New York Times article.

[sierra]

To those who hate smoking, it is a fact that smokers do better on high altitude climbs then non smokers, if you dont believe me, lets go out west and Ill prove it.

 

[SteveHiker]

This is the guy I stopped and spoke to on the way up Sugarloaf with Stevehiker. I was ahead of Stevehiker and Alpinista and spoke to him for a few minutes while I waited for them to catch up.

He was very talkative, friendly and seemed like a nice guy. He talked about Vermont and NH, and asked about water depths in the river and the Crockerr cirque camp site. Glad to see he made it all the way.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he tell you he was just doing VT, NH and ME?

could it be that the NY Times printed something inaccurate?

 

[amstony]

Yep, Stevehiker, the NY Times, that bastion of accuracy and truth, it is a good possibility......or the author may not have understood that he was section hiking!

Which is most probable, unless you hike or climb, most people wouldn't understand the concept. At least it was good press for hiking!! (and the tobacco companies )

 

[Puma concolor]

Or maybe you guys ran into someone else!

In the article, Mr. Saito states: "I went fast. Four months, one week and one day." So unless he was carrying a tuba, that kind of time would not be considered fast for just New England. It also talks about his AT travels in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. Sounds like a thru-hiker to me.

 

[Clown]

To those who hate smoking, it is a fact that smokers do better on high altitude climbs then non smokers, if you dont believe me, lets go out west and Ill prove it.

I wouldn't say that I hate smoking at all. Actually I sympathize, because I myself, am a former smoker. It doesn't bother me to be around smokers, it's their bodies, not mine, as long as they don't blow it in my face. I quit because it was un-healthy and limited my athletic abilities. Everyone is different, so I can't comment on how it affects other people. To each his own as they say!

 

[Maddy]

lighting up might not be appealing or sacrosanct to us, it is just a normal custom for many others.
Cheers

I look at it this way. He may as well enjoy the trail now while he can still smoke and hike. Too soon he will join the ranks of all the like-minded people that I care for at work daily. I am referring to the unfotunate tobacco addicts who are gasping for air, bonding with their ventilators, endotracheal tubes, inhalation treatments and oxygen masks.
There is so much education now with regards to the dangers of smoking that I think the vast majority of folks who smoke do this with "eyes wide open." They make a conscious decision that they want to enjoy tobacco and we, the trained professionals, will be there to keep them as comfotable as we can when they end up having some minor procedure and waking up in the ICU vented because they have so much lung damage. Some of the hard cores will end up with permanent tracheotomies.
In fact I am just home from work having spent the last nine hours caring for just such a victim and there is not a doubt in my mind that there will be more of the same waiting for me at 7am tomorrow.
Sooner or later you pay the alligator!
"Normal custom, normal consequence".

 

[RGF1]

I look at it this way. He may as well enjoy the trail now while he can still smoke and hike. Too soon he will join the ranks of all the like-minded people that I care for at work daily. I am referring to the unfotunate tobacco addicts who are gasping for air, bonding with their ventilators, endotracheal tubes, inhalation treatments and oxygen masks.
There is so much education now with regards to the dangers of smoking that I think the vast majority of folks who smoke do this with "eyes wide open." They make a conscious decision that they want to enjoy tobacco and we, the trained professionals, will be there to keep them as comfotable as we can when they end up having some minor procedure and waking up in the ICU vented because they have so much lung damage. Some of the hard cores will end up with permanent tracheotomies.
In fact I am just home from work having spent the last nine hours caring for just such a victim and there is not a doubt in my mind that there will be more of the same waiting for me at 7am tomorrow.
Sooner or later you pay the alligator!
"Normal custom, normal consequence".

Personally I could care less about the artical or if hikers smoke or not . But Maddy, How do you do that . My mother Is a RN in ICU also . I could not deal with stuff. I have been in her ICU . I recently dropped of some stuff for her . I saw people on thoes ghastly machines . Makes me gald I never smoked any thing . It looks like a miserable way to exsit as it sure is not living . Yep sooner or later you do pay a real steep price for Smoking . I think a more people should see what smoking really does. Oh yeah the Tracheotomies look like a real nightmare.