There is nothing like climbing Everest: The world's highest peak!

“I just wanted to see what it’s like up there. I was curious,” explains Eva Perglerová, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen at Charles University, where she now teaches. It’s this curiosity that fuels her drive to climb the world’s highest mountains. “Perhaps even more important to me is the journey I take to reach my goal. When everything goes well, it’s beautiful,” she says.

Her determination—bordering on stubbornness—is something her family has long come to expect. And the fact that her travel calendar is booked up two years in advance? That’s par for the course. It’s the only way she can juggle her dental practice, medical training, and climbing expeditions. A native of Přeštice, she traces her passion for adventure back to 1997, when, as a medical student in Pilsen, she travelled to Colombia to treat indigenous communities and climbed Pico Cristóbal Colón, the highest mountain in the country (5,775 metres above sea level). As she tells Forum, she’s still relishing regular doses of travel and mountains to this day.

With a vibrant personality and infectious positivity, Eva is already planning more unforgettable experiences - not only in the highest altitudes but also deep below “To live a happy life, I need a meaningful job, a strong family support system, and time for my hobbies,” she reflects. “It would just be nice if there were at least 48 hours in a day...” she says, flashing a wry smile.         

The Magnificent Seven

Since the spring of 2022, Eva Perglerová has ticked off one of her most coveted achievements, becoming only the third Czech climber to summit Mount Everest (8,848 metres) on 24 May 2023. Yet, in more than twenty-five years of mountain obsession, she had already conquered several of the world’s highest peaks. These included Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) in Africa, Puncak Jaya (also known as Mount Carstensz or Carstensz Pyramid, 4,884 metres) in Indonesia’s Papua province, Mont Blanc (4,807 metres), the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, Mexico’s Pico Orizaba (5,636 metres), Ecuador’s Chimborazo (6,263 metres), Cotopaxi (5,897 metres), and South America’s highest peak, Aconcagua (6,961 metres).

Those names ring a bell? You guessed it—many of these peaks are part of the famed "Crown of the Planet," or the Seven Summits. This is the collection of the highest mountains across each of the seven continents, first defined by Richard Bass and later refined by Reinhold Messner.

Reaching the very top

“You just can’t go any higher!” Eva laughs, recalling her triumph in 2023 as part of the Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition. Climbing the world’s highest peak had been a dream since childhood, when she first gained a love for mountains while climbing with her father. Almost a decade of preparation went into her attempt to conquer the 8,000+ metre giant. For a long time, she wasn’t sure she had what it took.

“The most important thing is to want it, to be physically fit, and to be resilient—not to fear the challenges and to endure long-term discomfort,” Eva explains.

Conquering Everest

► The ascent was divided into three acclimatisation phases. During the first eight days of the trek, the team reached base camp at 5,400 m above sea level. This was followed by climbing Mount Lobuche East (6119 m) and then building high altitude camps and taking out equipment and luggage, this is called rotation. ► During the first day of the actual climb, the climbers went to the second camp, after a day of rest to the third camp (7200 m), and the next day to the fourth camp. The final assault from the 4th altitude camp (7950 m) started on 24 May 2023 at 2 a.m. local time, after a short snow storm. In about eight hours (it was a few minutes after six in Europe) Eva Perglerová and her personal Sherpa Dhana Diaries stood on the summit. And they spent 45 minutes there! ► “The view was beautiful, we were lucky with the weather. You stay silent for a while, attach a prayer flag for good luck, I still managed to show the beauty to my talismanic stuffed animals while waiting for my colleagues, and then you climb back down. You're in the death zone and there's at least an equally challenging descent back to the fourth site,” explains the climber. She firmly rejects the idea that climbing Everest is anything like 'a cakewalk': "That's something only someone who has never been there could say.” It is common knowledge that many factors can lead to expeditions having to abort: from sudden weather changes to overcrowding to adverse health effects and poor planning combined with a lack of time. She told Forum that only around 20 percent of climbers actually summit.

A year ago, in January 2024, Eva achieved another significant milestone in her climbing journey: summiting the Vinson Massif (also known as Mount Vinson, 4,892 m). While it wasn’t the most physically challenging climb, facing temperatures as low as -40°C (feeling like -55°C) made it a unique adventure. “It was a great adventure in an endless, incredible landscape of snow and ice—pure not only to look at, but to reflect on,” she describes her latest expedition across the world’s largest desert. During her eight-day journey on cross-country skis, harnessed to a 60-kilogram sled, she listened to the Cimrman play The Conquest of the North Pole. She celebrated Christmas with a tree made of skis and poles, and New Year’s Eve with a box of wine for a midnight toast.

To complete the Seven Summits challenge, Eva needed to summit Denali in Alaska, which she prepared for with a disciplined training routine: running 80 kilometers a week, swimming, cycling, and running on a treadmill in the evenings (albeit without the oxygen mask she had used for Everest). A few months later, on July 4, 2024, at 7:30 a.m., she reached the peak of Elbrus in the Caucasus (5,642 m), successfully completing one of the world’s most renowned and gruelling challenges.

At least one tooth...

Eva sees a connection between her career as a dentist and her mountaineering pursuits. On expeditions, she often assumes the role of the team doctor, sometimes even stitching up others when necessary. “The mountains are the best psychotherapy: they make me look forward to going back to my dental practice and teaching dental students much more. But the reverse is also true: I would love to drill—at least one tooth while away!” she laughs. To ensure she never lets her patients down when she's home, she practices on weekends or evenings, though she also has a dentist who steps in while she's away. “When I come back from the mountains, on the way back from the airport, I already know there's a patient waiting for me in the chair. The physical return to reality is very quick,” she reveals.

Eva is deeply grateful to the Pilsen faculty for shaping who she is today. “I appreciate the people there, the heads of the dental department, and all the teachers who helped me become a dentist. I feel it's my duty to pass on that knowledge. Teaching also strengthens my everyday practice.” She believes the key to good patient care lies in common sense and humanity, and not just accumulating 'vast amounts' of knowledge.  

Pushing the envelope

“I think my family sometimes worries about me. They're not thrilled about me going on these adventures, but they know I will do it anyway,” comments Eva. “When I get excited about something, I push everyone’s buttons because I want everything right now. On weekends, I can completely change the family's plans because I get an idea and act on it immediately.”

Her love for mountains runs in the family. “I come from a hiking and boating family. As kids, we were involved in many sports. Before, you couldn't just go anywhere; the most my dad could do was go to the Alps. But by 1989, things had changed, and I could finally satisfy my curiosity.” Has she reached the limit of her physical strength? “I’ve waited for it to come a few times, but it never has. I don’t even know where the limit is. You know what the runner Emil Zátopek said: ‘If you think you can’t continue, you still have 75% of your strength left.’ I believe I have reserves. All the difficult climbs and challenges came at the right time. Every experience, good or bad, makes you stronger, and you're ready for even greater challenges.”