moving over to Estes Park (ca. 7500') for the second half of the trip...and yes, I know it would have made more sense to do it in the other direction but that's a long story!) so have a good idea of what to expect adjustment-wise and I know that I'll end up spending at least part of the first 2 or 3 days hiking by myself while she gets used to the altitude.

I seem to recall seeing mention on this board a number of years ago about medications which some people have found useful in acclimating. Any suggestions that might help her adjust more quickly would be very much welcome.

My wife has used Diamox when hiked in Peru. I think she found the side effects as bad as the altitude sickness. Now she just takes an extra day to acclimate.

Drink lots of water, as dehydration mimics many of the symptoms of altitude, and the air in the Rockies is bone dry

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I've used Diamox and it does help. It also makes carbonated beverages taste wrong.

Thanks, guys...my wife's leaning towards just taking it easy the first day so it looks like I will be hiking alone for a bit!