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Title image:  Meet a BAI climber

Meet A BAI Climber - Dr. Charles Martin

Dr. Charles Martin, of Jacksonville, North Carolina has been practicing medicine since he graduated from Duke Medical School in 1963. As a pediatrician, he has been known to generations in his area as a caring and tireless worker providing health care, advice and assistance to families. On most of his BAI trips he is known by staff and his fellow climbers alike simply as “Doc,” which implies the old fashioned status and respect that he garners wherever he goes. “Doc” is now finishing his first decade of climbing with Berg Adventures and each time we talk to him he is full of commitment and excitement for future trips.

Dr. Charles Martin at Everest Base Camp

Dr. Charles Martin at Everest Base Camp

Tell us about your recent 70th birthday party?

It goes back to my third climb with Wally - with the British Columbia Association of Community Living, a trip that we had in February of the preceding year and at that time I had explained to Wally my desires to climb Kilimanjaro for sure when I was 70.

Emotional moment on the summit of kili with his daughter

Emotional moment on the summit of kili with his daughter

I had spoken to him before my trip and told him I wanted to return to Kilimanjaro. After being there 3 times, I decided that my 70th birthday party would be one where I would return to Kilimanjaro and climb again and sleep in the Crater because when I had gone with the children the preceding year, I didn’t sleep in the crater. I had to go down and prepare the evacuation camp if they had problems. So we climbed in June and on the 4th night, they cooked me a birthday cake, and when we got back to our base camp in Machame, we had a celebration there with a happy birthday and a delightful dinner. My second daughter climbed Kilimanjaro, my son-in-law had attempted to climb but had turned back after three days, and my other two daughters and my wife were there waiting in preparation for us to all go on a safari after the climb.

How do you physically and mentally prepare to climb a mountain?

Dr. Martin, Becky and his ddaughter Elizabeth during safari

Dr. Martin, Becky and his ddaughter Elizabeth during safari

The first time I climbed a mountain, I was probably the most ill-prepared person to climb a mountain and this is when I was 65 and had been somewhat challenged by a friend of mine to climb that summer, having never climbed before. I was not physically ill-prepared, I was mentally ill-prepared for outside camping and living in the rigors of actually climbing and keeping your body well-hydrated and stoked with fuel which meant eating. After the first time when I tried to climb Kilimanjaro and stopped around 17,000 feet, I sort of dreamed every day afterward. Every night I would dream of where I had gotten to and what I had seen. I think mentally I started reliving the climb, so the preparation for the climb the second time was very easy. The anticipation of returning to a place where I had not experienced the true beauty of the upper part of Kilimanjaro and the beauty of the actual summit and the glaciers that still exist there motivated me. Since that climb, every time, it’s a very mental thing at my age to go to the spa and get physically in shape enough to be able to undertake a climb. I’ve never thought it was about strength, I’ve always thought it was a mental challenge. It’s a matter of trying to stay ahead of aging.

Compare your experiences at Everest Base Camp and Kilimanjaro?

I think they are almost totally different. Kilimanjaro is such a unique mountain in that you have five very distinct eco-systems that you climb through as you go through the rainforest to the actual summit of Kilimanjaro. The beauty of Kilimanjaro to me is the uniqueness of these eco-systems and the landscape you see as you ascend this mountain. The beauty of Everest Base Camp and the Khumbu area is unprecedented in my life. I have traveled extensively. There’s no more beautiful place than the Khumbu Valley which leads from the Lukla to Everest Base Camp. The summit of Kilimanjaro gives you such a wide view of Africa whereas the base camp of Everest puts you at the foot of an unbelievably beautiful mountain. It gives you the feeling that you are somewhat at the end of the world as far as being clustered in an area that there’s no way out except the way you came in, unless you are going to climb over these mountains into Tibet or summit Everest. They are totally different experiences but the beauty of Nepal and the climb are unprecedented.

Dr. Martin, Jackie with our sherpa friend

Dr. Martin, Jackie with our sherpa friend

What touches you most about Africa?

Dr.Martin visited an Arusha school which BAi and its members help support

Dr.Martin visited an Arusha school which BAI

and its members help support

The most important thing for me about Africa is the plight of the children. The lack of sanitation, limited water, something that we take for granted in this country, the lack of schooling, the lack of opportunities for the children - these are the things that make the biggest impression. When you see the faces of children, with their smiling, loveable, cheerful personalities, your heart goes out to them. When you see the squalid conditions in which they live, their desire for education which is not available for them. you can't help but be touched.

Especially when you compare just the opposite opportunities which are available to us in this country, it opens up your mind. The beauty of Tanzania is one of subtle beauty. It’s not so much that the landscape is so beautiful, it’s that the people that have been able to survive in conditions that we would consider unbearable but yet for the most part, they are happy, outgoing, loving people who try to help you and show you the beauty of their country.