I stumbled on an article about altitude sickness and causing permanent brain damage; is there validity to this for less extreme mountaineers?
It is common for Colorado front rangers to ascend up a 14,000+ ft peak in one day starting from Denver @ ~5,500.
I myself just this last weekend went from Colo Springs (~6,100) to Monarch ski resort and summited on Murkwood Point which is 12,500 feet, thus doubling my elevation in one day.
It seems the difference between the climbers outlined in the article and weekend warriors like myself are that most of us don't sleep up at these altitudes. We go ski or hike and come back down that same day, spending no more than 6 hours above 12,000 feet; the article says you can contract brain damage even if you don't feel symptoms...
I'm curious if climbing to lower-high altitudes (8,000 -13,000) is enough to trigger brain damage; in more detail, is someone coming from sea level up to 8000ft equally as bad as someone going from 8000 to 16000 (since it is 8000 altitude gain either way)? Or does it get exponentially worse the higher you get?
Just want to be careful, because like I said above, it is very common for people to ascend 6,000 - 8,000 feet in a day, e.g. doing 14ers in Colorado and in my mind, this isn't work risking your brain permanently... however, I wouldn't mind if the symptoms go away when I descend.
