What started out as a hobby for Kevin Tatsugawa while an undergraduate student at Sacramento State in the 1980s has taken him to the top of the world, in the shadow of Mt. Everest.

Tatsugawa, a Sac State assistant professor of recreation and leisure, began climbing the Sierra for fun.

Now an accomplished climber, he took his expertise this February to Nepal’s Himalayan mountains to teach safe climbing techniques and emergency wilderness first aid to the local villagers who work as Sherpas for visiting climbers.

“The Sherpas have the highest mortality rate climbing the mountains,” Tatsugawa said. “Even though they carry most of the weight and many had summited Everest, they still didn’t know the basic climbing skills.”

Tatsugawa traveled with nine other accomplished climbers sponsored by the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. This foundation’s mission is to support humanitarian programs designed to help the most impoverished people of the world.

“I had the idea for a Himalayan rescue team,” Tatsugawa said. “I had already wrote the proposal when I read about this school in a magazine.”

He contacted the foundation and sent them his proposal and they asked him to go as one of the instructors.

The school was held at a tea house in a tiny valley called Khumbu, where 55 students were instructed in the latest climbing techniques.

Tatsugawa described the accommodation as a stone structure where they slept on wooden cots and used a pit toilet. But he said the view outside made up for the primitive structure.

“It’s awe inspiring,” Tatsugawa said. “Just snow, rock and ice … Most of (the students) are yak herders. They’re very humble, gentle people. “

The Buddhist climbers supplement their small $800 annual income by farming in the off-season.

The students enjoyed feeding the instructors dahlbhat, which is a local specialty of rice, lentils and curry chicken, but also wanted to make the instructors feel at home and surprised them one night with pizza on the menu, Tatsugawa said.

The Northface Clothing Co. also helped sponsor the school and a film crew was sent to document the two-week project.Tatsugawa has been asked to return to teach next year.

Tatsugawa’s experiences as an instructor include working as a guide and a sea-kayaking instructor in Alaska. He also worked with the Colorado Outward Bound project, the Alaska Mountaineering School and at Sac State’s Peak Adventures.

“I have an innate curiosity to see different parts of the world and experience those places by interacting with the local people,” Tatsugawa said.

Tatsugawa left most of his climbing gear with the students who were unable to afford even the most basic tools.

Tatsugawa has been an assistant professor at Sac State for the last three and a half years.