there is no medical or physiological comparison between sitting in an airplane at moderate altitude and working hard in inclement conditions on Whitney.
First, I said “hiking at a moderate pace”, not “working hard”. Second, I said, “wait for at least mostly good conditions”, which rules out “inclement conditions”. Third, I said “high altitude” in your plane, not “moderate altitude”. (And “high altitude” is meaningless in a pressurized plane.) In all three cases, you implied that I said something else.
An un-acclimatized person may not breathe enough after ascending to a higher altitude. This can result in the usual AMS symptoms or Cheyne-Stokes breathing. When that same person engages in moderate exercise at the same elevation or even a higher one, he will naturally breathe harder, so symptoms are less likely. On my 1995 Denali trip, nobody had symptoms while climbing (except on summit day), but almost everybody had Cheyne-Stokes or other symptoms at least once while sleeping. This was true, even though we often hauled loads higher than our sleeping altitude.
It seems to me that sitting around, whether at Trail Camp or in a plane, allows one’s breathing to slow, possibly bringing on Cheyne-Stokes. It’s my understanding that moderate exercise, even at a higher altitude, should help acclimatization. This is the rationale behind “Climb high, sleep low.”
