My climb ended the day it started. Day 2 was training day and I never even made it to the training snowfield. We started out from Paradise at about 9:30am hiking one of the trials towards a snowfield for safety training. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining brightly. We could see a cloud covering the summit of the Mountain and the guide told us it was from snow blowing off the summit. Report was that the winds were blowing somewhere between 60-70 mph.
We hiked for about 15 minutes and stopped to get a lesson on "compression breathing" which helps you cope with breathing issues as you gain altitude. I felt pretty good...the pack didn't feel to heavy and my legs felt good. We started up a steeper section (not compared to what we'd see climbing to Camp Muir) and I quickly found it very hard to breathe. Tried the compression breathing and even stepped out of line and stopped to try to catch my breathe. After a couple of minutes it was off again. Lasted another 5 minutes and stopped again. After the 3rd stop I was about 50 yards behind the rest of the group. "The Spaniard" (one of the guides) said we had another 30 minutes to go to reach the snowfield. It was at that point that I knew I couldn't keep up with the group and my climbing days were over. The guide and I turned around and he escorted me back down to Paradise where one of the bus drivers took me back down to base camp. I've looked it up and "shortness of breath with exertion" is one of the symptoms of altitude sickness. Something you can't predict, train for or prevent.
To say I'm disappointed is an uderstatement...to say I'm a little bit depressed is closer to the truth. You've just got to wonder if it was age, alergies, asthma or if I'm just pre-disposed to breathing issues. Who knows?
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