Has anyone mentioned "pressure breathing" in this thread? For a long time it's been used by climbers to reduce the chances of having altitude problems. The method increases the air pressure in your lungs by exhaling with force through the restriction of pursed lips.
Its biggest limitation is that it's hard to sustain effort that it requires.
With regard to chewing coca leaves, we were advised to do so in LaPaz Bolivia and we think it really helped. I was climbing the hills and stairs more easily.
I also have had a serious bout with both HAPE and HACE, however. It was after climbing 10,000 feet over two days, hauling nearly half my body weight, followed by two days of lesser climbing up to the summit of Mt. Rainier while on a photo assignment for The News Tribune.
So far in this thread heavy exertion has been mentioned at least once, but I want to emphasize that it can be a big cause of the deadly edemas.
The reporter that I was working with wrote a searing account of my misadventure:
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Peter's Climb
A photojournalist's fair-weather ascent of Rainier in the company of experts turns quickly into a desperate fight for life at 14,000 feet
By Sandi Doughton
The News Tribune
Two a.m. on the summit of Mount Rainier is a bone-cold hour. For the five of us packed into a four-person tent, fear sharpened the cold to a cutting edge.
We were waiting for daylight. We were wondering whether one of us would be dead before it came.
Swathed in two mummy bags in the middle of the tent, our companion Peter Haley moaned and twisted. The rapid fire rasp of his breathing held us transfixed. All too often, the sound would choke off for several heartbeats, jerking us upright in alarm. Then, with a snort, the strangled rhythm would resume.
We all knew Peter's body was struggling vainly to suck oxygen from the thin air. His mind had switched off hours before...
Peter Haley is dragged in a litter to a Chinook helicopter inside the crater of Mt. Rainier.
Well, the story is too long to post here, but it's a moving read. Here's a link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/se6tzjnieilp0h1/ 980723 Peters Climb by Sandi D.pdf?dl=0