You can have all the right clothing, equipment and supplies, as well as being young and fit, but still get into trouble on top of a mountain; it's called altitude sickness.

The Guardia Civil had to send out its rescue helicopter to the area of Sierra Nevada known as La Caldera, where there is a mountain refuge. There, a 36-year-old woman was suffering from altitude sickness and was continuously vomiting and unable to continue.

She wasn’t alone in the refuge as it was a companion who called the Central de Emergencias de la Junta de Andalucía (112) at 11.45h on Sunday. The two hikers had set out on what was to be a 2-day excursion in the mountains with a planned stop over in El Refugio La Caldera.

However, during the evening she suffered intense dizziness and repeated vomiting episodes, so that when morning came, she found herself completely unable to continue the walk.

The companion explained her symptoms to the Guardia Civil on the phone and they consulted a doctor who recommended that she be brought down to hospital as soon as possible, which is why they used the helicopter to fly her directly to the Clínico del PTS helipad.

Editorial note: Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People’s bodies can respond to high altitude in different ways. Symptoms of altitude sickness may include headaches, vomiting, tiredness, confusion, trouble sleeping, and dizziness. Acute mountain sickness can progress to high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) with associated shortness of breath or high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) with associated confusion.

(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Altitude Sickness, Mountain Refuge, La Caldera, Guardia Civil, Rescue Helicopter, PTS

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