I spent the weekend trying out diamox. Maybe it helped a bit with acclimatization (since I was mainly sleeping in the car), but the effect was marginal at best. I was still pretty much out of breath above ~12000'.
Friday I went for a 12-13 mile warmup hike in Tuolumne, up to 10000' (visited Young Lake). Before bed I took 125mg acetazolamide and spent the night around 10000'.
Saturday in the morning I took another 125mg and then hiked up Mt. Dana (13057') from just below Tioga Pass. No major side effects that I could tell (other than slight increase in urination, but then I always pee a lot at altitude), so I traversed over to Mt. Gibbs (12774'). What a talus slog
It was kind of a long day ..
Took 125mg Saturday evening and spent the night near Mosquito Flat (10000'-ish) then Sunday went up Bear Creek Spire (13713') via the NE Ridge (class 4 with short sections of easy fifth).
I did BCS NE Ridge about two years ago pre-injury. I felt a lot more out of breath this time, and weaker. In 2007 I was strong enough to jam my way up some 5.5 cracks on the ridge and did a 5.6 variation near the summit. This time I was spending minutes at a time catching my breath and pretty much stuck to fourth class or less whenever possible.
Maybe I should up with the dosage to 250mg, but I wonder if acclimatization is really the problem. In 2007 when I did BCS all I did was go climbing in Tuolumne the day before and then sleep at 10000' the night before.
I'm going to call my doctor and see about getting tested for anemia. Thanks again for the advice guys.