Gary, thanks for the hydration reminder. That is the biggest thing that people forget. Dehydration can really increase the AMS problems. I find that I often forget to drink enough when I'm hiking.
On Ginko Biloba, there was some study that claimed it helped, but a few years later, a more exacting study refuted the first.
Steve, I'm the same way. Even with a CamelBak, I'll forget to drink if it's not hot - sometimes it takes that initial stitch in the side to remind me that I need to hydrate. When I'm heading over 12K', though, I'm so freakin' conscious of AMS that I become a water bladder carrying a pack instead of vice versa. That isn't good either, as I tend to not eat much above 10K', and salts/minerals get flushed and not replaced. To combat that I try and drink 16 oz of Vitaltye or a sports bev every few hours.
On the ginko, I wasn't aware of that follow-up study, but I'm not surprised. Probably a placebo effect at work. This past summer in the Sierra I did the ginko thing as well as aspirin before ascending each day. Bottom line, 5 nights sleeping at Mammoth Lakes while dayhiking to 12K' (before tackling Whitney) was almost certainly the brass ring. The one night at Trail Camp before summitting probably didn't hurt, and I recall feeling just as good at 14,508' the next day as I do at sea level.
Us folks "back east" (or "down south", if you prefer) don't enjoy the wonderful privilege of having 10-12K' mountains around locally to train on and pre-acclimate with. Having a plan to deal with altitude and acclimation properly has to be Job One when putting together one of these hiking trips "out west". Someday I'm gonna take a stab at the Steve C Acclimation Program, and sleep on Whitney's summit. The problem there is that you get well-adjusted to 14K', but there's nowhere higher to go the next day!
