More Altitude Thoughts

So the dilemma is. How do you ascend gradually when no places to stop exist?

Do you sleep as high as you can?
Above 8000' when I've increased my sleeping altitude more than 1500' I've gotten ill.
What's weird is that i can drive up to 10k' and been able to sleep ok, but walking up to that
elevation from 8500' is much harder.
Do you sleep a bit lower where you will likely get more rest but have to climb further?
At that lower elevation how long do you spend there? 1 day, 2 days, more?
I tend to still hit a wall at some point.
Or do you just take a longer (2-6 hours) break while ascending?
Tempting to try this. I've done a shorter version of this a few times which helps a little.
Or do you just suffer?
Which I know isn't terribly effective for me.


I'm going to Yosemite soon and I have to figure out how I want to do this. I think I need to see how high I can climb if i spend the night at a fairly high altitude. Tuloumne Meadows Campground is at 8600', but Whitney Portal is at 8350' and I know that with a 35-40# backpack I can only get up to Lone Pine at 9885' before I start to struggle and limp into Outpost Camp at 10,360'. So likely the only thing I would learn is whether I would do better without a heavy pack.

This all makes me crazy. Whitney I can likely find ways to make it work but other climbs like Shasta and Ranier break all of those altitude rules that my body seems to really like. There just aren't places to camp above a certain point. Sigh.

The altitude increase basics are no more than 1000' elevation gain in a 24 hour period (above say 8000'). I can do 1500', but when I try to do 2000' is when I often get ill. Everybody else gets to break these rules why can't I?