So you hit the nail on the head re my untrained thinking/analysis of the rest stops. I am not aware of the literature/debate you reference. But, on the mountain, it just seemed to me that I needed to keep the rate of respiration up, and that walking and moving (even slowly) did that, and it provided immediate relief.
By the way, I am curious about your mention of HAPE. Every once in a while, I would take a really deep breath to see how my lungs were functioning. Everything seemed normal to me...no noises, lots of volume. And my energy level and strength stayed very high -- notwithstanding my numbers, I had more energy than anyone in our group for most of the trip. The pulsing headache made me worry more about AMS/HACE than HAPE...am I missing something?
BTW, I did hear about two instances of HAPE in a different group that went up the Marangu route around the time we at Crossover Camp. And I saw an incident of HACE at the summit. And a woman in a litter at Barafu camp being carried down who had recently had Lasik (!!!) and went blind at altitude -when I had Lasik years ago, I was told to avoid pressure-changing recreation (diving, climbing) for 6 months.
