Sleeping Pills

I spent the first few nights on all hiking trips awake, I just cannot sleep deeply. So I started taking sleeping pills to get that deep sleep I wanted. I learned the hard way that using such pills at high altitudes can wreak havoc with your breathing and may also cause altitude sickness.

I was talking to a friend about his bid to climb Mount Lyell in Yosemite and he told me that he got sick at 12,000 feet and had to descend. After I questioned him, I learned he had taken sleeping pills for the two previous nights at his high base camp.

On all high altitude hikes, I remind the members of our group not to take sleeping pills and find I am now used to lying awake while I wait for the early rise and the push to the summit.

Mount Whitney

El Capitan