DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 53. Two years ago, I had bypass surgery for a single artery. Back then I was a smoker; I no longer am.

My heart doctor has told me I can do anything I want, and I have been quite active. I play in a basketball league and have no trouble keeping up with the younger players.

I am also a skier. My skiing friends have asked me to join them on a ski trip to the Rocky Mountains. Where I live, the “mountains” are more like big hills. I haven’t asked my doctor about this, but I will. I’d like your opinion. — R.B.

ANSWER: If you’re in good shape, and it sounds like you are, then skiing at higher altitudes ought not to be a challenge to your heart. Airplanes maintain a cabin pressure equivalent to being at 6,000 to 8,000 feet. If you have no difficulty with air travel, then you should be OK for mountain skiing. You are not active on an airplane, so this isn’t an exact estimate of what your heart can tolerate.

It’s safe to ascend to 8,000 feet, but do so slowly and stay at that height for one night. Don’t try to do too much in your first few days. If your skiing is at higher altitudes, ascend no more than 2,000 feet a day and stay at that new height overnight. Continue in the same way if you are planning to go even higher.

As a general rule, whatever you tolerate at sea level, you should be able to exert at the same level at high altitudes if you pace your ascent sensibly and do not try to exert to the maximum in the first few days.

Do talk this over with your doctor. He knows much more about your heart than I do. I am confident he will allow a competitive basketball player to ski at Rocky Mountain heights.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: In a prior column you advocated drinking a daily amount of water that would satisfy one’s thirst, not a set amount of water as some people believe. I agree with you.

However, when I travel to Colorado, I am urged to drink glass after glass of water to allay the effects of altitude. Do you think this is valid advice? — D.K.

ANSWER: I do.

Mountain air is dry. Altitude makes a person breathe more rapidly than normal. Fluid is lost from the lungs when a person breathes fast. You can become dehydrated if you don’t increase your fluid intake. After a few days of acclimatization, you can ease off on your water intake.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a 70-year-old male who exercises six to seven days a week. When doing aerobic exercise, my heart rate exceeds 140. When playing tennis, it can exceed 150. I wear a heart-rate monitor.

I had successful ablation in April 2010 for atrial fibrillation. A CT scan performed after the ablation showed a fair amount of calcification in the proximal portions of the left main coronary artery, the left anterior descending artery and the circumflex artery. My total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol are good.

Should I reduce the intensity of my exercise? — L.L.

ANSWER: The only way to safely answer your question is for you to submit to a stress test. The stress test detects at what heart rate your heart circulation can or cannot support that level of exercise. It’s the only definite answer.

However, I have to say that a heart rate of more than 150 beats a minute ought to produce some warning signs if that is a dangerous heart rate for you. Warning signs are things like chest pain and great shortness of breath. But I don’t want to take any chances. Neither should you.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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