Mountain sickness

Altitude sickness – Altitudes in China

In Yunnan, we always take care to design our tours so that you ascend relatively slowly in altitude. This way, your body has time to acclimatize properly and you won’t need to take altitude medication.

At Shangri La (3200m), however, always stay well hydrated and avoid short, intense efforts. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, headaches, nausea, difficulty falling asleep, and some digestive problems, but these are relatively rare if you gradually climb in altitude (which is often the case). We do not recommend flying directly to Shangri La from other cities in China, as sometimes organized by irresponsible travel agencies, due to the relatively cheap flights from Kunming to Shangri La. A gentle climb via Dali, then Shaxi and Lijiang is recommended.

Here are the altitudes of the main destinations in Yunnan:

Kunming	Jianshui	Yuanyang	Jinghong	Dali	Shaxi	Lijiang	Shangri La	Deqin
1800m	1300m	1800m	550m	1900m	2100m	2400m	3200m	3300m

For Tibet, apart from acclimatization in Yunnan and Shangri La before the trip (Shangri La is connected to Lhasa by a daily direct flight), you will not have much choice but to arrive in Lhasa by plane directly. We then often recommend a first stay in Tsétang, because its altitude (3500m) is lower than that of Lhasa (3650m). For a stay in Tibet with a direct arrival at Lhasa airport, we advise the greatest caution on the first day, namely little physical effort, we also recommend that you take preventative medication against altitude sickness.

Article taken from the website doctissimo.fr about altitude sickness:

The higher you go, the greater the risk of suffering from altitude sickness: while less than 20% of people suffer from it at around 2,000 meters, more than 50% experience its effects above 4,000 meters. As for who is affected, there is no rule, as Jean Pierre Herry, a doctor with the French Mountain and Climbing Federation, points out: “Anyone, athletic or not, can suffer from altitude sickness. It depends on several factors such as fatigue or possible iron deficiencies. Women seem to be slightly more affected. Children are not normally more at risk than adults, but their very active behavior can lead to a greater frequency of disorders. The elderly seem to be less affected. Some people have a real susceptibility to altitude sickness. They are affected before reaching 2,500 meters. It is possible to perform hypoxia tests to detect this predisposition. But systematic screening seems superfluous to me.”