HIGH ALTITUDE NUTRITION

If you’re join­ing Moun­tain Mad­ness for a high alti­tude climb or trek, like the Ever­est Base­camp Trek, or the Boli­vian Andes Climbs , you’ll be ask­ing a lot of your body (and mind) as you expe­ri­ence some lev­el of oxy­gen depri­va­tion. It’s impor­tant to under­stand some of the phys­i­o­log­i­cal shifts that will occur in your body as you ascend. Aside from headaches and gen­er­al las­si­tude, your stom­ach will also func­tion a bit dif­fer­ent­ly giv­en less oxy­gen at alti­tude. In part, your body responds to its new high-alti­tude envi­ron­ment by redi­rect­ing oxy­gen to vital organs like your brain and heart. So, don’t be sur­prised if you have less of an appetite or have trou­ble digest­ing food that you nor­mal­ly eat at sea level. 

One of the biggest chal­lenges is when you lose your appetite, but you still have to keep going. How can you con­sume enough calo­ries for a big day at alti­tude when your body is ask­ing you to take a break from food? There no one answer to that ques­tion, but the one eas­i­est rem­e­dy, or par­tial solu­tion, is to bring your favorites snacks. Plan ahead by bring­ing your favorite quick-ener­gy, car­bo­hy­drate-laden snacks. Make them super-acces­si­ble by stock­ing them in your pock­ets and have a plan for how often you will eat them when you’re on the moun­tain. And when it comes to things that may set you back, like a margheri­ta or two the night before you begin your approach to the moun­tains, make sure you hold off on those favorites — save that for the end of the trip!

Your body will like­ly crave easy-to-digest foods like carbs. So, sup­ple­ment your yum­my snacks with help from your base camp kitchen. Cha­p­ati with nut but­ter or rice balls are awe­some, easy to car­ry, and easy to digest that will keep you fueled when you’re climb­ing. And one tip is to have a ther­mos with hot tea and some sug­ar. While this may not sus­tain you through the entire day, it may pro­vide you with enough of a boost to get you up the final steps; and it as impor­tant­ly makes it eas­i­er to get some flu­ids down dur­ing a cold climb.

Fuel­ing plays a big part in per­for­mance on the moun­tain, so invest­ing the time to plan ahead will pay off when it counts. Any per­son train­ing you for climb­ing will know the sig­nif­i­cance role caloric intake on the days lead­ing up tot he sum­mit attempt and sum­mit day itself. Lisa Thomp­son at Alpine Ath­let­ics is able to coach you for not just get­ting your body fit, but the val­ue of nutri­tion. Con­sult with your train­er for the best ideas to get you per­form­ing at the top lev­el on the day it mat­ters, when your reach­ing for the summit.