Montgomery native Larry Rigsby is heading home from an expedition on Mount Everest. Rigsby had to cut short his climb to the top of Mount Everest after he collapsed with chest pains at 20,000 feet.

Larry Rigsby is returning home without having climbed Mount Everest, but at least the longtime Montgomery doctor is returning. He will always remember those who didn't.

There was a time when he wondered if he would make it home. Last week, at about 20,000 feet up Everest, he collapsed, chest pains racking his body. A Sherpa guide named Mingma helped the 54-year-old doctor descend safely.

Rigsby, an internist who now lives in Signal Mountain, Tenn., said the Sherpa saved his life. Two other Sherpas died April 21 while helping his Team No Limits group during the ascent. They were buried when part of the Khumbu Icefall collapsed.

"Everest is a dangerous mountain. People die, they die every year," said George Martin, an Ohio equipment supplier who publishes The Everest News and who has known Rigsby for four or five years. "Medical problems, the icefall, it can happen to anyone."

Rigsby had previously climbed more than halfway up Everest only to descend when a team member showed symptoms of cerebral edema -- swelling of the brain.

"It is my obligation as his team member and a physician to see that he was OK," Rigsby said via e-mail. Then Rigsby began again to rejoin the rest of his team, only to have his own medical problems force his second descent. He sent the Sherpa who helped him down the mountain to aid the rest of the team, which was continuing its climb.

Rigsby knew his journey to climb Everest was over. But he also knew there was another journey he had to make before he returned to the United States.

The Huntsville-born doctor began a 20-mile walk to the small Sherpa village of Thame, both to thank the Sherpas for saving his life and to express his sympathies for those who died.

His daughter, Amy McGhee of Mobile, who had been coordinating publicity for the climb, lost contact with him as he set off without a cell phone -- and without a guide -- to visit the village.

"I was scared, excited, proud, all at once," she said.

It may sound cliché, but Rigsby wasn't afraid of death, although he knew it was a possibility.

"On Ama Dablam, I saw a climber fall to his death," said Rigsby, adding that Ama Dablam, right next to Everest, is more difficult than Everest and has had far fewer ascents.

"It was tragic. Even more tragic was the devastation to the family who flew up to have a memorial service on the mountain. You have to remember, however, climbers love to climb and are aware of the risks. I just have to look at it like this ... every man will die; this man died doing what he loved the most."

Despite the risks, giving up his pursuit of Everest's summit was not easy.

"We have been organizing the climb for three years," Rigsby said.

Climbing Everest is costly -- not just in terms of life. The monetary cost of climbing Everest is usually quoted at $65,000. But when National Geographic asked Eric Simonson, the co-owner of International Mountain Guides, about hidden costs, he came up with a price tag of more than $200,000. Simonson, who has reached the top seven times himself, said the costs range from $25,000 per person in permits and fees to $8,000 for yaks. The cost did not even include individual climbing equipment.

But Rigsby may have to give up far more than his dream of climbing Everest.

He believes his condition is related to his blood pressure, a condition exacerbated at higher altitudes -- a condition that could bring his climbing to an end.

While he may have made his last major climb, for Rigsby the trek marks the beginning of a new mission.

He has helped start and will sit on the board of directors for The Lhakpa Tseri Sherpa and Dawa Temba Sherpa Memorial Foundation -- a memorial foundation begun by Team No Limits to provide for the families who lost their loved ones in the tragedy.

You can follow the progress of the other climbers in Team No Limit by logging on to www.nolimitsclimbing.com.