Mountaineering, Backpacking, and Camp Pillows: the Risk of Cheyne-Stokes Apnea Made Me Add This Item

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The Refugio Whymper is the climber’s hut that sits almost due west of the summit of Vulcan Chimborazo. The summit is believed to be 20,571’ (but there is debate about its actual height). The Refugio sits at almost precisely 5000 meters, or 16,400’. It was in that hut that I first experienced Cheyne-Stokes breathing.

Cheyne-Stokes is an apnea, or “periodic breathing,” meaning that you stop breathing for periods that would otherwise be unnatural.

This happens to people with heart failure. It also happens to people sleeping at high altitudes, and any one person may not ever experience Chyene-Stokes or they may experience it at lower or higher altitudes than I first did.

Altitude-induced Cheyne-Stokes isn’t necessarily dangerous, but it makes sleeping very difficult. Once you stop breathing long enough, you eventually gasp, taking in a huge gulp of air. That simply wakes you up. Do that every few minutes, and waking up again right after you have drifted back to sleep, and you quickly end up with a night that is completely devoid of rest.

It was in that hut, on the shoulder of Chimborazo, that I stumbled into a solution that worked for me only to later find out that there was indeed some clinical evidence to support the solution that I accidently had discovered for myself.

My application of that solution has to do with a camp pillow. So, I started using camp pillows even on “light and fast” alpine climbs with an overnight stay, where you would typically want to save every ounce.

And later, I found how the use of a camp pillow could also contribute to streamlining - and actually cutting weight - from my overall sleep system (bag, pad, etc.)

You can find the pretty darn light, but still warm and plush, Sea to Summit Aeros Premium Camp Pillow that I use by following the link.