Has anyone ever brought up a little 5 lb canister of oxygen before in case of altitude sickness, to be able to collect oneself, and then head back down (obviously). I wanted to know if this was a good safety idea or just unnecessary extra weight.
Long before you needed oxygen, your body would be giving you all sorts of cues that today is not your day for the summit (and LISTEN to your body!) Your hike is supposed to be fun, so if you feel sick, makes tracks down the hill(I once bailed on a summit 700ft from the top, because of a food related illness;I never regretted the choice and it allowed my buddy to have a fun day + I recovered nicely shortly after) Good judgement will be the best medicine that you can carry. Those extra 5# will only contribute to dead weight that you will be hauling around for hours. Good sleep & acclimatization is better than any pill as far as preventative medicine goes; however, some folks ARE aided by small amounts of diamox. I will leave it to the professionals to discuss the topic of meds.
