Canned "Recreational Oxygen" for elevation sickness?

[Rogue]

Canned "Rescue" O2 is a very BAD idea!!!!!

I've lived in Colorado most of my life. Fortunately altitude has never bothered me. As a medical professional and an avid hiker/climber I've pulled well over 50 people off the mountain who relied upon that canned O2 until it ran out. The sudden decrease in O2 can be very dangerous especially if you are still high on the mountain with a long descent ahead.

Best to arrive early and acclimate to altitude properly.

The "Best" treatment for altitude sickness is to descend.

 

[WildRose]

I appreciate your feedback and first hand experiences. I'd certainly love the 3 day period, but don't see anyway it's going to be possible without giving up 3 days of the season. All of us are coming from lower altitude so I'm sure no one will be pushing all that hard the first day or two. On the other hand we are all FBI swat or military, so I suspect our egos will want to see who can out do each other. Haha.

That actually puts you at high risk of altitude sickness. "I can work through anything" will cause you to push to hard and likely not be willing to admit it until you're already anoxic.

If you have to, take three extra days and find a camp at altitude then go to your hunting camp for the hunt.

Getting wobbly or even passing out toting a load on a steep mountain trail is a good way for a hunt to end in disaster.

Even if you could only find a place to spend those three days at 6,000-6,500 feet would be a huge help in adapting.

 

[FlGunner]

I'm a flat land guy from Florida, we arrived a couple days early to adapt some before going up the mountain. We camped at 10k and hunted the Snowmass Maroon Bells wilderness and was at 10-13000'. I had a headache the first morning but after a couple of hours I was fine. My partner was a lil sick the first morning and he equated it to bring sea sick (we fish offshore a lot). He was fine as well after we got moving. The canned air was something I looked into and had but didn't use it(folks said get it but forgot about it after we got to hunting). I believe your personal physical conditions will dictate a lot of how your body reacts if you are not adapt to being in that type of altitude. I'm a runner and my hunting partner is a marathon junkies. Your muscles need oxygen to perform and getting a shot of oxygen from a can may help momentarily but it won't fix your physical conditioning.

 

[snox801]

I'm another one for it. I tried it back when they first came out during training sessions and it absolutely worked. So I'm sure it would aid in the situation you are looking for. This was not flavored or anything just pressured oxygen.

 

[FlGunner]

I'm another one for it. I tried it back when they first came out during training sessions and it absolutely worked. So I'm sure it would aid in the situation you are looking for. This was not flavored or anything just pressured oxygen.

You know I think I'm going to try it after my run this afternoon. See how it affects my recovery.

 

[Bob Wright]

You know I think I'm going to try it after my run this afternoon. See how it affects my recovery.

If you have a finger O2 sat device that would be good info too. See if it gives you some data....

 

[FlGunner]

So I tried it immediately after my run (4miles) and it seemed to help me have a faster recovery in the sense of I usually walk a mile to cool down and reset but I felt like I was ready enough to run some more. So I could see some benefit of where it could help some but there's only so much in the can. I didn't have a finger O2 monitor to see what it might say.

 

[WildRose]

I'm another one for it. I tried it back when they first came out during training sessions and it absolutely worked. So I'm sure it would aid in the situation you are looking for. This was not flavored or anything just pressured oxygen.

It's going to help you get down off the mountain but it's not going to solve the problem at altitude because you simply can't pack enough.

Acclimation and adaptation are really your only safe options.