You can rename threads if you have accumulated enough Reflector user points (nothing to do with SOTA). Taking your response to Ron’s suggestion as agreement, I have renamed it for you.
This thread has some very useful information that could be life saving. Worth noting…
Thanks to all contributors.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
Somehow I feel out of breath even at 100 asl when hiking 
Gotta lose those extra holiday pounds!
On a more serious note, yeah, SSB may be easier than CW in tough conditions. Unless CW is second nature to you, trying to stay focused and read properly in tough conditions must be tough. Maybe good CWers may think otherwise. Would be interested to know. Handling the keyer with gloves could make it an interesting experience…
Reading this thread actually made me realize that I have peripheral oedema when hiking above 2500m. It seems that about 20% of the people have it. I suppose that my high blood pressure may not be foreign to that problem. Anyway, a very interesting thread for various reasons.
About lighter equipment, we can take into consideration the various ingenious setups used in the WW HF MINIMALIST/QRP EVENT.
A few things I learnt whilst climbing Mont Blanc:
don’t take any pain killers containing codeine at altitude: codeine is contraindicated in cases of increased intracranial pressure (which is what happens when you have HAMS). Take Ibuprofen instead, which has an anti inflammatory (beneficial in cases of HAMS) action.
Mountain sickness affects everyone differently. Personally, I can go straight to 3800m no problem, but then I have to take it very easy for 48 hours or I get a belting headache. It’s best to find a hut with a veranda for acclimatisation, then you can work some CW while drinking cold beers in the sun; the Cosmique hut in Chamonix springs to mind.
The more you carry on the glaciers, the more likely you are to go through a snow bridge. There’s more than one good reason to keep things as light as possible above the snowline.
Take an inflatable sleeping mat, foam mats don’t work on snow: at all!
Avoid bottle necks on popular routes. Many people have died in avalanches waiting to go up the normal route at Mont Maudit in Chamonix. The tragedy is, no route up that side of Mont Maudit is greater than PD+ in terms of difficulty and the alternatives are often objectively safer. Get a guide book and check for alternative routes. They may be a bit harder, but if you are the only ones on them, you will be moving a lot quicker and thus a lot safer than sat at the bottom of an avalanche prone slope waiting for 50 odd people to climb in front of you.
Never go out the morning after it has snowed more than a couple of cm!
Have a good one!
73
de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt