Hi Jane, baking at high altitude can definitely be challenging, but there are certainly ways you can adjust your sourdough routine to accommodate your environment! Our friend, Maurizio Leo, who is an accomplished sourdough baker and also lives at 5000 ft, has a great guide with tips on how to bake sourdough at high altitude. From your description of earlier loaves, I suspect they might have been over-proofed. Often allowing the shaped rise to occur overnight in the refrigerator is a good way to prevent this from happening, and many sourdough bread recipes allow for this option. Check out our Vermont Sourdough and Pain Au Levain bread recipes. 

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