Thankfully, I have not had that experience. I've climbed a handful of 14ers, and each one was memorable, and in a good way. A couple of summers ago, Chaco got into mountain climbing and let me tag along with him on a few hikes. Good times.
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| Rocky Mountains seen from 14,200 feet plus 2 more feet. |
I blogged about one of those hikes [HERE] where we lost a dude. In short, it was an eventful hike in that we'd summited two peaks, weathered an interesting storm, and lost a dude.
The storm moved in as we were on our way back to the first peak, Mt. Belford. Chaco started moving faster for the cover of Belford's cliffs, and I followed. All the while, the guy tagging along with us was lagging farther and farther behind. I asked Chaco if maybe we should slow down for him. His reply:
"If he can't keep up with a 52-year-old woman, that's his fault"
I got a laugh out of that, but it did seem strange for a guy who was in his 20's and appeared fairly fit. I wondered later if he'd been dealing with some altitude sickness. The quick moving storm brought fog with it, and we lost sight of him.
We never saw him again.
This week's prompt at Illustration Friday is "Colossal", so I drew a buncha dots that hopefully ended up looking like a mountain. I've been trying to keep up with Illustration Friday since the start of the year. I'm a bit late this week, but...
Anyone here ever dealt with altitude sickness? I understand that it not only affects people physically, it can also affect the mood - making people feel sad and depressed. Lack of oxygen to the brain seems to have the opposite effect on me, making me blissfully clueless. Just an observation. Or maybe that's not from altitude...
I'm also linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:
7. Share something that you worked on this week.
I did not climb a mountain this week, or lose anyone. I just thought I'd tell a story of when I did something other than made a buncha dots.
8 comments:
I like your bunch of dots.
The only time I've suffered altitude sickness is on a plane. :D Not enough to vomit though. I thought you'd be pleased to know that? :D
You know, I’m gonna be 50 this year, and I SO want to hike a 14er. My new hotel should allow me to take a little more time off, so hope you’re game! Just don’t lose me. Deal?
All I can say is wow - the mountains look beautiful, but the hike and losing someone seems dangerous to me.
Altitude sickness is fairly similar to seasickness to me. Either way, I don't want them again.
Although being at sea is more pleasurable to me that climbing a summit. I just don't get that Abby. Someday you will have to explain the need to do it.
I'm with Chatty Crone - losing a human is not worth the scenery to me.
I am glad there are folks who love it and get something from it.
I will look at your photos. :-)
Joey, thank you for not oversharing. Literally.
SR300, I'd love to climb a mountain with you! If I can't keep up with a 50-year-old woman, that will be my fault.
Chatty, mountain storms are dangerous, which is why I don't know why that guy wasn't moving faster. Actual "losing" someone is rare. There are a surprising number of people on any given mountain trail in the summertime. Going to the mountains for alone time doesn't usually work!
Peggy, we lost sight of the dude, but I'm sure he eventually made it down. There were several others up there, so it's like "losing" someone on a cruise ship. Funny, I have no desire to go out to sea! I think you have much in common with my friend, the miserable mountaineer.
You mean the dude died or hiked himself back down?
I have no intention of climbing any mountains (anyway, I'm disabled, so that's a foregone conclusion). I used to get lightheaded and short of breath in places that was pretty high above sea level, like Denver and Albuquerque.
B Nickerson, omigosh, he didn't die! I'm sure he got down fine, we just "lost" sight of him because of the fog and his going so slow.
John, it does take a while to get acclimated. Like with the altitude sickness, some are more susceptible than others. I wonder why.
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