Backpacking Light Podcast

Author: Backpackinglight.com

The Backpacking Light Podcast explores the technology, gear, skills, and philosophy of backcountry wilderness travel through stories, interviews, and investigative reports.
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Language: en

Genres: Sports, Wilderness

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Episode 145 | Backpacking at Altitude
Episode 145
Thursday, 2 April, 2026

Learn how altitude changes oxygen availability, hiking performance, sleep, recovery, appetite, and risk for acute mountain sickness. In this episode, we reframe altitude as cumulative hypoxic dose shaped by sleeping elevation, ascent rate, workload, and time. The episode translates altitude physiology into practical backpacking strategy: pace conservatively early, sleep lower when possible, protect fueling and recovery, watch symptoms closely, and plan routes around physiological cost, not just elevation over multiple days. To view the shownotes for this episode of the Backpacking Light Podcast, click here.