I thought I wrote a reply to this yesterday but it seems to have gone. Anyhoo...

The normal advice is not to sleep more than 500m higher than the previous night. If you are young and fit you may be able to push that limit, but with a group of 8 you may have to be willing to travel at a rate everyone can accept. Don't underestimate altitude sickness, it can kill.

Hey Iawan,

Just one simple question : are you planning on going THIS summer ?

L.

Unfortunately I think he will be disappointed if he is.

Hi levelo.
This year I think that is not possible due to corona virus. I'm planning it for 2021

Thanks Tomkat.
500 meters of difference in altitude between departure and arrival is very little, in Spain that is normal within a radius of 100 km.
I think that 1000 m is an acceptable difference, and even more considering that we come from Barcelona and we will have crossed some 3000 m passes and many days of travel.

Hi Iawan,

Yes, way more reasonable to shoot for 2021.
I was already on my way to Central Asia but I turned back in mid-March.
Best of luck,

L.

Best of luck levelo!!

The 500 meters/day figure is all about where you sleep, not what passes you drove over. You might be able to stretch this to 1000 meters, but doing so over a period of time will almost certainly lead to discomfort, possibly danger.

Normal advice is to increase sleeping altitude gradually, but to go higher during the day--"play high, sleep low." Driving over a 5000 meter pass from near sea level will not endanger your health; staying up there overnight definitely will. The lower end of the zone where you need to start paying attention is around 3000 meters--above that, at least be careful.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Ok, for example, We did it in 2018 going from Osh to Murghab in 1 day.

Big Mistake.
We started at 800 meters and went over Ak Baital with 4655 meters and slept in Murghab with 3700 meters.

We were 5 persons, and all of us had big problems with altitude sickness.

Dizzy, problems with breathing and so on.

I am the less sporty person of all, and I had less problems than the rest.
I was a smoker ( stoped 12 years ago ), have to much weight and so on.
The real sportspeople in our group had most problems ( funny, but it was this way )

Some of them could not sleep in Murghab ( I had a really good sleep ) and had to get up in the night....

And when you start in Chorough, it is less than 2000m, then you go up in 1 day to 3700m, that might be heavy for you, if you are not used to it.
And on the way you go up over 4300 meters several times !!

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Yes, sportiness or being in good physical shape doesn't seem to matter. My first time at ~5500 meters I was a heavy smoker, but I still did better than my very fit, active, clean-living girlfriend.

The stages that we currently have defined gradually increase and there is not too much difference in height between the origin and the end of the stage:

1. Dushanbe 700m - Kalaikhum 1200m
2. Kalaikhum 1200m - Khorugh 2123m
3. Khorugh 2100m - Murghab 3600m
4. Murghab 3600m - Osh 1000m

The most complicated stage would be 3, but I think there is no other option to accommodate a group of 10 people.

Is there an end-of-stage option other than Murghab and at a lower altitude?

Thanks!!

Iawan that looks like a pretty fair plan. Coming down isn't a problem and naturally you don't want to limit your day's riding going up to a really short distance if you can avoid it. Your options could be a bit limited if you want to find a hotel for 10 for the night. Just be flexible and be prepared to turn back if anyone gets sick. Impress on them that they need to let the leader know if they do feel bad, it's no time to be a hero and really make a crisis.

Hello

I haven't been there yet, so no knowledge about the situation.
But I have done some travelling in the andes, so I'm just looking at the numbers of the altitude.


I think the highest risk of running into a problem, if you do at all, is the last leg.

Riding the bike on those roads at sealevel is not the same as a full day at around 3500-4500m, every breath you take has only few oxigen.

I had a breakdown with my bike at around 4500m in Peru, I spend at least two weeks at the altiplano around 4000m was well adjusted, but still was hardly able to push the bike on tarmac for a couple hundert meters.

For solo or just with a buddy, the risk is not to high that you run into troubles, but in a group of 10?
To avoid problems, I would go slower, 5 days instead of 4.
Have a day of rest at 3000-3500m, but since I haven't been there yet I, don't know where a good place is to do that.
Just don't rush in high altitude.

Have a plan B in case someone can't adjust quickly and needs to desend to a lower altitude or you have a breakdown or accident and some of your group have to stay longer at that altitude.

There is no easy way to figure out who of your groupe is more prone to the high altitude.

Just my two cent about the risk of the altitude above 3000m.
Have a great trip, someday it will again be possible.

sushi

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