infant at altitude

for lack of a better place to post this...


does anyone have relevant experience or definitive knowledge regarding taking a 9 month old infant hiking to 3700+ meters?


scenario:


my wife and i are planning to hike up mt fuji this summer. it is not a particularly grueling climb in any way and i have done it before. but this time i want to take my wife and daughter with me.


we would likely drive to the 2000+ meter range and hike from there for a few hours at night, then take a few hours of snooze time before heading to the summit for sunrise. an hour or so there and then back down again. all in all probably 16 hours or less.


google searches suggest that that bringing our daughter should not be much of an issue as long as we follow some basic pre-cautions. lot's of liquids, sun screen, warm clothing, as well as watch for signs of discomfort shown by crying etc, breathing difficulties, blue complexion, inability to take food.


i can turn around at any point if my daughter shows any discomfort.


any thoughts?

Any time you fly a jet airliner, the pressure altitude* in the cabin is 3000-4000. So the lower pressure itself is typically not a problem. Some kids (well, some people) are more susceptible than others, so just be on the lookout.


It's more a matter of typical outdoor precautions like cold and sun exposure.



* The altitude equivalent the cabin pressure is set to.

A slight correction - the air pressure in airliner cabins is 3-4000 feet, not metres. If it were 3-4000 metres, there would be a lot of deaths from altitude sickness on planes!

Wikipedia:

Cabin altitude is not normally maintained at ground level (0ft) pressure throughout the flight because doing so stresses the fuselage and uses more fuel. An aircraft planning to cruise at 40,000 ft (12,000 m) is programmed to rise gradually from take-off to around 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in cabin pressure altitude, and to then reduce gently to match the ambient air pressure of the destination.

"A slight correction - the air pressure in airliner cabins is 3-4000 feet, not metres. If it were 3-4000 metres, there would be a lot of deaths from altitude sickness on planes!"


Oops. Got my feet and meters mixed up. But as rasbro said, you're talking 8000 ft pressure altitude, not 3-4000.


In any case I don't think it will be an issue for the child.

we lived in colorado and took our daughter at about 9 months up on the highest road which is more than 14,000 ft or 4,200m. She was ok with it but we werent up for long. We found we were quite breathless and felt a bit dizzy, and we were living in denver so we were used to being at a mile high anyway. So guess you need to consider if your daughter starts to show any signs of being uncomfortable how quickly you can get down to a level that is better. It effects different people differently and doesnt matter if you are fit or not. I guess also how are you going to tell if the baby is crying cos they feel a bit tired or other reason or if they feel a bit unwell from the altitude