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Thin Air And Prospecting Health Issues


tvanwho

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The last time I was out west to prospect was around Prescott Valley, Arizona on Rose creek. I could not figger out why I was out of breath just carrying a few tools and a Tesoro Lobo detector around?

I had to stop every 50 feet and try to catch my breath. And I am not a smoker either. Just some asthma and allergy issues.

Had the same issue around Rich Hill area. Well, then I noticed elevation signs about 4000 and 5000 foot altitudes.

Hmm, having lived around Chicago now for almost 40 years and a bit of asthma as well, maybe that's the issue since we are at 500 feet above sea level.?

So, how do I get my lungs up to speed when on vacations to gold country and the elevations ?

Is there a reason why gold and minerals tend to be at higher elevations vs  low ones?

-Tom V.

 

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2 hours ago, tvanwho said:

had to stop every 50 feet and try to catch my breath. And I am not a smoker either. Just some asthma and allergy issues.

Hmm, having lived around Chicago now for almost 40 years and a bit of asthma as well, maybe that's the issue since we are at 500 feet above sea level.?

So, how do I get my lungs up to speed when on vacations to gold country and the elevations ?

Hey tvanwho. Yeh oxygen levels drop off pretty dramatically the higher you go.   At 5000 feet, instead of 20.8% oxygen, there is only 17.3%.    I am not asthmatic but for over 30 years I was a very heavy smoker and I reckon, today if I was to do strenuous activity at 5000 ft it would knock me around as well.   When I was about 35, at the height of my smoking, in the middle of winter, I got to the top of MT Kosciuszko (7310 ft) and it damn near killed me.       I have no idea how you would train up to work at altitude but I think the older you get the harder it will be.    Dave
https://www.higherpeak.com/altitudechart.html

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Depending on your age and health it can take upto a month to acclimatize one's self to higher elevations.  That generally means you have to live in the area for a while.  People who work out with high cardio activities tend to acclimatize faster than people who do not due to the training allowing them to use oxygen more efficiently.  Best advice when moving to higher altitudes is to just slow down.  Even as a kid in Colorado just going to the high country would sap me and now much older its more pronounced. 

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I live behind Pike's Peak.  The GPS altitude in my front yard is 8,600'.  My next door neighbors are both Paramedics who attend to a lot of tourists hiking up to the 14,000' level.  Their best advice is to drink LOTS and LOTS of water and pace yourself.  It must work, I"m 74 and still vertical.  

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2 hours ago, fredmason said:

No way to get in shape for altitude except to live it...or be prepared to slow way down...

How you doing, DD?

fred

Ditto Fred .....just takes a couple weeks to get used to it, pace your self accordingly.............

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11 hours ago, phoenix said:

At 5000 feet, instead of 20.8% oxygen, there is only 17.3%

Well, kind of.  The fraction of oxygen in the air is the same, it's just the total amount of air that is lower.  Here is a website where you can find for arbitrary altitude:  http://www.aerospaceweb.org/design/scripts/atmosphere/

On that site you can enter the altitude and it will calculate the air density.  For example, at sea level and temperature 15 C (59 F) the typical density is 1.225 kg/cubic meter.  Same conditions at 5000 ft:  1.0556 kg/m^3.  Divide 1.0556/1.225 = 0.8617 so only 86% as much air (and thus oxygen) going into your lungs every breath at 5000 ft altitude compared to sea level.

 

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12 hours ago, roddosnow said:

you can now find Gyms that have altitude training rooms which let you train in lower oxygen replicating the affects of altitude

an example https://thealtitudegym.com.au/faqs/

you may be  able to find one of these near you.

That is amazing. I did not know that such a thing as a commercial altitude gym existed :ohmy:

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