February 2025
Altitude Sickness 101: What First-Time Ski and Mountain Travelers Should Know
Presidents' Day week is one of the busiest stretches of ski season. Every year, it sends a wave of first-time high-altitude travelers straight from sea level into mountain towns. Those towns sit at 8,000, 9,000, even over 10,000 feet — often just one flight and a rental car away. And every year, a chunk of those travelers spend the first day or two of a trip they planned for months feeling miserable, not quite sure why.
That's usually altitude sickness. And it's far more common, and far more preventable, than most people realize.
What's actually happening
At higher elevations, each breath holds less oxygen. Your body can adjust, but it takes time. It usually takes a day or more just to start adjusting, and longer to fully catch up. Climb faster than your body can keep up, and you get acute mountain sickness. That means a headache, nausea, tiredness, dizziness, and trouble sleeping. It usually starts within the first 6 to 24 hours at altitude.
The people most at risk aren't necessarily the least fit. Fitness level actually has little to do with who gets hit — genetics and how fast you climb matter much more. Flying straight into a high-elevation spot, instead of driving up gradually, is one of the biggest risk factors there is.
Reducing your odds before you even feel it
- Climb gradually when you can. If your trip allows it, spending a night at a medium elevation before going higher makes a real difference.
- Drink more water than feels needed, and go easy on alcohol for at least the first 24 hours. Both dehydration and alcohol make symptoms worse.
- Take it easy on day one. Save the hardest runs and hikes for after you've had a day to adjust.
- Eat enough, even if altitude dulls your appetite, which it often does.
- Talk to your doctor before the trip if you're headed somewhere very high, or have had altitude sickness before. There are medicines that can be started ahead of time for higher-risk trips.
When it's more than a bad headache
Standard acute mountain sickness is uncomfortable, but not dangerous. It usually clears up within a day or two as your body adjusts. Still, it's worth knowing the signs of something more serious. In rare cases, altitude illness turns into swelling in the brain or lungs. Both are real emergencies. Both mean you need to go down in elevation right away.
Get help and go down right away if you notice:
- Confusion, trouble walking in a straight line, or a loss of coordination
- Severe shortness of breath, even while resting
- A cough that brings up pink or foamy fluid
- Symptoms that keep getting worse, not better, after 24–48 hours
These are not "push through it" signs. The single best treatment for severe altitude illness is getting to lower ground, and that decision shouldn't wait.
Planning ahead makes the difference
For most travelers, altitude sickness is completely manageable — with a slower climb, good hydration, and, for higher-risk trips, a preventive medicine discussed with a doctor beforehand. It's exactly the kind of well-understood condition worth planning for before you're already at 9,000 feet, wondering why the headache won't quit.
The takeaway
Altitude sickness ruins more ski trips than avalanches ever will, and almost all of it can be prevented with basic planning. Give your body a day to catch up before you push it, and know the line between "uncomfortable" and "time to go down."
Enjoy the mountains — just let your body catch up first.
This article is for general education. It isn't a substitute for medical advice from your own doctor. Always talk to your doctor before traveling to high altitude, especially if you have a heart or lung condition. Survival Scripts kits are prescribed through a licensed telehealth visit with U.S.-based physicians.