I was miserable--shivering and not sleeping the whole night, eventually, puking up my dinner and then wretching after that. (Probably a combination of altitude sickness, exhaustion and shivering.) At around 4 am, I was trying to think what else I could do and remembered that I had a mylar blanket in my bag. I then wrapped it around my feet on the inside of my sleeping bag. Fairly soon thereafter, my feet began to feel ok, but I continued to shiver until the sun came up.
So here's a question, albeit blunt, that I haven't seen asked yet:
If the conditions were so miserable, and you were feeling so miserable, and you had an inkling that it might be altitude related...
Why didn't you descend to where you didn't feel as miserable and to where you might find appropriate shelter (ie: trees, rocks, the entire mountain (since I've been on the Ski Hut trail when it's completely calm and then got blasted up above the treeline))??
Sorry guys and gals, but all the talk of emergency blankets becomes fairly moot if your brain is starting to potentially wig out due to hypoxia, esp when you're at the point of tossing your cookies and then continuing to wretch.
To answer your direct question, Brent, as in what do I do if the wind is blowing? Find a better campsite that provides shelter.
