Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room O2 Saturation & AMS, Long, Bear with Me

I'm not sure where this will go but thought I'd post it out of curiosity and hopefully get some interesting information.

I recently bought an oximeter and tested it out on my last trip to the Sierra. I'm VERY prone to AMS and do not deal with the altitude well. If I go too fast, I definitely will be stumbling like a drunk on something as "low" as San Jacinto or San Gorgonio here in Southern California. So, I wanted to measure my O2 saturation level and hopefully compare it with others to hopefully glean some information, and if not, just for fun.

Here's how my last 3 trips to the Sierra went:

1) May- I drove up with a friend to the HSM in the morning to acclimate, and went to Trail Peak. I was feeling fine until going down where I got a massive headache. It subsided when we went to the Pizza Factory for dinner. It returned that night while we camped at the HSM again. It disappeared the following morning. I had no issues going to E-Ledges later on. The day after that, I was fine on the North Fork until reaching Iceberg Lake, where I felt a strange "tingle" in the back of my head. By the time we reached the Notch, it was a massive headache. By the time we reached the summit, I could hardly take 5 steps before stopping and gasping for air. It came on suddenly like a sledge hammer even after 2 days at altitude.

2) Fast forward a few months I went to Langley by myself and summited with no issues after acclimating for 2 days. I only had a subtle headache on the way down. I met my friend the following day where we slept at the Glacier Lodge Rd for the night before starting up to Middle Palisade the following morning. I felt like a million bucks that day and the next as we went up. Strangely enough, I had a bad headache coming down that didn't subside until we were back at the parking lot. The following day, we headed up Agassiz. Again, felt fine until I hit the summit and got a minor headache on the way down which perplexed me after basically being at altitude for about 5 days.

3) Last month- I did the same thing, acclimated (with Diamox this time) and went up Langley with another friend. This time, I took some readings. He was doing better than me after only acclimating 1 night while I had 2 days and nights. No headaches whatsoever going up, but had a slight one while coming down and I took 2 Ibuprofens. That night and the following morning I stayed at the Portal before going to the South Lake trail head for some R&R before backpacking to the Palisade Basin the day after. No issues that day. The following day, we went up Thunderbolt and Starlight Peak. Again, no issues, not even the slightest bit. I felt like a million bucks. The following day, I woke up with a slight headache which got worse and worse as the day wore on. I went to sleep with a headache that dissipated overnight. The day after, we headed up North Palisade and Polemonium without the slightest hitch. I thought I was at the beach the way I was breathing. The trip out the following morning was also enjoyable and free of drama.

Anyhow, here are the numbers from the last Langley trip:
Day 1- Horseshoe Meadows @ 5-ish PM- 93/73 O2 Sat/Pulse
Day 2- Horseshoe Meadows @ 8-ish AM- 95/75
Day 2- Horseshoe Meadows @ 5-ish PM- 97/68
Day 3- Top of Old Army Pass @ 9-10 AM- 91/109
Day 3- Langley Summit @ Around noon- 85/110
Day 3- Whitney Portal @ 7-ish PM- 96/85
Day 4- Whitney Portal @ 7-ish AM- 98/80
Day 11- Home @ 3:00 PM- 99/61

By comparison, my friend's O2 saturation on the summit of Langley was fluctuating around the mid-90s, and his heart rate was in the mid-80s.

Can any of the WZ doctors make heads or tails of this, or am I just wasting bandwidth? :grin: