Advice for sleeping on a 14er?

[jscully205]

FWIW About 5 years ago I slept on the summit of Gray's Peak a week before doing Rainier for the first time, and I thought it helped on that objective.

Before Denali, I was going to at least 13k every week months before the trip. I thought benefited from that too, but from acclimatization standpoint it only helped up to 14k. Past that altitude, I thought my teammates from sea level were equal and there was no advantage. Same story on Aconcagua. I also felt like there was big difference between 14k and 16k.

[Conor]

my experience, and limited study of the subject...sleeping on 14ers has no additional benefit in terms of acclimatization over just going for a hike to altitude and recovering at a lower elevation. I would prefer to go for easy hikes multiple times, perhaps around 4 hours, and then lounge around the house like a cat, stuffing my face with pizza. I would rather do that than sleep on a 14er, which sounds miserable to me and I argue has no acclimatization benefit.

perhaps not for acclimatization purposes, but there is value in knowing how your body will handle sleeping at 14k before you actually go off on your true objective. that way, you at least have some expectations..

I argue "how your body will handle sleeping" is a function of acclimatization. I stand by my comment that sleeping on a colorado 14er is nothing more than a novelty and a tale. I was going to call it a "good tale," but I have yet to buy any book related to sleeping on 14ers.

[curt86iroc]

my experience, and limited study of the subject...sleeping on 14ers has no additional benefit in terms of acclimatization over just going for a hike to altitude and recovering at a lower elevation. I would prefer to go for easy hikes multiple times, perhaps around 4 hours, and then lounge around the house like a cat, stuffing my face with pizza. I would rather do that than sleep on a 14er, which sounds miserable to me and I argue has no acclimatization benefit.

perhaps not for acclimatization purposes, but there is value in knowing how your body will handle sleeping at 14k before you actually go off on your true objective. that way, you at least have some expectations..

I argue "how your body will handle sleeping" is a function of acclimatization. I stand by my comment that sleeping on a colorado 14er is nothing more than a novelty and a tale. I was going to call it a "good tale," but I have yet to buy any book related to sleeping on 14ers.

sure, that's true too. i was more thinking in the context of fast alpine ascents where you don't spend time acclimatizing in the traditional manner.

[mtree]

my experience, and limited study of the subject...sleeping on 14ers has no additional benefit in terms of acclimatization over just going for a hike to altitude and recovering at a lower elevation. I would prefer to go for easy hikes multiple times, perhaps around 4 hours, and then lounge around the house like a cat, stuffing my face with pizza. I would rather do that than sleep on a 14er, which sounds miserable to me and I argue has no acclimatization benefit.

perhaps not for acclimatization purposes, but there is value in knowing how your body will handle sleeping at 14k before you actually go off on your true objective. that way, you at least have some expectations..

I argue "how your body will handle sleeping" is a function of acclimatization. I stand by my comment that sleeping on a colorado 14er is nothing more than a novelty and a tale. I was going to call it a "good tale," but I have yet to buy any book related to sleeping on 14ers.

I agree. I've slept many times around 13,000 feet. Some nights ok. Some pretty poor. Some with zero sleep. Even when acclimated in late summer it didn't seem to matter. Just the roll of the dice. Not worth the effort unless you're into the novelty of it all.

[ARY]

...
Elbert or Massive may actually work well. Especially Massive, if you keep going north to near some of the other 14k bumps - there's some good flat ground you can set up and be relatively away from anyone. This would be my suggestion.
...

May anyone suggest potential spots to get water, running or snow patch on trails (both to Elbert and to Massive) for the end of June. Somewhere near +/- the end of treeline. By your historical experience. Obviously snow conditions are unique every year, I realize that. Particularly - does Willow creek has/had any water in June-July?

As for the sleepover at altitude I recall super nice alpine meadows near old moraine lakes to the north of Independence pass (some climbable rock is there too).

[Bill G]

Climbing Rainier could help in preparation for Denali. Sleeping on a CO peak in preparation is downright silly.

[justiner]

May anyone suggest potential spots to get water, running or snow patch on trails (both to Elbert and to Massive) for the end of June. Somewhere near +/- the end of treeline. By your historical experience. Obviously snow conditions are unique every year, I realize that. Particularly - does Willow creek has/had any water in June-July?

As for the sleepover at altitude I recall super nice alpine meadows near old moraine lakes to the north of Independence pass (some climbable rock is there too).

Good chance they'll be a patch of snow to make water on Massive - easy to preview from the town. On the Fish Hatchery route to Massive, there's a small pond where you leave the trail that's been there when I've been there in September. But it's not all that far from the TH tbh.

[justiner]

Just slept on Columbia during the Lunar Eclipse. Set the alarm to wake up a minute before sunrise to catch that. Highly suggested.

[ARY]

Thanks justiner!

How is mosquito situation in Halfmoon valley, Colorado Trail in June-July, anyone advise?

[justiner]

Thanks justiner!

How is mosquito situation in Halfmoon valley, Colorado Trail in June-July, anyone advise?

When we were there a few weeks ago, they were out, but it was almost like they forget how to bite. I'm sure they'll remember soon enough. I'll have an update this weekend. I'm certainly bringing a head net. Fingers crossed the late snow decimated them (one can dream!)