Adventure takes Dr. Hertz to Mt. Everest
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| Dr. Charles Hertz stands at the breath-taking view at the crater's rim of Mt. Kilimajaro in Tanzania, Africa, the continent's highest peak. |
“It was beautiful,” says Dr. Hertz, a gastroenterologist at Medical Specialty Clinic. “It was hard to believe it was real.”
To get that view, Dr. Hertz had joined a 20-day trek in October in the Khumbu region of Nepal, on the other side of the world from West Tennessee. At that moment, he was standing 18,500 feet above sea level on Kala Patar. It was his 10th day of hiking in the mountain region.
Dr. Hertz’s adventure had begun nearly two weeks before when he flew into Kathmandu, Nepal. After touring the city, he flew in a prop plane to Lukla in the Khumbu region. For the next three weeks, he would be hiking in the wilderness.
“Almost every day,” he says, “we were surrounded by mountain lakes, snowcapped peaks, ice and sky.”
His group of 10 people were led by an Australian guide and accompanied by Sherpas. Porters and yaks went ahead of the group each day to ferry gear to the next campsite. Dr. Hertz slept inside double sleeping bags in tents or Sherpa lodges, which have no heat and usually no running water.
The group had two or three hot meals a day cooked for them. He was able to arrange a shower three or four times during the trip. “It was a challenge to take a shower,” Dr. Hertz said. “The shower water was hot, but the temperature in the shower stall was usually around 40 degrees.”
Dr. Hertz carried what he needed for the day in a backpack. Most of the time, he says, they were hiking on gravel or rock, though it snowed a few times, and there was a long, icy descent from the Cho La Pass. Hiking was strenuous; he had prepared for it before the trip by running 10 miles a week, by working out on his elliptical trainer and by climbing the stairs at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital with a 20-pound backpack.
Dr. Hertz had climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, two years ago. The idea of hiking in the Himalayas was exciting, though at first he didn’t think he could leave home for the four weeks the entire trip would take.
“But I kept coming back to the description of that trip,” he says. “And finally I decided to do it.”
His adventure included hiking up a valley from Lukla to Everest Base Camp, at 17,500 feet, then doubling back a bit, and crossing over into Gokyo Valley via the Cho La Pass (just under 18,000 feet). The group then hiked down the valley into Lukla, passing through the trading center of Namche Bazaar. They visited a couple of monasteries along the way, including one that had a Yeti scalp on display. After returning to Lukla, he flew back to Kathmandu where he once again returned to a real bed in a heated hotel room.
He felt good that he had completed the strenuous trip. The worse part of the trip, he says, was the fatigue after a long day of hiking at the high altitudes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as exhausted in my life as the day we spent eight hours hiking to Everest base camp and back.”
The payoff, though, came in seeing firsthand what most people can see only in pictures. “The best part of the trip,” he says, “was getting to the top of Kala Patar and seeing the view.”