Above 4,000 metres, a headache and low appetite are normal — most of your group will have both. What isn't normal is a headache that won't respond to rest and fluids, or genuine confusion.
The symptoms that change the plan
Our guides are trained to tell the difference and to make the call to descend even when a client wants to push on, because AMS doesn't negotiate with a tight itinerary. A pulse oximeter reading is one data point, not the whole picture — we watch coordination and appetite just as closely.
The oximeter tells us one number. Whether you can still walk a straight line and want your dinner tells us the rest.
If a guide asks you to descend, that call was made from experience, not caution for its own sake — and it's the same call we'd make for our own family.
