Congrats to Ashley Anderson & Julie LaFee, two of our team members, who made their hometown newspaper in Fenton, MI. Great story ladies!
http://www.tctimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17328300&BRD=2524&PAG=461&dept_id=517571&rfi=6

And in case you missed the story in this week's Jewish Times -- thanks Eric for scaring all the Jewish moms!
http://www.jewishtimes.com/scripts/edition.pl?now=10/18/2006&SubSectionID=30&ID=6000

Earth Treks Climbing Center/Corks Restaurent - Wine & Cheese Fundraiser

EarthTreks and Corks Restaurant have generously teamed up to help us raise money for the Climb For Hope. Sunday Dec 3 at 5:30pm, at the Earth Treks Climbing Center in Timonium. There will be a small cover charge, which will include the opportunity to climb the walls while being belayed by one of the Climb For Hope team members. When we put the harnesses away, we'll break out the wine & cheese. Meet all the team members and learn more about the Climb For Hope. Then, Chris Warner, Founder of Earth Treks and Climb For Hope's Lead Guide, will show slides of his Everest Trip which should be really cool!

Directions to the Timonium gym:
http://www.earthtreksclimbing.com/indoor.html#directions-timonium

Mt. Cotopaxi (0.7S 78.4W) is a stratovolcano with a summit elevation of 19,388 feet (5,911 m). It has erupted 50 times since 1738. The 1877 eruption melted snow and ice on the summit, which produced mudflows that traveled 60 miles (100 km) from the volcano. The most recent eruption of Cotopaxi ended in 1904. Reports of an eruption in 1942 have not been confirmed. The most recent activity was an increase in steam emissions, melting snow, and small earthquakes from 1975-1976.

I think our team can be fairly confident that it's not going to erupt while we're climbing it.

Welcome to my Climb For Hope Blog.

I'm hoping to use this forum to communicate with my sponsors, friends, family, and teamates about my participation in the Climb For Hope.

Please stop by periodically to check in on the fundraising, training, preparation, Dr. Emen's breast cancer research, and ultimately the expedition and climb in Ecuador.

Currently, I am approx. 90% of the way towards my fundraising goal of $5,000, and feeling pretty good about that with still 3 months to go. I think I'm in decent shape physically right now, after having been mountain - biking once/week all summer, and throwing in some road riding as well. But I'm just now starting to step up the conditioning, and hope to generally follow the 12-week mountaineering training program provided by our guides at Earth Treks.

Soon, we're supposed to be getting a tour of Dr. Emen's research laboratory, and get an update on how here clinical trials are progressing. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that.

Also starting to put together the gear I'll need for the expedition, which is quite an extensive list.

Until next time...