I will be climbing Kilimanjaro on Aug 15th (in about a month). I am planning a weekend trip to Colorado Aug 5 - &th to do a couple of hikes to get a little bit if expereince with higher altitude. Being from Dallas, we don't have any mountains or anything close to high altitude. I hope someone might help me with some suggestions for the hikes. I am flying into Denver that Friday evening and flying back out late Sunday evening (9 pm departure). Am willing to drive to locations that can be accessed by a rental car.

I won't be able to bring camping gear so I was thinking 2 different loops or in/outs. Not knowing the area I am getting overwhelmed with all the internet articles.

Thanks for any input!

I doubt that a few days in the Denver mountains are going to have any significant impact on your acclimatization to altitude.

And whatever miniscule acclimatization that you might gain in those few days will be long lost by August 15th.

In fact, a quick hiking trip to the Denver mountains from Texas is likely to do nothing but get you a case of altitude sickness.

During your trip, I recommend descending back down to Denver every night, or as low as practical, to minimize your risk of getting altitude sickness.

That being said, the Evans-Bierstadt traverse is a fun class 3 scramble with serious exposure at one end, and you can drive right to the summit of Evans around 14,200 feet.

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-evans/150481

http://www.summitpost.org/sawtooth-ridge/156846

As the Rat said, a few days in Denver aren't going to help you much on your trip but, if you're not experienced with how you handle altitude it may give you some insight. To be frank, I've done 14ers that were harder than Kili but we did do a couple weekends in CO prior to our climb of Kili to train a bit. We did back to back 14ers both weekends and I think it helped but more with fitness and cardio. I'm also a flatlander.

Plan - drive out to Georgetown on Friday. Get a decent nights sleep and do an easy day up Bierstadt on Sat. morning. Head back to Georgetown and then on Sunday you could do Grays. Both are straight forward, easy climbs that can be done in a fairly short amount of time depending on fitness level.

I was living in Phoenix where the elevation is 1,400 feet. I drove to Flagstaff (7000 feet) for one night then headed to the san Juans and camped at 11,000 feet. The following day we hiked ro 12,000 feet and hiked Wetterhorn, Matterhorn and Uncompahgre. I only felt a slight headache on top of the 14ers. We were camped at 12,000 feet for 3 nights. I did not experience any major altitude sickness.

I don't think it's a bad idea to hike a few 14ers in advance just to see how you handle higher elevations. No, it won't make any difference in the long run, but at least it's a good time. You may or may not experience altitude sickness, but you will likely at least be at the level of a headache.

The Sawatch range offers some easy to get to ones like Elbert, Massive and La Plata.

Steven Cross wrote:I did not experience any major altitude sickness.

You were lucky - that's all. The next time you might get deathly ill. It's a crap shoot, when you quickly go from low to high elevations. One time - no problem. The next time - deathly ill. You never know what's gonna happen.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:

Steven Cross wrote:I did not experience any major altitude sickness.

You were lucky - that's all. The next time you might get deathly ill. It's a crap shoot, when you quickly go from low to high elevations. One time - no problem. The next time - deathly ill. You never know what's gonna happen.

That's quite a generalization. People react differently to exposure to moderate altitudes. If a person can (for example) go from sea level to 10,000 feet and sleep comfortably and get up the next day and hike to 14,500 ft with no headache, nausea or other symptoms, and do it again and again and again over a 30 year period I think it is highly unlikely that they are going to suddenly get altitude sickness the next time they do it, absent other factors like extreme heat, or dehydration, some kind of illness. Each person needs to discover how their particular body acclimatizes. And in my experience they are likely to find that repeated exposures to high altitude over the years make successive trips easier and easier.

Norris wrote:That's quite a generalization. People react differently to exposure to moderate altitudes...

I appreciate your sentiment, but respectfully disagree with all of your statements

Doing a few 14ers will not help with acclimating but it will give you a fine idea of how it feels to be high up and working hard to get there. Even if you have very low experience Bierstadt, Grays, Evans, and Elbert are all good beginner 14s to get some experience on that aren't far from Denver. Evans has the road going up so you can vary the height of the start of your climb considerably.

As for coming from near sea level to high altitude I'd have to agree with Norris on that argument. If you do it and don't have much problem with it you are unlikely to have problems with it in the future. If anyone has any experience otherwise it would be interesting to hear about it though. I've done the wakeup at 500 feet and sunset at 10000 feet a few times and never had any problems. If anything my sleep has been better at high altitude, but that could just be jet lag or the aftereffects of driving all damn day across Kansas. That state is boring as fuck. I much prefer driving through Texas.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:

Steven Cross wrote:I did not experience any major altitude sickness.

You were lucky - that's all. The next time you might get deathly ill. It's a crap shoot, when you quickly go from low to high elevations. One time - no problem. The next time - deathly ill. You never know what's gonna happen.

While this is mainly true, anyone who is in good shape shouldn't have much issue getting up to 14000 feet. Headaches and unstable bowel movements will be likely but I firmly believe anyone in great shape can go to 4000m without serious incident. I fairly often go directly to 5000m straight from sea level and don't bat an eye. If you are not in great shape then the story is different.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:

Norris wrote:That's quite a generalization. People react differently to exposure to moderate altitudes...

I appreciate your sentiment, but respectfully disagree with all of your statements

Do tell us more... Do you react to high altitudes erratically? Everything Norris said is basically proven facts.

Matt Lemke wrote:Do tell us more... Do you react to high altitudes erratically?

No, I do not.

However I do react erratically to rapid ascents to high altitude.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:

Steven Cross wrote:I did not experience any major altitude sickness.

You were lucky - that's all. The next time you might get deathly ill. It's a crap shoot, when you quickly go from low to high elevations. One time - no problem. The next time - deathly ill. You never know what's gonna happen.

I regularly go from 5,000ft where I live and drive up, trail run to the top of a 13er, and back down in a day. Do it all the time with no side effect. One day it bit me. Ever since...not a symptom! Not sure what the difference was, but if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I view it as more of an idea of how my body reacts and what to expect......and the fitness. You're right....there's no rhyme or reason and 20 healthy trips doesnt mean your next won't end up in sickness.

I personally found a big differance starting at 5000 feet verses 1000 feet. When I lived in Phoenix, the 14ers gave me a slight headache and my movement was quite a bit slower.
When I lived in Flagstaff, and now Denver, I have never experienced any sort of headache and I hike faster at high altitudes.

There was only one time That I got elevation sickness bad enough I felt like I had the flu. I was 9 years old, living in Flagstaff (7000 feet) and attemted Humphreys Peak starting at Locket Meadow (8500 feet). I did not train for it and was not prepared for the Elevation. I got sick at about 12200 feet. I dropped to the saddle at 11800 feet and felt better.
I reattempted Humphreys when I was 13 and never had elevation sickness since I was 9.

Odd that we're having this conversation, and then I turn around and guide a guy from Iowa into the Bighorns. He starts power puking at 9500ft. Pounding headache. Lack of appetite....the usual. A reminder that it's not just reality at 14k+.....it can happen much lower.