To raise awareness of the climb veterans take to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder, Pocatello resident Dr. Fahim Rahim, Russell Davies and Eli Gerhard will summit Mt. Imja Tse in Nepal.

The mountain, better known as Island Peak, is 20,305 feet in elevation and is right in the shadow of Mount Everest.

The group left for Asia earlier this week.

The climb will be held under the social media hashtag #Climb4Humanity, and Rahim's JRM Foundation for Humanity has teamed up with Professional Transformation Sports Development, which was founded by Davies, to raise awareness of the plight faced by veterans returning home from war.

The slogan for the journey is "Some battles are fought after you leave the battlefield."

"Some of these people are leaving the battle and fighting another battle on the homefront," Rahim said.

Davies, a Pocatello native, said that he jumped at the chance to make this climb and to raise more awareness for his cause.

"I'm an avid believer that you should never spectate while you could participate, so when Fahim approached me about this intense climb, I pondered it for a little bit, but it didn't take me long before I was ready to go," Davies said.

Davies took that same approach when he started Professional Transformation Sports Development because he dealt with many of the same issues fellow veterans face when they come back to the home front. He said that a lot of what got him through it was adrenaline-pumping outdoor activities.

"When veterans are deployed, they're engaged in a very high-adrenaline environment with brotherhood and camaraderie, and when they come back to civilian life, there's nothing that engages them," Davies said.

Professional Transformation Sports Development tries to help veterans facing post-traumatic stress disorder by engaging them in exciting outdoor sports and trying to fill the hole that civilian life sometimes leaves.

While Gerhard was approached last minute, Rahim and Davies have been training rigorously for the climb.

Rahim and Davies have both climbed multiple local trails, carrying the weight that they plan on taking to the summit of Imja Tse. It took six months of this type of training before they felt they had a good base for the journey.

They've also climbed walls, ice climbed and mimicked glacier travel, all in preparation for the treacherous journey up Imja Tse.

Almost 10 people will be in their group, three of them being mountain guides and another being a nurse who Rahim is bringing to assist him in the event of any medical emergencies.

All of them stated that the elevation will be one of the main problems they'll face on the climb. 

"Your body isn't functioning the way it's supposed to be, whether it's digesting your food, or your caloric intake, along with staying hydrated at those altitudes," Gerhard said. "Every little bit counts up there."

"Outdoor sports is similar to being in the military because when we're up on that mountain, you have those individuals who literally have my life in their hands," Davies said. "If somebody's short on water or supplies, everybody pitches in. Everybody goes with a little bit less."

According to Rahim, only 40 percent of the people who attempt to climb the peak are able to complete it. This climb normally takes people three weeks, but they're going to attempt to do it in two weeks.

They have a helicopter for back-up in the event that someone can't make it to the top or if there's a medical emergency.

"We are well-prepared — it's not something that we thought of just off-hand," Rahim said. "We're certainly aware of the risks and the challenges."

Davies said, "I'm really doing this for my buddy Chad Cook. When we got back from deployment, he lost his fight to (post-traumatic stress disorder) and took his own life. That's one of the main reasons I want to get up there and do this in his honor."

Gerhard wants to dedicate his climb to his old boss, Lt. Col. Matthew Ingraham.

You can follow the adventure on social media at #Climb4Humanity or donate to the climb at https://goo.gl/255PUK.