Grilling at normal altitudes can come with its fair share of difficulties, now throw in a few thousand feet in altitude and you're talking about a whole new ball game.
Now if you're a little confused, because fire is fire, and that doesn't change regardless of altitude, you're not wrong. The change has to do with the boiling point of water, which changes depending on altitude. Water's boiling point is 212°F or 100°C, this decreases by out 1°F every 500 meters or so. Not a huge difference at first (worry not, our Toronto high-riser residents), but you get into higher altitudes of 3000-6000 meters, this could have a pretty substantial impact on your cook.
Now, you're probably wondering,
"I'm grilling, not making pasta, why do I care about what temperature water boils at?"
The answer to that is the moisture in your grilled protein. The water and moisture in your meats will evaporate much more quickly, even though the temperature hasn't changed at all.
What does this mean for those high altitude grillers up in the Rockies? Well, there's not much in terms of changing your grilling techniques, you still have to get your selected protein to its proper internal temperatures.
Now what you can do, is give your meats some extra time to rest after you take it off the grill, this helps to redistribute the juices so that when you take a bite it's not drier than a Ron Swanson joke.
If you have any other questions about grilling, whether they're at sea level or on top of the Rocky Mountains, stop by or call any of our 5 locations across Canada. One of our local barbecue experts can help get you sorted out quicker than the Leafs can blow a 3 goal lead in a game 7.
We have 3 locations throughout the GTA in Burlington, Oakville & Etobicoke, Ontario, as well as our Calgary North and Calgary South locations in Alberta.