Getting excited to plan our first trip to MW, and stumbled upon this very interesting scientific paper in the process. It was published in 2008 by Dr. Dale Wagner (Utah State University) et al.
https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fullt...ess_and.15.aspxOne of the things that jumped out at me was the high correlation between usage of people who took analgesics (e.g. ibuprofen, acetaminophen) and incidence of AMS. 51% of people who took analgesics reported AMS symptoms, while only 32% of people who didn't take any reported AMS symptoms (according to the "Lake Louise Self Assessment Score"). At first blush it would seem that it might be a bad idea to pop a Tylenol if you want to avoid AMS, but this is a great example of correlation vs. causation when looking at stats.
The main take-home point for me was that if I want to maximize my odds of success (namely, not letting AMS turn me around), it is prudent to spend at least two nights at high altitude before attempting our day hike. We'll likely be planning to spend a couple nights at Horseshoe Meadows (10k ft) before the day of the hike. A short hike up to Trail Pass up there probably wouldn't hurt either.
