Summit
Chile · November to March
Torres del Paine
Three granite towers, a glacier the size of a city and wind that has its own grades
Torres del Paine · Ladakh · Bhutan
Summit
Granite towers in the Patagonian wind, a high desert of monasteries and 5,000 metre passes, and a trek to the foot of a sacred mountain in the last Himalayan kingdom. The summit realm is where the Altitude Simulator earns its place.
Altitude is the one variable that travel media never quantifies and the body never forgives. Leh at 3,500 metres has two thirds of the oxygen of sea level; a camp at 4,900 has a little over half. The Altitude Simulator on every page in this realm turns a height into a percentage, a sleeping plan and a risk index, and the Stage Simulator turns a distance and a climb into hours.
Torres del Paine is the exception that proves the rule: low altitude, all wind. The three places between them cover the mountain problems: oxygen, cold, weather and the legs.
Everything in Summit
Summit
Chile · November to March
Torres del Paine
Three granite towers, a glacier the size of a city and wind that has its own grades
Summit
India · June to September for the passes and treks
Ladakh and Zanskar
A high desert of monasteries and passes above 5,000 metres, and a frozen river you walk on in January
Summit
Bhutan · April to May for rhododendrons
Bhutan, Jomolhari trek
A trek to the foot of a sacred mountain in the last Himalayan kingdom, blue sheep and a fee that keeps it quiet
Climate by month
Torres del Paine
Ladakh and Zanskar
Bhutan, Jomolhari trek
How high have you slept?
Questions people ask
Which mountain place first?
Torres del Paine: no altitude, refugios with beds, marked trails, serious wind. Ladakh is the cheapest and highest; Bhutan is the most serviced and the most expensive.
Do I need experience?
For the W trek and the Ladakh valleys, fitness and good gear. For the Jomolhari trek and the Markha valley, previous multi-day walking and an honest look at the Altitude Simulator.
What about altitude medication?
Acetazolamide helps many people acclimatise; it is a decision for you and a doctor, not a website. The rest days work without it.
The Simulation Brief
One place, one simulator, one honest number. Every second Sunday.
No newsletter theatre. A short e-mail with the place we modelled, what the model said and what the ground said back.