Kevin bacon on letterman

he seems like a likeable guy, but wasn't going to bother blogging about him on letterman as seemingly pointless, however, he mentioned hiking at 14,000 feet had him gasping for air.... (!!!!?????) what is he talking about???? To give you an idea, having spent two weeks in lhasa, Tibet, at 12,000 feet altitude, smoking tobacco heavily, every day, plus getting drunk heavily pretty much daily, plus even smoking some hash there, i never gasped once for air, despite taking long walks to visit the sights there, so what bacon is talking about is anyone's guess