Comment by akshitgaur2005
1 day ago
I am originally from the Himalayas (Garhwal specifically), although not quite as high as in the article, my village is at 5000 ft and damn did I have a shock when I took my desi friends up there (desi means people from the Indo-Gangetic plains, I unfortunately had to come to New Delhi for college and you can imagine the contrast!). While in Delhi, I am one of the more unathletic nerds, but as soon as we were in the mountains, these guys were no match for me! Roads are still very few and far in between in my region so you have to walk a lot, and these guys were getting tired on paths even small children and 80 year olds have no problem completing!
I visited the region around Dharamshala last year which is the same altitude (1500m) and was somewhat surprised I did not notice any effects of the altitude. My whole life (nearly 40) I've been living at sea level, except for trips.
I've lived mostly outside cities though so no major pollution. I'd imagine for Delhi folks the pollution must have a big effect on their lungs - but you'd think it would translate to working well for high altitude.
Ask a Himachali person how far something is and it's always "just around the next hill." Another couple of hours of walking and you"ll still get the same answer.
I really do wonder how big of that is a genetic factor and how big just being more acclimated to the altitude and the region?
It sounds like you didn’t lose your acclimation while away at school?