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Climbing in hot weather 11-Nov-2003 At 11:23:29 AM (removed)

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On 10/11/2003 fruityarse wrote:
>I would be hesitant to advise people to take in large amounts of fluid
>at once as suggested in a post above. If you pee it out quickly - then
>it's not exactly in your body any more is it? How is that going to help
>you later on in the day if you've passd the fluid?
>
>Excessive fluid intake can lead to hyponatremia (low blood sodium levels),
>although this is actually not very common. It is predominant in hot environments
>and typically occurs in athletes in ultra-endurance events It is associated
>with SIGNIFICANT amounts of fluid and salt (sodium) through sweat loss.
>Athletes attempt to overcome this by consuming more than necessary fluid.
>This leads to an expansion of plasma volume and dilution of the sodium
>levels in the blood.

Having done a number of these ultra-endurance events, I feel qualified to comment here, although to be honest, in climbing these effects would only become apparent in big wall climbs on very hot days. Hyponatremia is indeed low salt levels, however it is normally caused by excessive fliud (normally water) intake, combined with salt loss (sweat). The process that happens is that the gut is no longer isotonic (i.e. not at the same salt concentrations as your blood) and therefore your body CAN NOT absorb the water, even though it sits in your gut. This is the sloshy feeling a lot of us get. In endurance events, quite often it gets vomited back out. The trouble is that when we're dehydrated and physically tired, it becomes very difficult to take in salty drinks, water is normally all we can handle. A lot of Ironman athletes (me included) take salt tablets.

In response to the first paragraph, your body will completely hydrate first, then pee out the remainder. The only time there's no point drinking is when you're already peeing clear.

Interestingly, climbing dehydrated has some interesting consequences. One, it makes you lighter, possibly a good thing, especially on a short powerful route. Two, it reduces your endurance. Not good. Three, it reduces your co-ordination. Also not good.

Ans a last comment, don't forget your sugars. Aside from being your most powerful energy source, your brain functions better on high sugar levels. This, you would think, would have to be a pretty important factor when it comes to climbing ...