When you're heading waaaaay out into nature, the question on a lot of people's minds is apparently what you will do about heeding the call of nature.

The question has cropped up a lot at Kepner Middle School in Denver, where Mike Haugen's pupils have been asking about it as their science teacher takes off to climb Mount Everest.

"Yeah, a lot of the kids were wondering about how I'd go to the bathroom while we were on the trek," laughs Haugen, 30, a lanky 6-foot-4-incher who leaves today on what could be considered one whopping spring break - one that will, hopefully, find him straddling the top of the world by sometime in mid-May.

Not that Haugen will be out of touch with his students at Kepner, 911 S. Hazel Court - or with thousands of other students across the country. By virtue of the Everest 5.5 Challenge, Haugen's progress will be charted on the Web. The program which is being underwritten by Coleman, the outdoor-equipment company that is also subsidizing Haugen's expedition, will allow students - or anybody, really - to follow Haugen's progress up the 29,035-foot Himalayan peak with daily updates that include a mix of photos, videos and blog entries.

Just as important to Haugen is the fact that students will be encouraged to participate in a program that will reward them for being active themselves.

"Our message here is we need to get kids outside, get them zoning into our adventure but also get started on their own adventure," says the Minnesota native who did most of his growing up in Ohio, whose flat lands didn't deter him climbing. At least not after he took a rock-climbing class in his teens and got hooked.

Now he's trying to convert a generation of potential couch potatoes, persuading them to give up their Xboxes, iPods and sundry computer additions and get on a first-name basis with the great outdoors.

By participating in some physical activity - cycling, swimming, skating, etc. - in 60- minute chunks, students will be able to earn enough "segments" to make their own virtual climb up Everest.

Prizes will be awarded to schools with the most students completing the trek.

Asked about the irony of using an indoor, online program to detonate a more outdoor, active lifestyle, Haugen's Norwegian-blue eyes sparkle and he laughs, "Yeah, I guess we're using their own weapons. We're using the 'enemy' for our own purposes.

"But whatever it takes to get kids outside and into their own adventures is fine with me," he says.

Haugen is well aware what kind of epiphany can be detonated when a kid gets outside. A few months ago, he took some of his students snowboarding. It was the first time many of the largely poor, Hispanic students had ever been out of their neighborhood, and the results were encouraging.

"One student came up to me later and said, 'You've changed my life,'" says Haugen, still visibly moved by the experience.

Now he's hoping more kids will be moved and motivated by his journey as he tackles the summit of the world.

Although Haugen has scaled the highest peak in North America (Mount McKinley - 20,320 feet), the Western Hemisphere (Aconcagua - 22,841 feet) and Antarctica (Mount Vinson - 16,067 feet), he says that Everest is "the holy grail of mountaineering."

After the Los Angeles-Bangkok-Katmandu hurdle is handled, Haugen expects the trek to start in Lukla around March 23, with an April 2 goal of reaching the 17,300-foot base camp. After that, the climbing and acclimatizing to the altitude will begin in earnest.

So will his cyber interaction with students. Haugen is hoping kids will contact him with the same verve that his Kepner charges have.

"I will dedicate some of my time praying for you," wrote one, while another wrote, "You're my hero, and I'm going to spread the rumor to everyone I know so you'll become famous."

Of course, laughs Haugen, "Some kids have written me that I need to go to a psychiatrist."

He says he's also hoping students will be encouraged to e-mail questions they might have, although, quite honestly, he'll be relieved if no more kids ask how he's going to relieve himself on the snowy slopes of the Himalayas.

Track the trek

• To see updates on Mike Haugen's Everest climb, go to: coleman everest.com

meadowj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2606