Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Hiking Whitney and Sleep Apnea

I have a brother-in-law with a heart of gold who would like me to take him along to summit Whitney. He is rather heavy and has sleep-apnea. On the other hand he has accomplished some athletic challenges that many wouldn't expect from somebody of his size. Rather than assume that he can't accomplish the summit from Portals I want to do what is in my power to assist him in achieving the goal.

The sleep apnea strikes me as the biggest challenge, as he currently sleeps with a CPAP mask at home.

Does anybody know of somebody with this condition who has found a work around and has summitted or have any suggestions?

We will begin hiking and conditioning for a year in advance including spending nights at increasingly higher elevations as his condition allows.

Thanks,
Trav

I've had light sleep apnea, and use one of those mouthpieces. Then I found a chin strap helps keep the mouth shut to prevent mouth dryness. I take the setup backpacking and think it helps me get a good night's sleep. If your bro-in-law has the desire and can get the mouthpiece, it might be the portable device that helps.

As for the extra size, I have a friend who tells me he plugged in his height and weight and it told him he was obese. That got him to start working out, says he's lost 30 lbs, would like to lose 20 more. His primary method: drinking lots of water (I think that helps cut back on snacks), and doing spin classes at his gym. He's aiming to complete the "Climb to Kaiser" bicycle ride ( 155 miles / 15k vertical). He just might do it.

If your b-i-l can start working on something similar, that will help him achieve his goal. You might start by heading to Whitney Portal, and just hiking to Lone Pine Lake. Subsequent trips could possibly go higher (walk-in permits are really not hard to get).

If he's serious enough to get into a training program and to stick with it, he could make it! Good luck.

Why are you concerned about his Sleep Apnea? I would think the bigger concern is his weight.

Are you planning a day hike, or overnight? If a day hike you can stay in motels that would help with acclimatization. For instance, Mammoth Mountain Lodge is ~ 9,000' elevation. Tioga Pass resort is higher (over 10K' I think).

If you are planning an overnight then the a battery/portable version should work provided you are not away from a re-charge for more than two days. Otherwise you might need an extra battery. The added cost may make a difference, but if you are coming from Florida (my guess), then maybe not so much relative to the overall cost. Also the portable version would/could be useful for other travel.

Does he suffer other conditions due to Sleep Apnea?

Is he really in Florida? If so, then he has no idea how difficult climbing thousands of feet elevation is. He really needs to try some less-ambitious mountains first to get an idea of how tough the elevation makes it.

I do not "really" know where they are from. However, if you do an internet search for Cedar Keys Florida will pop up.

You might be able to tell more from his IP address?

I did a look-up on 108.255.112.194, and got two different answers. One says Anaheim, the other says Wichita. The only Cedar Keys I find is Florida.

Thanks guys. Sorry for the confusion re: FL. We are both from Orange County CA. The Cedar Keys reference was just an association with the screen name of Travis McGee a fictitious character authored by John Mac Donald. My name is Steve.

I honestly never intended to stay active here long, but this site is a terrific resource. Thanks, and feel free to change the screen name to Steve G and the location to Anaheim if you like.


Steve C:
Thanks for the mouthpiece suggestion. We will look into it. It sounds like your friend and my b-i-l are the same guy. He is obese and is doing the same exercises and having similar success. I wish them both continued success.

John S:
Thank you for those hotel suggestions. I think that that would be wise.

I am more concerned with his sleep apnea because I know that he struggles to breath/sleep at night without the CPAP machine. I have also had friends, who don't have such issues, who have awoken in the middle of the night at Trail Camp struggling to breath and I am concerned that the thin air would exacerbate the apnea problem.

The weight is a concern, but there is adequate information available for us to design a strategy to resolve or at least minimize that problem through diet and exercise.

We are planning to overnight at Consultation Lake and to plan the hike for later in the summer when snow is less of a concern.

Travis (I mean Steve ), you can edit your profile and change your location if you want. You can see, though, how it threw people off.

The breathing trouble people often experience at altitude is described as "Cheyne-Stokes" breathing. Look up Diamox (acetazolamide), and consider it. Your friend should definitely take some before hiking. But at low doses -- 125 mg a day, NOT the timed release or hi-dosage stuff people sometimes get by mistake. Doctors sometimes miss the distinction, too, so when he gets it, make sure he discusses the difference.

Thanks. I will pass that along. He is a smart guy and researches things well, but this will give him a great head start.

I heard that there were portable systems, but I never suspected that they would either be light enough or would last through an entire evening. I should do further research. Thanks for the push.

Lots of great tips and ideas from this forum. This year I'm going to spend my first night acclimating at Mammoth Mountain lodge rather than Horseshoe meadows. It's right on my way and it has full amenities.