High altitude

On a big mountain, the small miseries do the slow damage: dryness, cracked lips, sunburn, no appetite, no sleep. None of it replaces altitude-illness checks — all of it has to be managed.

Altitude monitoring is not staring at one number. It is six readings taken the same way each day, read as a trend against your own baseline.

Treat altered consciousness as an emergency first, and only then as altitude illness. Waiting for morning, sleeping it off, or giving oxygen and watching are the dangerous options.