You're right that some things deteriorate. A more nuanced statement might be "sleeping that high, you are rapidly gaining acclimation, but slowly losing strength".mikefromcraig wrote:This is where we disagree. I read (I think it was in the "altitude illness" book) that you can't acclimatize above 17,000' (or maybe it was 18,000'). You can go that high or higher but you only get the benefit when you come back down and recoup.
That is, you're probably losing weight, your cardio fitness might be slowly declining, wounds heal slower, stuff like that. Despite those long term negative changes, you're still making short term improvements in acclimation -- that is, spending time there will reduce your odds of altitude sickness and improve your climbing speed.
I don't know how long you could stay before things get really bad. People stay above 18k for a few weeks when climbing Cho Oyu. I think the Silver Hut expedition had people stay that high for much longer and they got weaker? I haven't read the details.
Supplemental oxygen is cheating. Haven't we covered that?mikefromcraig wrote:I think medicaid pays for supplemental oxygen for patients who are 89 and below. I'm willing to bet you would never get above 89 no matter how long you stayed above 18,500'.
I dug up my notes. 1st night at 18,500 feet, I was at 100 bpm, 72% sat. 8th day I was 62 bpm, 82%.
I got to 90% at 16k, but never at a higher camp.
I haven't tried every option, lots of different acclimation schedules can work. I just think you're exaggerating the danger of sleeping high a few nights.
Let us know what approach you try, and how the trip goes.