“Experts do not know who will get it and who will not”. I worked regularly on the summit of a 14,000 foot tall volcano
in Hawaii.
You need to add “you never know on a given day, if you will get the sickness, even after years of working at altitude”. I worked with guys that had been on the summit for years and then one day, Plop! down they go, sometimes they have to be hospitalized. You just never know. There are a lot of things you can do to adjust, such as pressure breathing, lots of liquids, don’t get excited, but you will get very little warning, if you go down. I knew fat guys that smoked several packs a day, do just fine, and I’ve seen marathon runners, go limp and collapse, just talking to them. You are right about fitness level not being an indicator.
Personally I think a lot of it is attitude. People that really like the altitude do far better than the ones who are disturbed by what is happening to them physically.
(Sorry ... it was a guess)
don't taze me, bro
/8^)
Sugar, candy, etc. seems to help too.
I was with my nephew and his friends and we headed straight to top of the mountain, which is approx. 11,000 ft., to do our skiing.
By lunch time I was dead, had a headache and all I wanted to do was lay my head on the table and sleep.
I struggled thru lunch then afterwards, headed down the mountain with another guy to ski at a much lower level where I finally recovered. I had never experienced that before........
I went to a dude ranch in CO at a higher altitude (9000 ft) and had altitude sickness. A doctor staying there said it would probably pass. It didn’t. I was easily exhausted and head-achey the whole time.