Testing the Wilderness Athlete Hy-Altitude Advantage Kit

[SoCalHunter]

Next week I will be heading out of Southern Cali for the high country for 5 days. I will go from sea level to over 10k at the trailhead. I have decided to test this Wilderness Athlete combo to see how it helps me accilmate and deal with the abrupt elevation change.

55 years old, pretty good shape but certainly not peak. I have been humping up and down with my loaded (40+ lbs) pack for 3 months and running in the flats as well. avg of 4.5 days a week. Feel pretty good but expect to get in better shape on this scout trip.

So this combo package contains 20 servings of their Hydrate and Recover powder along with a bottle of their Altitude Advantage capsules. Here is the link if you want to check the ingredients etc.

http://www.wildernessathlete.com/hy-altitude-advantage-kit/

I will begin taking both products tomorrow and will leave Tuesday for the high country. I am considering spending the night at 9k tuesday night and then heading to the trailhead which at at 10.3k. I also might spend the night at 10.3 instead and then head higher early in the morning, Weds....not sure yet.

Anyway, I will report how it works out for me with this product. I have to go over a 12k pass (twice) so it expect it will be put to the test.

 

[Rs3003]

I will be following this review

 

[Laelkhunter]

Same here. I use WA products, including the Hydrate & Recover and the Altitude Adv. Capsules. They have helped me the past several years that I have used them. I am interested to see your results.

 

[SoCalHunter]

I am really looking forward to getting up there. I began taking the AA Weds and have been training. Today I have a pretty tough training hike with the pack the pack loaded.

 

[SoCalHunter]

I will be heading out tomorrow morning. I feel good the last few days and my hike was a solid 7 miles with 45 pounds in my pack.

I have taken the Altitude Advantage exactly as recommended and will sleeping at 10,300' tomorrow night. I will also have a chance to mess around at elevation for half a day before I sleep.

Next report will be after I return on Sunday.

 

[SoCalHunter]

Back from my trip and wanted to share my experience. I spent the night at the trailhead as described above without any issues. Remember, I came in from sea-level so I consider this a drastic change regardless of the shape I am in. I have experienced AMS before when experiencing this much elevation change in the past so I had somewhat of a benchmark to deal with.

The first night was a decent sleep and no headache or nausea symptoms which was encouraging. My hike would require me to clear a 12,100' pass gaining 1800' over 3 miles. It is not overly steep but when I have been training as SL and my pack was 45lbs it kicked my 55 year old ass hard. I absolutely underestimated the effects of a 35% drop in Oxygen availability. It made me huff and puff much more than I hoped for or anticipated.

By the time I was at 11,500' I was stopping every 5 minutes to catch my breath. My legs felt fine...my breath, not so much. I will say the Cali fires have left some smoke in the area and perhaps that aggravated this in this respect. I ended up spending the night at a lake back down around 11k and made the pass the next day feeling better having slept one more night at less than 1000' higher than the night before.

My base camp was at 10,800' surrounded my 12,000' to 13,000' granite walls. I did end up waking up at 1:30am and took 3 ibuprofen to put down a slight headache but other than that I felt pretty good from than on out. Of course, going back over the same pass kicked my ass but that was to be expected. The product performed really well.

Considering the drastic elevation change along with my history for feeling the effects of AMS at these elevations I feel the combination of products performed as advertised.

I feel my fitness could be a lot better. At my age I have to use the skill of patience as it pertains to how long it will take me to get in good shape. I need longer recovery and more of it than I used to and I likely overdid it a little bit on this trip. Par for the course.