Dear friend. In your email you wrote that your parents have spoken of the snow mountains for years, yet you have never dared to arrange it — afraid of altitude sickness, afraid of the strain, afraid of the just-in-case. After two years of hesitation, you would like an honest word from us.
The honest word is this: to go up onto the plateau at seventy is not a thing to be taken lightly, but it is far less precarious than one imagines. The key is not courage — it is design.
We would draw the itinerary as a gentle slope: first two nights at a little over two thousand metres, to let the body hold its first meeting; then up to three thousand, and another night’s pause; the truly high places visited only by day, the nights spent back down low — ‘go up to look by day, come down to sleep by night’ is the most valuable principle in any plateau itinerary. There is oxygen in the car, humidifiers in the hotels, and the accompanying guide is trained in altitude response and is, by temperament, the sort who hurries no one. Before departure, we would also ask you to have your parents undergo a medical check and pass the results to us — not as procedure, but as a baseline.
As for the ‘strain’: on plateau itineraries we never arrange more than one thing a day. To see a lake is to see only that lake, until your parents themselves say, “Let’s go.”
The last thing we wish to say is this: your two years of hesitation, we understand. But reckon it another way — this year they are seventy, the youngest they will ever be in all the years to come.
For some journeys the best time is both as soon as possible and slowly. The two do not contradict each other: decide quickly, walk slowly.
We look forward to hearing from you.