# What's the highest elevation you've ever been? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606 "2011-05-03T19:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/61 "2011-05-04T13:40:51Z")
Went to a convention in a ski resort with a base altitude of 9,280 feet. Actually, I took the lift to a summit restaurant, which might bump me a category or two. Then took the lift down–I’m definitely a flatlander. Even at the “base”–some attendees had altitude sickness. None for me. I walked around a bunch but didn’t get seriously athletic. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/62 "2011-05-04T13:48:15Z")
> [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](#): > > Drove up Mount Evans, over Independence Pass, Trail Ridge Road, etc., like a lot of folks here who live(d) in Colorado. Walked up Medicine Bow Peak in Wyoming which is only a thirteener… But I’m an overweight asthmatic so I was still happy. 🙂 Actually [Medicine Bow Peak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Bow_Peak)is not a thirteener–it’s just barely even a twelver (12,013 ft.), according to that wiki page. [Wyoming](http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/highest-peaks.asp?s=WY) has 33 thirteeners (no fourteeners, of which Colorado has [del]57[/del] [53](http://www.14ers.com/photos/photos_14ers1.php)), but the highest is only 13,799 ft. Forty years ago, a friend suggested we climb [Mt. Moran](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Moran) in the winter. I thought he was crazy, but he said it had been done before, and he’d been trying to do it for a few years. Our plans fell through, that year, and in February two guys made headlines for making the _second_ winter ascent ever. As you can see from the wiki page, it’s not as high as the Grand Teton, but it takes more effort, because of the lack of trails. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/63 "2011-05-04T13:53:44Z")
The worst-affected by altitude I’ve ever been was just beyond the Trail Ridge Road. I flew in to Denver from thick-air Florida and we drove straight to RMNP to hike a supposedly light, non-strenuous trail. Well it would have been, if we had not just jumped to 9000 feet all of a sudden from basically zero. I was exhausted simply walking up a tiny hill. Thankfully the rest of the trail was basically flat, but those 4 miles were pretty rough. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/64 "2011-05-04T13:54:47Z")
> [@RM\_Mentock](#): > > Forty years ago, a friend suggested we climb [Mt. Moran](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Moran) in the winter. I thought he was crazy, but he said it had been done before, and he’d been trying to do it for a few years. Did you say “get a brain, moran!” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/65 "2011-05-04T14:22:28Z")
5,600 metres (18,373 feet), Everest base camp, Tibetan side. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/66 "2011-05-04T14:26:58Z")
Independence Pass in CO… 12,025 feet I think… also been to the Dead Sea in Jordan, lowest point on dry land. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/67 "2011-05-04T14:50:49Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Did you say “get a brain, moran!” 🙂 Actually, at the time, I said, OK sure why not. Fates conspired against me, though, probably my good fortune. His approach had been to snowshoe across the lake. One year he turned back because of knee-deep water. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/68 "2011-05-04T15:25:29Z")
Never been deep in the Rockies (just a few miles in from Boulder), or into any of the high California peaks, so it’s Jungfraujoch (or more properly, the Sphinx Observatory) for me. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/69 "2011-05-04T15:33:22Z")
Pike’s Peak and the top of Rocky Mountain National Park are the highest I’ve been. I know my SIL and I stopped to read every little plaque at the top of Trail Ridge Road as you wind up to that big pile of rocks at the top because…we’re really interested in being well-educated, dagnabbit, not because we live in the plains and are gasping for breath. The young uns, however, had run on to the top and had a marmot cornered by the time we got there. “Hey look, Mom!” “Get back, that thing is clearly pissed and is going to rip your face off in a minute, and you’ll be dead before I get the energy to drag you back down this mountain!” ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/70 "2011-05-04T15:37:21Z")
about 12K. Went on a ski trip to Breckenridge, Copper Mtn, and Keystone about 20 yrs ago. If it weren’t for that trip, it would have been 4000 ft, Mt Mansfield in Vermont. Climbed it when I was a 7th grader (along with many of the other highest peaks in Vermont). ---
**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/71 "2011-05-04T16:53:55Z")
Also the La Paz Bolivia airport - 13,325. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El\_Alto\_International\_Airport](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Alto_International_Airport) A stopover from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Lima, Peru. Being a US Midwesterner, I was not acclimatized and was short of breath and also got a headache. My travelling companion suggested having some coca tea to ease the symptoms, but since I am subject to random drug testing at work I thought that was not such a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/72 "2011-05-04T17:06:46Z")
Besides Mt. Whitney and White Mountain, I’ve made it to the top of nearby Telescope Peak in Death Valley NP (11,331 ft). About an hour into the hike, I discovered that my camera battery was dead. I managed to squeeze out 2 or 3 pictures, but that was it. At first I was bummed out, but then a magical thing happened…I was freed from my take-pictures-of-everything-I-could-think-of obsession! Nowadays I always carry a spare battery, but I realize that not having a camera won’t spoil my hike at all. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/73 "2011-05-04T17:11:05Z")
I lived in Utah for several years, and spent much time hiking and skiing. A quick check on the internet shows that I was undoubtedly above 10,000 feet. That’s considerably higher than the mountains here in the East – Mount Washington in NH is just over 6,000 feet. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/74 "2011-05-04T17:23:35Z")
I spent a couple of weeks skiing at Snowbird in Utah when I was younger. One of the lifts takes you to the top of the mountain, at 11,000 feet. Then it’s miles of great skiing before you have to get on another lift - the bottom of the hill is at 7,900 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/75 "2011-05-04T17:26:16Z")
From Lima (sea level) I have gone to 4800 meters (16000ft) several times on trips with my kids. I’ve gone over 5000 meters (under 17000ft) a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/76 "2011-05-04T17:27:45Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > … I drove to the thick air at the visitors center (10,300 IIRC) had some soup and coffee. Felt better after awhile. Heh–did you see the stuffed moose in the gift shop, outfitted with an oxygen mask? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/77 "2011-05-04T17:37:55Z")
The ground at the Denver airport. Although to be fair, I might have exceeded that elevation riding with my aunt & uncle from Modesto to Yosemite. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/78 "2011-05-04T17:52:35Z")
[Mt. Howard](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/203538206_823c578b3a_z.jpg)in Oregon or [War Eagle Mtn.](http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/medium/172862.JPG) in Idaho. Both a bit over 8000 ft. SS ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/79 "2011-05-04T17:53:10Z")
Another vote for Pike’s Peak. I didn’t hike, though - I took the cog rail train up. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606/80 "2011-05-04T18:00:48Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Another vote for Pike’s Peak. I didn’t hike, though - I took the cog rail train up. I took my motorcycle up a few years ago. Air pressure/density up there is less than 60% of sea level. My bike has closed-loop fuel injection, so while it managed the fuel-air ratio properly, it was nonetheless gasping for breath just like I was. It idled very slow (~850 instead of 1050 RPM), and the revs didn’t fall as rapidly between upshifts (or rise as rapidly when trying to rev-match for downshifts). And of course a good chunk of power was gone. Made for an interesting voyage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-elevation-youve-ever-been/580606.md?page=5)