iluka

We are conducting a research project to investigate how people prepare for climbs of mountains above 6,000 m and, in particular, whether or not they use hypoxic training systems -- which allow climbers to sleep and/or exercise in low oxygen (i.e., hypoxic) conditions -- as part of their trip preparation. If you are 18 years or older and have attempted or successfully climbed a peak over 6,000 m, you can provide valuable information for our study which is being run through the University of Washington. The anonymous, on-line survey will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete and does not require any personal information. Prior use of hypoxic training systems is not required to participate; however, eligible participants should have experience attempting to climb at least one peak over 6,000 m. Click here to be directed to the survey. Please remember to click "submit" at the end of the survey to ensure that all answers are saved correctly. If you have any questions prior to or after completion of the survey, feel free to contact us at aluks@uw.edu, Scott.McIntosh@hsc.utah.edu, Colin.Grissom@imail.org or Cormac.Zachar@gmail.com. Please know that the confidentiality of emails cannot be guaranteed. We appreciate your time and effort completing this survey and look forward to reporting our findings upon completion.

Found a Fitbit device on the Skyline Primitive Trail in Olympic National Park this past weekend. Send me a PM if you think it may be yours

Actually, all law enforcement rangers in the national parks and, I suspect other agencies like the Forest Service and BLM, have to go through formal training that lasts many months at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and then spend 3 months working in a supervised setting in a national park or the like before they are ultimately deployed to work in their particular park. So, calling them the equivalent of mall cops is probably not accurate. And, given that just about anyone can wander their way into a park, they face many of the same risks as police officers in regular police jurisdictions, as evidenced by the fatal shooting of a park ranger several years ago on New Year's Day by an individual trying to flee from authorities elsewhere.

Found a single, right-foot steel Black Diamond step in crampon a few hundred feet below Camp Hazard on Mt. Rainier today. PM me if you think this is yours.

For Sale: Millet Odyssey 60+10L Backpack. Top-loading pack with zipper access to bottom of pack. Removable top compartment. Two ice ax loops. Side straps for carrying skis. Zippered pouch on right hip belt. Gear loop on left hip belt. Includes pack cover specific for this pack which stores in zippered pouch on bottom of pack. Small tear in back panel needs repair. $70 If interested: andrew_luks@yahoo.com

Keep in mind that "first thing in the morning" may now be earlier than expected. We did a trip a few weeks back and when we showed up on Saturday morning at 6:30AM -- 30 minutes before they open the Ranger Station -- we were already number 10 in line. Forbidden zone permits were gone by the time our number was called and we got to the desk to register. Within a few minutes after 7AM, that line had grown to over 30 parties. If you show up the afternoon before, I believe you can get a permit for a trip starting the following day. Also, once they close the station for the night, they are putting out a box of numbered cards so you can come in the evening and grab a number that puts you in a good spot for the next morning.

Not likely. There are two kinds of strokes: ischemic (loss of oxygen to the brain, which is usually due to arterial vessel blockage) and hemorrhagic (bleeding). Both cause irreversible damage in proportion to the size/area affected. As a long shot, this could be a temporary vessel occlusion (blockage) that is released within minutes of stopping the descent. That would be very unlikely. Add that no permanent effects have yet been detected and it seems even more unlikely to explain this. Maybe Dr Phil can help... I'm a certified Neurologic RN who works with acute stroke victims and I will say that these symptoms are consistent with a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA or Mini-stroke) which only last 1-30 minutes and then completely resolve.. Might be worth a quick Head CT or MRI to rule out any type of vascular abnormalities. These symptoms are in no way consistent with those seen in stroke (hemorrhagic or ischemic) or transient ischemic attacks and there is no indication to do a Head CT or MRI in this situation. Spare yourself that time and expense. A local occlusion of the vessel feeding the affected muscle is certainly possible but the likelihood of that in a young, healthy, non-smoking individual is very unlikely as vessel occlusion like that is typically only seen in older individuals who have smoked for a long time (peripheral arterial disease) and some other less common circumstances.

Bump

Black Diamond Carbon Compactor Ski Poles. 125 cm. Brand New. Never Used. Black shaft and handles. $95 (current retail: $120-130) If interested: andrew_luks@yahoo.com

June does have more snow but it's also the warmest part of the climbing season and depending on the snow pack in a given year, the lower Kahiltna glacier can be very broken up, particularly during a return to basecamp at the latter end of the month. I would be wary about skiing un-roped on the lower glacier late in the month, particularly during the middle of the day.

Bump

Quick update on conditions for thinking of going out in this current weather window... we did it May 31, two leaks later than the OP's TR. - Some snow on Shannon Ridge and on the way up to the notch. Intermittent snow for the first part after the notch but after rounding the first big bend, continuous snow above that. - The sulphide looked pretty cracked up for this early but staying on the west side of the glacier kept one well away from all of that and there were no major crevasse issues on the way to the summit pyramid - The snow couloir in the middle of the peak was already out. Melted down to rock in spots. What snow remained looked like it was serving as a bowling alley. Once gained, the ridge was free of snow

Timberline is just shy of 6 000 ft, I think that elevation would not make much of a difference, as usually human body is not greatly effected by altitude till about 9000-10000 ft level. It would definitely make for inconvenient commute, with very little of a real benefit. Some of the physiologic responses to hypoxia do actually start around 6,000 feet but the stimulus from that degree of hypoxia is mild compared to higher elevations, which is why one wouldn't gain much benefit from exposure to an altitude like Timberline. The positive study on live high-train low, was done in Utah. The athletes lived in Park City and then came down to Salt Lake City to train. The key aspect of this was that it required a lot of time each day at the higher elevation for there to be any benefit. There has actually been quite a lot of very good high altitude research since Houston's book, which came out a long time ago. It covers a huge range of topics and is not just focused on narrow issues like whether training in a hypoxic room makes a difference.

I'm no expert, but I remember myself and others sometimes getting the dry heaves after prolonged hard exertion. I assumed that was due to a weak diaphragm? Nope... not the reason at all.

There is a notion out there that some of these training strategies like the masks are useful because they help make the diaphragm stronger. Diaphragm strength is not really a limiting factor for normal individuals at heavy levels of exercise. In fact, with heavy exercise, you recruit a lot of other breathing muscles into the process (intercostal muscles, for example) to assist with ventilation. That being said, normal people who lack underlying lung disease are not limited in their ability to exercise by their breathing muscles at all. If you do detailed cardiopulmonary exercise testing on normal individuals you see that at peak exercise, most people have lots of ventilatory reserve (i.e., their breathing muscles have much more to give). They are limited by the ability of their heart to pump sufficient blood to the exercising muscles. That is what reaches its maximum first.