High altitude driving advice?

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Paul van Zyl

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Does anyone have any experience with high altitude driving? I drive a Peugeot Boxer and I'm a little worried about both me and the vehicle getting altitude sickness. Some passes around Ojos del Salado, the highest mountain in Chile, exceed 5,000m.
 
I would try and read up on altitude sickness and articles about others experience of driving at that altitude.
Sounds a bit hairy to me.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum..

No driving experience but I'd expect a turbo fitted engine to fair a bit better than naturally aspirated one..
The advice seems to be that if you see black smoke , back off the throttle..and take it a bit slower..

I've been up over 4000m hiking and did suffer the nausea and headaches associated with altitude, but as long as you give yourself time to adjust before going higher then your body will likely adapt..
The worst thing you can do is to keep climbing if your symptoms persist..
My sister was doing Kilimanjaro and a young girl died by doing just that..they couldn't get her down quickly enough...so care is needed if you start suffering symptoms..
Andy..
 
Probably the least of your worries, but air is less electrically insulating at low pressure. For example, the iphone7 is tested to an altitude of 3000 metres.

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Have you been above 4000m before to know how you will fair before you worry about the vehicle?

Some people suffer REALLY bad, others hardly notice, but acclimatising is definitely advisable.

I've been on several walking, snowboarding and Mountain biking trips over 4000m and I just get a little light headed, no nausea or headaches, you need to know how you fair before even contemplating it.
 
Altitude hypoxia starts to kick in at about 2500m. A couple of months ago we took the cable car up to one of the Mont Blanc peaks. It's about 3200m. I'm reasonably fit and active and I immediately felt dizzy and light headed. I normally double-step up stairs if it's only a few flights, but there I was holding the rail and getting a bit huffy climbing. My wife, who is less fit, had less issues than me. After a couple of hours we went down to the middle cable car station which is right on the hypoxia line and within a minute I felt normal... but I assume you know all this...

I've driven the van to 2500m and it felt fine. 5000m will be much more noticeable though. Didn't Grand Tour take cars up to the peaks in South America and they seriously struggled and overheated?
 
Paul van Zyl said:
Does anyone have any experience with high altitude driving? I drive a Peugeot Boxer and I'm a little worried about both me and the vehicle getting altitude sickness. Some passes around Ojos del Salado, the highest mountain in Chile, exceed 5,000m.
Click to expand...
Last year I got pretty light headed even at 2750 metres in the alps. ( but then I have lived in Norfolk the last 50 years and find 3 story buildings can be challenging LOL )
I would suggest regular stops to become acclimatised to the height.. It does not take that long and is worth it for the safety aspect
 
Paul van Zyl said:
Does anyone have any experience with high altitude driving? I drive a Peugeot Boxer and I'm a little worried about both me and the vehicle getting altitude sickness. Some passes around Ojos del Salado, the highest mountain in Chile, exceed 5,000m.
Click to expand...

In your Boxter? https://www.dangerousroads.org/south-america/argentina/5239-ojos-del-salado-chile-3.html

What do you want to see in the area?

I've been over a couple of Andean passes by bus - no big issues, just cold, but I had been acclimatising for several days.

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Jaws said:
I would suggest regular stops to become acclimatised to the height
Click to expand...

You would usually spend days acclimatising and you spend as little time as possible at high altitude, if you are scaling a peak, you don't wait at the top for stragglers, you get over and down to a more civilised height.
 
My Brother in law does alltitude training with sports men/women in the French alps, he advised me when i have visited to keep very well hydrated and to take a little time to become acclimatised to the altitude before going higher or exerting myself, it does help.
 
On a different note, when changing from low to height altitude, if you have a cassette toilet, make sure that you regularly release the pressure by opening the blade. If you don’t, be careful of blow back when those high pressure contents meet the low pressure atmosphere !! :rolleyes: :oops:
 
Riverbankannie said:
On a different note, when changing from low to height altitude, if you have a cassette toilet, make sure that you regularly release the pressure by opening the blade. If you don’t, be careful of blow back when those high pressure contents meet the low pressure atmosphere !! :rolleyes: :oops:
Click to expand...

Is that the voice of (a very unpleasant) experience ?:eek:
 
I’ve driven at 3500-4000 m In Colorado USA. Most noticeable was a major fall off in engine power, a V8 SUV was like a wheezy Morris Minor.
I only felt short of breath when out of the vehicle and trying to walk about.
I guess a Boxer Van will struggle at altitude, but the adventure sounds great. Best of luck.
 
This is the sort of thing to expect this guys down there at the moment
 
Riverbankannie said:
On a different note, when changing from low to height altitude, if you have a cassette toilet, make sure that you regularly release the pressure by opening the blade. If you don’t, be careful of blow back when those high pressure contents meet the low pressure atmosphere !! :rolleyes: :oops:
Click to expand...

OR unscrew the discharging spout (cap) very slowly to equalise the pressure. Happened to me in the Pyrenees.
 
Engines with turbos can compensate a little for lack of air. Not sure how much though.
 
Driving at that altitude is not dissimilar to piloting a light aircraft at high altitude, although driving it would give you more time to acclimatise - attaining 10,000 feet, which is the normal unpressurised recommended maximum altitude, takes less than 20 minutes. So IMO you MUST take the climb slowly, and I mean over a period of hours, if not days. Then, as long as you are reasonably fit and have no other respiratory problems, you should be okay. Just watch each other for the symptoms, you might not recognise them in yourself.

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Paul van Zyl said:
Does anyone have any experience with high altitude driving? I drive a Peugeot Boxer and I'm a little worried about both me and the vehicle getting altitude sickness. Some passes around Ojos del Salado, the highest mountain in Chile, exceed 5,000m.
Click to expand...
Take some oxygen (y) :rofl:
 
Caution - oxygen is poisonous if used in too great a concentration or for too long. Should only be used with professional advice.

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Van will be OK if it's common rail. There'll be some power loss but the mixture will stay OK so no black smoke or running issues. You might need to keep an eye on coolant though - the pressure drop will affect boiling point in spite of the pressure cap.
 
Thank you everyone! The toilet advice also applies to temperature changes! I have been well over 4 000m and the wife higher but it was quite some time ago, so we'll take it easy. She also had a ppl license, so the flying bit was also interesting. Fortunately we will both be retired by then, so we have time.

The van has a Euro5 common rail engine, so I suppose it will be OK. I will take it easy and keep an eye on the temperature.

I have recently re-watched Top Gear (Vn Gaullatiri in northern Chile.) Very amusing and with a lot of information. The video of the family going to Bolivia was very useful although my German is a bit rusty, the wife speaks it fluently. Thank you all very much.

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