Have you read any studies reguarding the barometric changes? Mark- FFEMT-P
great question
it seems to me if (A) some people are ultra-sensitive to just 10,000 ft and get AMS, and we consider that drop in pressure is small (it isn't, it is about 30% !) then perhaps a small change in weather -related pressure (another 3-4%) may affect them when they are up high, tipping them over the edge, so to speak.
it is talked about ( and this website has a picture of ..is that Whitney from a northerly angle? definitely has Banner and Ritter)
Timberline trails AMS As for even higher:
it is often said that on Denali which is at high latitudes, that atmospheric pressure is already lower than a mountain at the equator and of equivalent height above sea level. The lower pressure at higher latitudes is from the atmosphere not surrounding the earth equally, or spherically lets say.
Add on top of that a storm and low pressure system, and the two factors may combine to make Denali at 20,000 ft more like a Himalayan peak. The difference may be similar to 1,000-2,000 ft higher so it does not become Everest, but the effect is said to be significant, resulting in more problems with AMS and complications.
