Colorado dentist climbs Mount Everest

You could say Dr. Blake Higgins was destined to climb Mount Everest.

Even though his parents — longtime owners of the American Ski Exchange in Vail — weren’t hardcore mountaineers, they did name their daughter after Sir Edmund Hillary. Higgins himself wrote a middle school book report on John Krakauer’s national best-seller, “Into Thin Air,” and was mesmerized when he saw the 1998 IMAX documentary, “Everest,” as a 12-year-old.

“I thought it seemed scary and dangerous, but there was something alluring about it,” said Higgins, who also grew up going to space camp. Even then, he tied the two frontiers together.

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“It seemed like the mountain climbers could touch the edge of space a little bit,” he continued. “But I never thought I’d do it.”

On May 23, however, the pediatric dentist at Mountain Valley Kids Dental achieved his dream. The 39-year-old was part of a 10-person Madison Mountaineering team that ascended the south route of the world’s highest mountain, savoring the crowd-less summit on a frigid, windy day.

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A vision born in Vail

Born and raised in Vail, Higgins — the oldest of four siblings — said his Everest journey “started small.”

In addition to the IMAX inspiration, he relished family hut excursions and a Vail Mountain School field trip to Mesa Verde. Looking back on the latter middle school experience, he recalled the thrill of maneuvering over ladders. It was his first taste of the quintessential Everest element required to cross the dangerous Khumbu icefall.

As he got older, camping trips with childhood friend Drew Daley (who ended up becoming a mountain guide himself) became chances to explore new places, rely on gear, and push physical limits.

During an extended break in his dental residency, Higgins and his wife, Callie — whom he met at the University of San Diego — hiked their first 14er. They enjoyed it so much, they decided to climb a few taller volcanoes during their South American honeymoon. That led to climbing Denali — the highest peak in North America — in a fairly fast 13 days. Having succeeded in what is considered an Everest precursor, the momentum was building for Higgins to head to the Himalayas.

Then he bought his dental practice, moved home, and had two kids.

“I thought the dream kind of died,” he said before admitting that climbing 8,000-meter peaks isn’t exactly “a great family hobby.” Despite being “in the background,” however, the itch to climb Everest never fully went away. But as he grew his practice, he sensed the clock winding down.

“It was the intersection of, I’m 39, I’m getting older,” he said. “When opportunities come up, you either take them or you don’t.”

Continuity of care for his patients was an essential prerequisite for Higgins to take the leap. Thankfully, a retired dentist, Brad Smith — who taught Higgins during his residency — was willing to cover the practice. He had the skills and the finances. All that was left to do was train.

Training for the top of the world

For an entire year leading up to his ascent, Higgins put in 10-20 weekly training hours to prepare his body for the high-altitude demands he would face. Hiking Everest requires climbers to not only reach the top of the 29,031-foot mountain, but also shuttle themselves from base camp to 20,000 feet and back —and then again to 23,000 feet — during the acclimatization process.

To get ready, he woke up at 4:45 a.m. to workout at the Westin before work. He strapped on a 65-pound weight vest and hiked on a treadmill set at a 25% incline for 90 minutes to 3 hours. Since it was on the way home, he sometimes stopped at the Westin for a shorter, second session in the evening, too.

“With a 3 and 2-year-old, every minute counts, so don’t waste it in the car,” he said, referring to his daughter and son, respectively.

He incorporated longer hikes on the weekends. In the winter, he mixed in ski touring sessions to Mid-Vail.

“It wasn’t very glamorous,” Higgins said. “But that’s what you need most — just time on the feet and letting the suffering settle in for a bit.”

He and his wife included the kids in some of the workouts, too, towing them up various trails and bringing them along for hut trips.

“To show our kids what it means to pursue a dream as a team is one of the greatest gifts I could imagine giving a child,” Callie Higgins said.

Even though he was covering all his bases, Higgins said his parents weren’t thrilled about the prospects of their son climbing Everest.

“I don’t know if it would be my first choice if I could pick what my hobbies were,” he stated with a laugh. “But for whatever reason, there’s certain things that resonate with everyone, and being outdoors has always resonated with me. Being able to look at the tops of mountains and wonder what it looks like from there has always inspired me and made me feel curious.”

“A lot of bad things can definitely happen,” he continued before adding that the most important safety skill is self-awareness. “You have to address little things before they turn into big things.” 

Higgins, who flew out from Denver on April 12, would be tested right away. During his first altitude rotation, he went from having zero respiratory symptoms to a slight gurgle in his lungs over an 8-hour period.

“I knew I just had to go down,” Higgins said. Because he made a smart choice, the pulmonary edema was short-lived. After getting checked out at base camp, he headed back up with his team. Throughout the nearly 8-week journey, he said members grew close and the Sherpas lived up to their reputation as strong, humble, and kind climbers.

“They make Nepal and the Khumbu Valley an incredible area,” he said. “They’re some of the friendliest people you’ve ever met.”

While that realization wasn’t a surprise, per se, what he discovered to be the most difficult aspect of the entire ordeal certainly was.

“One of the hardest things of the trip is the duration,” he said. “It was definitely very difficult being away from family. I missed my wife and kids. Mentally, it’s super challenging. You have to listen to avalanches, rock fall, the icefall settling — you’re just trying to hang onto whatever fitness you have, but it slips away. … You climb the mountain when you’re feeling the weakest.”

Higgins also shouldered the sadness of losing a teammate. Chicago-area climber Alex Pancoe, who roomed with him in the early stages of the trip, died during the trip attempting to scale the world’s fifth-highest peak, Makalu, just 12 miles from Everest.

“That was pretty devastating for the crew,” he said.

Summit day would bring more emotions. The evening prior to the early-morning Madison Mountaineering attempt, roughly 100 other climbers from other teams left Camp IV (26,000 feet) for the top. High winds, however, forced them to turn around.

“When everyone is coming down and you’re going up, it’s not a great feeling,” Higgins said.

Gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour made for wind chills so cold, he watched his urine freeze in midair somewhere in the Death Zone. Instead of doing 2,000 vertical feet an hour like at home, the team was barely climbing 250 feet in the same time — even with supplemental oxygen, which he said he barely noticed near the top. But the higher the team went, the more the winds died down. Finally, 12-hours after he left camp, he reached the ultimate destination.

“Beautiful day, 360-degree views as far as the eye can see,” said expedition leader Garrett Madison in a video taken after his 15th summit. Madison would also take a 2-hour phone call via Starlink at the summit, Higgins said.

“It was a windy one, pretty blustery coming out of high camp this morning,” Madison continued. “A lot of climbers turned back, but we kept going. We got lucky, so really proud of our team. Everyone did great today — feeling blessed to be up here.”

At the top, Higgins didn’t shed a tear. Knowing most accidents happen on the descent, he was anxious to get back to Camp IV.

“It was certainly amazing,” he said. “But at the same time, I felt like I needed to get out before the weather changed.”

Of course, he couldn’t help but dwell on the sacrifices his family made to make his dream possible.

“Having a supportive wife that understood this was important to me — without that, there was no way,” he said.

“While standing on the roof of this world is a bit unfathomable, what I am most in awe of in this partner of mine is how he turned that childhood, fantastical dream into reality, summit or no,” Callie Higgins said. “He is our family’s real-life hero. I think my heart may explode from joy, pride, relief, gratitude, and, above all, overwhelming love.”

When Krakauer returns home after surviving the ill-fated expedition, which became the subject of his 1996 book, he vividly recounts his delight in reacquainting himself with the once ordinary pleasures of life. He writes about the joy of sharing breakfast with his wife and describes the sensation of walking barefoot across carpet to a warm bathroom in the middle of the night.

With each stage of Higgins’ return trip, the danger risk de-escalated gradually. He navigated the ridge back to Camp IV, avoided a free-fall down the Lhotse face, and a fatal slip in his sixth trip through the icefall. A peaceful walk through the valley preceded a sketchy plane ride to Kathmandu and a final trans-Atlantic trip to Denver.

“It just kind of ramps down,” he said. At the actual finish line, he received his own Krakauer moment. When Higgins arrived at Denver International Airport, his parents, wife, and children were waiting with a sign.

“That was nice,” he said.