79 O2 and 75 HR

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One of the things we do before going up the mountain is check oxygen saturation and heart rate. We have a baseline down here at Yanacocha Lodge.

Mine are 79 O2 saturation and 75 HR. My O2 varied from 78 to 83 while I was sitting down.

I thought I was doing better. I was expecting higher O2, tbh. One of the climbers is at 93 O2. Just wow!

I feel fine. No headache. No dizziness (well, not until until AFTER I had the O2 value, and then I'm like, "Oh, are all these typos when writing because of LOW OXYGEN?"). My HR is about 10 higher than normal, but also to be expected at altitude.

Juliana, our lead guide, says she wants to know our O2 trends. If I feel fine at 79-80 -ish, and it stays that way, I'm okay to keep going. If it starts to trend lower, I suspect I'll be pulled. Still, 79 - 83 is right on the edge of okay.

We are 7 climbers and have 4 guides, so there are enough to take climbers down the mountain. We expect to go 2-2-2-1 clients per guide, but can go up to 3 to a guide if needed. No one wants the 3 climbers per guide on this trip, though.

All of this is data! Zero disappointment or nerves, really.

Comments

79?! In most settings that’d be far beyond the threshold where you’d need medical intervention for hypoxia. Please be careful.

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