Hello fellow travelers, I'm wondering about the possibility of altitude sickness at the top of Aigiulle du Midi in France.
I'm fine with elevation in Denver, CO, but I start getting nauseous when driving up into the Rockies (14,440 ft). Please share your experience or if you have any advice. Thank you!
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
I'd suggest caffeine, aspirin and taking it easy (save your breath).
I don't usually have altitude issues, but I think it gets worse as you age. This year I felt the altitude (lightheaded, short breath) skiing at Keystone (past the tree line) and Breckenridge. It doesn't help if you're acclimated to sea level.
Posted by
Chicago
8550 posts
We are old and it didn't bother us BUT we did feel a little 'heavy' and breathing a bit hard. But we didn't get headaches or light headed. FWIW. I felt much worse at the top of Pikes Peak 20 years ago.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5847 posts
The good thing is that it is easy to head back down if you are feeling unwell.
The cable car stops about half way up. Our guide suggested to spend a little time at the halfway point before continuing up to help adjust.
I got a headache after about 30 minutes at the top.
Posted by
El Dorado Hills, California
16 posts
I was there last September. I'm pretty well good to 10,000 feet on a regular basis, but on Aiguille du Midi after being up top for about an hour I started getting quite dizzy and got a slight headache. So we went back down. There's only so much to see anyway. An hour is plenty of time to see the sights and take pictures. It is an incredible experience and the gondola is a little scary near the top even if you're not afraid of heights. I'd recommend everyone do it, but if you start getting altitude sick, you can go back down.
Posted by
17 posts
We were up there in June, are in our 60’s, and we live at sea level. I was a bit concerned but we had no problem. I get migraines and have felt nauseous before at various altitudes and thought I might have problems but all was well. We did feel sort of slower moving, heavy and a little harder to breathe but nothing detrimental. It was amazing and incredible and I would go back in a heartbeat!! Enjoy!
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15781 posts
I was there at the end of the RS Alpine tour, so I thought I was well acclimated by that time. I was wrong. It was really the only time I felt altitude sickness on the trip, though i never got to the peaks in Switzerland because of bad weather.
Tips:
1. take lots of water with you. There's no free potable water up top, and bottled water, like everything else up top is super-expensive.
2. Caffeine is a bad idea (sorry Travel Boss). It dehydrates. Don't drink caffeine that morning.
3. There's a way-station where you change cable cars, and you can go outside for views. I went straight to the top, then back down to the way station for a bit and back up again. That worked for me.
4. Consider a motion sickness remedy if your main symptom is nausea, like me. I didn't need it, but you may be more susceptible. Do you get motion sickness? I do, and sometimes going up a mountain by road, what does me in is not the altitude but the winding road.