I was Sim flying around Aspen in my C172 and happened to look at my altitude readings. The numbers said I was at 8400 feet and 400 feet above the ground! It hit me that those readings are things that real life pilots would have to check a lot more than what I do in the sim. I love the scenery 
, but realise who easy it would be to get so immersed in it that I make a fatal error.
Any real life mountain pilots here? If so what instruments do you use the most?
Do you mean the radio/radar altimeter? Or some kind of GPS area database?
Well, I fly a Cessna 152, and EVERY instrument is part of my scan. Density altitude is a big killer due to the huge loss of performance. Respect to those that do mountain flying, not for me though
I've done mountains and high altitude in a plane similar in performance but not together! Around 8 or 9 thousand feet your climb will be anaemic so allow time to get to height and strictly hold the Vy speed, mine was 70 knots EXACTLY. A few knots too fast kills the already poor climb rate.
The Aerofly site’s Cessna guide gives the Vy as 74 knots indicated airspeed. That is for the highest rate of climb. If you are desperate and think you are going to hit the rocks the steepest gradient of climb Vx speed can be tried! It is given as 62 knots indicated airspeed. It will not work with a downdraught as your rate of climb will be significantly reduced.
Winds are a killer in the mountains, only do them on calm days if possible. One side of a valley will have updraughts and the other side ultra dangerous downdraughts and minor wind direction changes can flip them around as the wind passes through any funneled-direction oblique to the outside wind direction. The wind speed can be forced higher and will be greater with altitude anyway.
Fly in a valley at a height that gives space for a turn to exit the way you came in, flying on in the face of rising ground will quickly deny you the ability to go back as the sides close in. You won't find good forced landing ground up a mountain valley. If you are on the updraught side of a valley and do your turn to exit be prepared for a major height loss as the turn progresses. Make the turn early with full power and lots of empty seats and with less than full fuel tanks and not on a hot day. A blind valley with a higher mountain at the end requires extra respect, don't do one if you have passengers.
Original PC Aerofly FS has first class wind effects, go over a mountain crest and the plane gets rocked with turbulence. There should be turbulence and rebounding updraughts and downdraughts many miles downwind of mountains. I haven't noticed this in the sim.
Not relevant to the sim but up that high the body's oxygen carrying ability is significantly reduced, the pilot and passengers would need to take into account any medical limitations even well below the compulsory ten thousand feet suplementary oxygen requirement.
The instrument to use is your weather forecast and the 1:250,000 chart as you do your pre flight planning and your eye balls and your brain need to be working well! Serious study and for the high mountains professional mountain-flying lessons are essential for real world mountain flying.
