Dr. Torrey Goodman boarded a plane Sunday on her way to Mount Everest, taking with her survival gear, medical supplies and the thoughts of 240 Big Island eighth-graders who will follow her adventure volunteering at the Everest Base Camp medical clinic.

The word "clinic" might make you think of a facility, or at least a building with a thermostat, but this will be a three-month stay in tents on the ice at 17,600-foot elevation.

Goodman, an emergency medicine physician at Kaiser Moanalua, asked her paddling buddy Beth Cooper to come along to Nepal. Cooper is a staff member at Kealakehe Intermediate, and it was her idea to get the students involved. Last month, Goodman traveled to Kealakehe and spoke to six classes over two days.

"They loved seeing all the gear," Goodman said. They talked about how the human body is affected by altitude and were very interested in how basics like bathing and going to the bathroom are done on Everest.

"The actual acts of living are really quite different," Goodman said. "And it's tied to ecology. It used to be just dig a hole and go in the ice, and then people in other camps started getting sick. We talked about what you do with waste and garbage when there's 800 to 1,000 people living on a glacier."

The students are coming up with scientific questions to ask Goodman and Cooper during their stay. The women will gather the data and send back the information via the Internet, though that may be tricky as computers can freeze on Everest. "Everything freezes," Goodman said.

Goodman is paying her way to volunteer at the base camp. Her patients will be hikers from around the world and the Nepali guides who work on Everest. Kaiser will hold her job for her while she's gone. "Kaiser gave monetary donations and they have supported me in a lot of medical missions," Goodman said.

Goodman worked as a paramedic before going to medical school, and loved working outdoors, dealing with limited resources and having to rely on her own ingenuity to figure things out.

"I've been doing this for so long I don't realize what a big deal it is to some people," Goodman said. Some of the Kealakehe students she met have never been off the island. "There's nothing more gratifying than to fire up a child's imagination, to get them to dream big dreams like, 'I could do that, too.' "

The students will follow her on the Web site www.basecampmd.com, which also has a link if people would like to make donations to the cause. "Even $20 makes a huge difference. That can buy medicine for a week," Goodman said.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.