Anyone who lives near sea level and has travelled to Arizona/Colorado...

[manlymatt83]

Going from living at sea level into the mountains and I'm wondering what's to be expected from the elevation changes of going a mile high+.

 

[olds]

No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

LOL

Seriously though, unless you're going to 12000+ feet, you aren't likely to notice much (except breathing hard over doing seemingly nothing)

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

Can I have your moneys?

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

LOL

Seriously though, unless you're going to 12000+ feet, you aren't likely to notice much (except breathing hard over doing seemingly nothing)

So it'll be harder to go for my daily run there?

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

LOL

Seriously though, unless you're going to 12000+ feet, you aren't likely to notice much (except breathing hard over doing seemingly nothing)

So it'll be harder to go for my daily run there?

Oh yes. You won't be able to make your regular distance (or find it tough without stopping)

 

[l0cke]

I live in Colorado, and awhile ago some of my family members came here and went on a long bike ride their first day. Bad idea really.

Drink plenty of water is all there really is to it.

 

[manlymatt83]

Well, I definitely am known to get sick when I'm driving in the car with quick elevation changes. IE: going from sea level to like 1000 feet in 15-30 minutes. But I think that's because of the constant change, not the actual change itself - perhaps once I level off it'll get better?


IE: one may be motion sickness, not necessarily elevation sickness.

 

[Captante]

Depends on the altitude & the individual ... I don't really notice anything until roughly 10,000 feet unless working out but some people report feeling as if they can't catch their breath fully when trying to fall asleep at as little as 5000-6000 feet.

 

[LS21]

no prob,... unless you acually try to do strenuous exercise

 

[sdifox]

it's the dry air that is going to bother you more than the altitude. drink tonnes of water. Metric tons.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

LOL

Seriously though, unless you're going to 12000+ feet, you aren't likely to notice much (except breathing hard over doing seemingly nothing)

So it'll be harder to go for my daily run there?

Sad!

Like others has said, the low humidity that is the problem, unless you are a highly tune athlete.

Sea level -- 14.7 psia
Let say Arizona is around 2000 ft -- 13.7 psia

The different is equivalent to about 2.5 ft of water pressure (inverse).

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: Captante
Depends on the altitude & the individual ... I don't really notice anything until roughly 10,000 feet unless working out but some people report feeling as if they can't catch their breath fully when trying to fall asleep at as little as 5000-6000 feet.

I'm not sure as how much it would affect a fine tune athlete, however it shouldn't be much problem for the average person at such little change in altitude.

20% of Oxygen in air, and human lung absorbs about 4% out of the 20% Oxygen in each breath. Therefor, a pressure change of 2-3 psia doesn't lower the air intake so much that it affect the average person day to day activities, however it would affect an athletic that constantly push 95-97% of their peak performance.

 

[Throckmorton]

I went from sea level to 6200 feet, and I had a hard time hiking for a long time. It makes a big difference-- it's not just me, it's common knowledge for everyone I've known who did the same thing.

 

[EvilYoda]

I'm moving to Arizona and never thought that Arizona was at any sort of elevation...apparently it's about 500ft higher than Detroit. No big deal...I've already done a few hikes, so it seemed fine.

 

[Eli]

Expect to feel like sh!t for a day or two.

Drinking copious amounts of water seems to help.

 

[skywhr]

I didnt have any trouble

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
No. My ear drums exploded and I died.

LOL

Seriously though, unless you're going to 12000+ feet, you aren't likely to notice much (except breathing hard over doing seemingly nothing)

So it'll be harder to go for my daily run there?

you may be only to do a daily walk at first. I have travelled all over from coastal florida...didn't seem too affected compared to anyone else.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: sdifox
it's the dry air that is going to bother you more than the altitude. drink tonnes of water. Metric tons.

Quoted for massive truth.

I lived in NYC up to 8 months ago...
then moved to colorado.

i think next week i'm gonna have the water company come and hook a tube from the water line into my mouth... its easier.

seriously tho, i must go thru a gallon or two of water in a day.

 

[PrinceofWands]

No biggie, but I was fairly athletic when I went so my cardio was in tune. My house is at 2' above sea level, went to Colorado for a tournament and spent a week running like crazy all over campus. I noticed the difference, but it wasn't a problem. Came back home, still no problem.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It depends on the person. Some will adapt easily, some will struggle for a while and then adapt and some will never get comfortable. A few spend a few hours at 10K feet and are so sick they have to be evacuated to lower altitudes. You can't be sure how anyone will cope until they go through it at least once.

 

[oboeguy]

It depends. I live in NYC. I do a lot of cycling. When I rode up Haleakala on Maui, 0-10,000' in one shot, I started to feel it for sure by 9,000' if not sooner. Hiking in the Pyrenees a couple of years before, probably after 7,000'. I definitely felt it when ascending from the Colorado River to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon last year, too, hmmm, around 7,000' also, I suppose. OTOH, for a couple of days after the GC trip, back in NYC, I swear someone had given me an EPO injection.

 

[BoomerD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude_sickness
"Altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), altitude illness, or soroche, is a pathological condition that is caused by acute exposure to low air pressure (usually outdoors at high altitudes). It commonly occurs above 2,400 metres (approximately 8,000 feet).[1] Acute mountain sickness can progress to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE).[2]

Altitude sickness is caused by reduced partial pressure of oxygen. The percentage of oxygen in air remains essentially constant with altitude at 21 percent, but the air pressure (and therefore the number of oxygen molecules) drops with altitude.[3] Altitude sickness usually does not affect persons traveling in aircraft because modern aircraft passenger compartments are pressurized.

A related condition,[citation needed] occurring only after prolonged exposure to high altitude, is chronic mountain sickness, also known as Monge's disease.

An unrelated condition, although often confused with altitude sickness, is dehydration, due to the higher rate of water vapor lost from the lungs at higher altitudes."

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
Going from living at sea level into the mountains and I'm wondering what's to be expected from the elevation changes of going a mile high+.

You haven't travelled much have you? Like Kalvin said unless you're going to stay prolonged periods over say 10-12,000 feet or more nothing is going to happen. Sure your ears might pop several times in the car ride up and down. Ohh scary!!...

Edit: didn't think about physical exertion. Yeah you might notice it if you have a regular exercise routine.

 

[Eeezee]

Definitely QFT on the water bit... I lived in Arizona and moved to California. My water consumption has been DRASTICALLY reduced. I'm just not as thirsty anymore. In AZ I was drinking a lot of water... maybe a gallon every 2-3 days or even 1-2 days during the hot weeks.