RE: [Philmont]: Adult Physical Conditioning & Altitude Sickness

In 2002 our family planned a vacation in Southern Colorado and Northern
New Mexico before our 65 mile trek. I had trained hard and was able to
do the trek without foot problems or bad effects from altitude sickness.
Our crew did four 15+ mile backpacking trips and included the Texas Hill
Country in our training.

Results in 2002:
a. No foot problems for anyone in the crew.
b. Very minor altitude sickness for me after climbing Mt. Phillips from
Sawmill with a side hike to Cyphers Mine for water.
c. I needed afternoon naps and earlier bedtimes that just never happened
with our very young, slow moving crew.

In 2004 I trained even harder in the gym so I was in great shape in the
legs and upper body. I did not do any multi-day 15+ mile backpacking
trips. I only did 6-9 mile day hikes on flat ground with full pack. I
did not arrive early to acclimatize to the altitude.

Results in 2004:
a. Foot problems. I had blisters on both feet because I had not hiked
up and down hills in my 2004 boots, which were different boots than I
used in 2002. The 10+ mile hike from Clarks Fork to Base Camp pressed
my feet right to their limit. My feet were not tough enough for a 70+
mile Trek #24 and my boots had problems that did not show up in over 80
miles of flat land hiking in full pack.

b. Three days of altitude sickness, while drinking huge amounts of
water.

I was at altitude beginning Wednesday morning at 930 am when we were
traveling on the airplane. We toured Albuquerque on Wednesday (Day 0).
We were in Base Camp on Day 1 and Day 2 at 6500'. We were at Dean
Cutoff on Day 2 and Rich Cabins on Day 3 at about 7500'. These were the
easy low altitude hikes.

I recognized my altitude sickness on Day 3 after we arrived at Rich
Cabins. I did not go to evening program and missed Thorns & Roses. On
Day 4 I hiked Wilson Mesa up and down, but I lay down for about an hour
and missed Spar Poles at Pueblano. I was laid out during camp setup at
Pueblano Ruins. On Day 5 I hiked the steep trail to French Henry and
tossed my cookies. There weren't many to toss since I had not been able
to eat much for the last few days. I felt better and lunch tasted good.
I toured the Aztec Ponil 2 mine and climbed the WALL to Copper Park. It
was really tough, but I could tell that French Henry was the turning
point for the altitude sickness. I ate a full supper. The next day I
climbed Baldy Mountain.

Conclusions:
a. Do the 15+ mile training campouts from Jan to May.
b. For Houston, TX area groups, go to the Hill Country west of Austin,
TX at least twice and do 15+ milers with plenty of ups and downs.
c. Adults must do much more aerobic training at home than the youth, who
are more active. If you have youth that are not active in sports or
other similar activities, then they should train more like an adult.
d. The training hikes in a. and b. are necessary even for the youth.
Their feet need to be toughened up and their upper bodies need to be
conditioned to their packs.
d. Since I know I am highly susceptible to altitude sickness, I should
allow myself at least 4 extra days at 6500+ BEFORE Day 1 to acclimatize.
I wanted to travel with the troop in 2004 and neglected to set aside
this extra time. For me acclimatization would be the tough duty of four
days in Taos eating at Michaels and every other good chile joint in town
with day hikes in the Hondo Valley.

Larry Sims
Philmont 2004 Expedition Coordinator
Troop 1288 Katy, TX
610-C4 2004 Trek #24
609-A3 2002 Trek #5FM (Fire modified trek)
718-G1 1965 (The Monsoons of '65)
IWTGBTP!

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Received on Thu Aug 5 09:53:18 2004