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Pregnancy and altitude – any experience/expertise?

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 benji 10 Jun 2016
So my wife and I have a holiday planned to the French Alps in July and we’ve now found out she’s pregnant…! We were hoping to do some easy mountain routes and possibly Mont Blanc. From a quick look on the internet it seems there's not a huge amount of research that has been done – but people seem to agree that you should slowly acclimatise to altitudes of 3000 – 4000m and shouldn’t go above 4000m if you aren’t used to it and are pregnant. This obviously limits our options a bit and probably rules out using the Aiguille du Midi cable car etc.

Does anyone have any experience of this or expertise? Would you agree with the above (bearing in mind the need to listen to the body, the fact she might not feel like it etc.)? Thanks for any advice!
 LastBoyScout 10 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:
Firstly, congratulations

Secondly, I can't comment specifically on altitude, but, as you've said, listen to her body - you may find that, if she's anything like my wife was, she'll be so nauseous at times that she won't want to do anything and will be so tired she'll want to be tucked up in bed by 9pm.

Best advice I can give her is to have a stash of biscuits handy - regular nibbling helps keep the nausea at bay.
Post edited at 13:19
OP benji 13 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:

Thanks chaps. I'll make sure to stash some biscuits!

Anyone else with any experience/advice?
 iccle_bully 13 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:

Check out Beth Rodden's blog from when she was pregnant. There's lots of climbing stuff on there but I seem to remember she mentions altitude and a lot of what she writes is based in research.
 Al Evans 13 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:

Alison Hargreaves was well into her pregnancy when she soloed the North Face of the Eiger.
1
Removed User 13 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:
The best you can hope for is she is so sick she's stuck in bed eating dry crackers while you clock up a load of mileage in the mountains. Had a similar trip to Skye and had a cracking time solo on the Blaven traverse and Pinnacle Ridge!
Post edited at 14:18
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 stubbed 13 Jun 2016
In reply to benji:

I did some via ferrata when I was in my first trimester, up to about 3000m when we were caught in a lighting storm and watched lightning hit the rocks around us. I actually felt fine, although totally exhausted (to the point where my climbing partners thought I was ill). I did lose the baby, but I can't say that it was due to climbing, I think it was just one of those things.
However I would say that late in the day I could not have predicted how tired I would be and would not have liked to have been on top of a mountain when I realised I was totally exhausted and incapable.
In reply to Al Evans:

Brilliant, no she didn't, the 38" route with a bloke called Steve!

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