In November 2017, Brit Adler, MD, an instructor in the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, was traveling across a glacier in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in Peru. At nearly 15,000 feet high, the hikers in the caravan were secured to each other by ropes secured to harnesses. At that altitude, no oxygen was needed—just a large dose of stamina.
While glacier travel was the most memorable part of her weeklong trip, it was also the saddest. “We were supposed to spend a good four hours traveling on this glacier,” says Dr. Adler. “Unfortunately, over the past year, the glacier had largely melted. It was essentially gone. To see this glacier dying right before our eyes because of climate change was devastating.”
Dr. Adler has hiked in many exotic locations with her husband, Mark Yarchoan, MD, also an experienced hiker. Dr. Yarchoan is an assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University. They often hike with a compass and map—no human guides—sleep on cold, hard ground and believe these exhausting journeys are well worth it to experience some of the most stunning places in the world.
View from the Top
Top: Dr. Adler and Dr. Yarchoan near Milford Sound, New Zealand, in 2015.
Middle: Dr. Adler and Dr. Yarchoan backpacking in the Stubai Alps in 2013. Bottom: Dr. Adler and Dr. Yarchoan in the Stubai Alps in 2013.
Dr. Adler grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her family often hiked Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada.
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