Agree with most that has been said regarding physical conditioning. I'll add that one of the goals of physical conditioning is teaching your brain and body to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Most guys I've taken dont have the mental toughness the first year or two. Mountain hunting is hard - no other way to explain it. To build that mental toughness requires putting increasing strains on your body to simulate the demands of mountain hunting. Most guys on this thread take that for granted because they've BTDT. Newbies not so much. I've had folks not sleep because they couldn't get used to the thin air, to the point of panic. After you experience that a few times, and realize you'll live and gets better as the week drags on, is the mental toughness most here are outlining.
