The Team Sherpa Blog

At long last I have escaped the indoors and christened my lovely Ecco kit! I’ve just got back from a couple of weeks skiing in Colorado, so not true hiking but at least it was outdoors!

We stayed in Breckenridge, which is quite a few metres above my home in London. As a result, most of the skiing took place at about 3500 metres above sea level. Altitude is a funny thing, and I’d forgotten how it can affect you in such strange ways. I’ve had quite a bit of experience of altitude, mainly 4000 metres +, so I thought I’d be ok. Firstly, there is the breathless thing. When you first get there, you are out of breath a bit just standing still. Every so often, you find that you are conscious of taking deeper breaths, even though you are not doing anything! Walking around town wasn’t too strenuous, although there were some dicey moments on the icy pavements! As soon as you start going up any inclines though, you are shocked at how incredibly unfit you are - and then you remember you are at altitude!

Secondly, there is the dehydration issue. Because you breathe more, you lose more water by exhaling believe it or not. There are also lots of complicated fluid shifts within your body and compensation by the kidneys which is far too complicated to get into here, but suffice to say, you pee more. The result is a constant need to drink fluids. The water in Colorado tastes really disgusting, but you get used to it. My partner and I are both used to hiking and altitude so knew to drink before we felt thirsty. Thirst is a poor response to dehydration as you are usually at least 3 litres too dry before you start to feel the need to drink. Sipping devices like Camelbaks are ideal, although they tend to freeze when you are skiing!

I didn’t get the dreaded headache that lots of people get at altitude. This is a really intense headache that doesn’t get better with any simple analgesics. This isn’t the full-blown HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) but it is a symptom of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness.) 

The worst effects I had from the altitude was the sleep disturbances. I didn’t manage a whole night of sleep in 2 weeks so I felt exhausted at the end. I’m a real sleep creature by habit so having unusual sleep patterns is a real drag. I had no problem getting to sleep (in fact, because of jet lag, I was happy to fall asleep at pretty much any time!) but the problem came with frequently waking up - and then taking hours to get back to sleep! On top of this, I had many bizarre and disturbing dreams. I am normally one of those odd people who remember their dreams, but even I can say that I can’t remember having had so many or being so stressed by them! I’d had the odd episode of waking up during the night on previous trips to altitude, but nothing as bad as this. I actually looked forward to "sleeping" on the plane home!

I never felt particularly breathless whilst skiing. I think this says more about my ineptness at skiing than altitude though! I’m very much an amateur who has to concentrate on getting downhill without killing myself, rather than a racing snake. I envy the small kids flying past me and wish I’d learned as a child. After all, gravity favours the smaller body! I was introduced to a fantastic book called "How to ski like a diva." I should have read this the first time I went skiing as it’s packed with useful tips for the beginner. This, alas, was my 5th time skiing, and whilst I am improving, I have a long way to go.

Well, the outdoor season is now ahead of me with plenty of trips and excitement planned. I’m heading off to the Lake District tomorrow (NE England) to teach on the Expedition Medicine course for doctors and nurses. I’m hoping to sneak in some hiking whilst I’m there. Then I’m off to Oxfordshire over Easter to supervise a group of 15 year olds who are out trekking for the first time. Watch this space!