Hello everyone,

Dan Jenkins here. Ted has allowed me to access a post here under his name, so I would like to jot a few notes about my impressions of summit day of the Climb for Hope 2008 Cotopaxi expedition. Here goes.

It is late at night -- but to be fair -- it presents itself as a VERY early morning.

When we laid down for a final rest (hours before), the snows descended upon the massif that is Cotopaxi, blanketing the slopes with conviction and abundance. Now, the wee hours found the deep cobalt sky dotted with diamonds -- lifting our spirits closer to the summit with the prospect of favorable conditions.

Team members double (triple????) check all gear, strategically stashing necessities in available pockets. These are final details that help calm nerves and insure our dedication to precison.

Headlamps light the path out of the hut (refugio - refuge) casting adequate light to survey a reasonable radius of landscape of 10-30 feet. Any more might prove distracting to the task of putting 1 step forward - slowly, deliberately, then another step and establishing a balanced position. Finally planting our axes firmly, confidently into the slope. This simple process is repeated, rhythmically, for the duration of the ascent. The simplicity of the process can be extremely comforting amidst a potential abundance of thoughts, ideas and ruminations that one may experience during the climb. Focus. Simply - step, step, plant ax. Step, step, plant ax. Repeat.

As we move uphill, individuals experience personal challenges not unlike those facing cancer, doing so with grace, balance and integrity. While the struggle is individual, the team support is indeed integral to succeed and reach our common goal.

We all show up where we are supposed to be, when we are supposed to arrive. As we allow the spirit of those who beleive in our mission - who speak to our hearts, our souls, our bodies - as we invite them to reach out in front and gently push open the door.... it simply becomes. They are our access to go beyond ourselves. Our steps are now not our own, but dedicated to family, friends and loved ones.

On through the night we move, taking only the shortest of necessary breaks. Water, food, warmer clothes, and a few snapshots. Time to climb again. Get into rhythm again and feel the flow.

Lightening strikes can be viewed to the east as the Amazon Basin electrifies the disatant clouds in a spectacular show.

Dawn creeps slowly on the margin of the horizon and teases us with a false promise of warmth. At 6 am we will not be struck by the golden rays for over 3 1/2 hours as we are eclipsed on the western slopes. It´s beckoning radiation, however, indeed illuminates the landscape spectacularly.

On our steepest and most challenging portion of the climb we are reminded of the necessity to be vigilant in our systems until we are direcly upon the summit itself. We affix a secondary (and permanent) rope forn our and everyone who climbs the mountain´s safety. This will insure an extra level of precaution on a dangerous portion of our climb and we can now - tenuously - move as a team up to the crater rim.

Relief, joy, celebration, recognition, gratitude, inspiration, and pride envelop the team as we fittingly embrace as we climbed - together.

The dedications, memorialsw, flags, & thank-you´s are captured on still and video to phyusically manifest what had been imagined and thought by everyone throughout the ascent.

As we step off the summit we witnewss the active volcano Tungurahua blow a HUGE plume - nealy 50 miles away.

Our descent is calculated, focused and rapid. The softening snows could prove challenging and fatal if we delay inour task. The members work together admirably and in 2 short hours, we disembark the glacier and return to the hut.

Smiles (grins, actually) abound and the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is palpable.

We will continue to reflect for hours about all the amazing moments that happened throughout the entire expedition, especially on summit day.

This is a group fo people who trained fiercely, were tenacious and productive fundraisers and dedicated and conscientious mountaineers who I am proud to have shared a rope with on our ascent of Cotopaxi.

Strive for excellence.

Spread your humility and humanity abundantly as you have for the past 10 days, and indeed your entire life.

Be well.

Our Guide, Dan´s Arm, Laura, Ted, Nick and Todd nearing the summit this am.

Hi all, ted here. just a quick note to all so you get the great news that we all summited at about 9am this morning. we had a late start do to alot of traffic on the moutain. it took us about 8.5 hours between the traffic and all the fresh snow we came in contact with to reach the summit.
A very starry night and warm, perfect for climbing. We are all back in Quito now grabbing showers, relaxing, etc., before we go out tonight to celebrate. It was by far the hardest thing I have every done in my life and I think i can speak for the whole team by saying just how much each and everyone of you help us make it today. I know that there was not ever a time on the climb that we were not thinkiing of you all and how much you mean to us.
Our guides Chris and Dan, from Earth Treks were great. they took the best care of us and taught us alot. Andy, we want to thank you for being here with us in spirit, it was an honor to do this fof Climb For Hope.
Look for pictures tonight.

Best,
Team Pittsburgh

PS- NO we areNOT near the erupting volcano for all those concerned. Although we did see it erupting in the far distance while we were on the summmit of Cotopaxi.

Hey all-
It's Wednesday afternoon, the day before we head for our biggest climb to the top of Cotopaxi and our last chance to check in with an update before we go.
Yesterday we started early with a drive up the flanks of Rucu Pichinchu, and a dawn trek that would lead us to the summit, which rises 4680m above the surrounding peaks. I stink at conversion stuff, but it's more than 15,000 feet, which makes it the highest peak yet for Nick, Ted and Todd. We set out from the trailhead at 6:10 and were off the mountain by 1:30. Not bad for a bunch of flatlanders (except for Dan who's from Colorado and Chris who seems to have spent most of his adult life in thin air). The hike took us to the crater rim where clouds swept over amazing lava formations and wind whipped across the barren landscape. We took plenty of photos and quite a bit of video of the excursion and can't wait to show it off to everyone. We're having all kinds of problems loading our pictures for you to see and we apologize. We have some great ones of the places and people and climbs. It was a terrific summit for all of us and the toughest test of our training to date. It felt great to climb so high and know that we were climbing for so many people and such a great cause. We each took a moment along the way to video a message to those we're here climbing for and it was a very emotional moment when we all took a moment to think of them and the struggles they face on a daily basis.
Today we spent the morning packing for our big climb. We were fitted for boots and crampons, went through a packing seminar and then headed for our rooms to sort the gear we brought with us and get organized. Dan and Chris helped to make sure we took the right stuff and only the things we needed for the hike to the hut in the morning (we will stay at 15,400 for the next two nights) and then the big summit day which will take us up the glacier to the summit of Ecuador's second highest peak and one of the world's highest active volcanos at 19,400ft. It's an incredible undertaking and one that is starting to come into focus for each of us as the days count down to D day. We can't wait to get started and stand on top. But the most important moment of all will be when we come back down and arrive back in Quito safe and sound.
Again, sorry for the lack of photos. We're frustrated but have tried our best.
To all of you who have followed our trek, thank you for your support and encouragement. And for all of you who we're doing this for, know that you are in our thoughts and prayers every step of the way. That's what this climb is all about.

As we used to say in the Logtown Alpine Club:
Upgois Sahibe

Ted, Nick, Laura, Todd, Dan and Chris
Love to all

Okay, we're four days into our adventure and way behind on keeping up with our blog. It's probably my fault, but we'll blame Nick just because. Lets see if I can't give a little overview of what life has been like since we stepped through security at Pittsburgh International and began our trip to Ecuador.
We spent all day Thursday in the air traveling from Pittsburgh to Houston, Houston to Panama City and then, finally, off to Quito where we met up with our guide Dan and our driver Hugo (don't say the "H"(. On day one we headed off for Otavalo where we would begin our aclimitization with small hikes - the first of which was around a crater lake - followed by a day at the market and a second hike to a waterfall and then off to meet a master weaver and designer. It's been a great experience filled with wonderful people, interesting places and lots of avocados - Ted loves 'em. To help in the aclimitization, Dan has us using a small heart rate monitor thingy to see how we're doing as we climb our way higher and higher on each hike. Basically, it boils down to this - Ted rocks and is kicking butt proving that training really does payoff, Laura is doing excellent and making her way with a slow and steady pace that works and will take her as far as she wants to go, I'm doing great and feeling no ill effects from the higher elevations, Nick is afraid his heart is going to explode. Yep. Nervous Nick. But in the end, he's getting everywhere everyone is getting and loving every minute of it. Today was our hardest day so far with a summit of Fuya Fuya - we put in a good pace up a very steep landscape that took us above 13,000 feet. The highest Ted and Nick had ever climbed and they did great. We all did. We celebrated on the summit with cheese, breads and avocados. It was a great way to celebrate a great climb. Afterwards, we headed to Quito where we'll spend the next few days continuing our climbing and training. Tomorrow we tackle Pichincha with Dan and our lead guide Chris Warner who joined us today after summiting Cotopaxi just yesterday. The 15,000+ peak tomorrow will be another first for Ted, Nick and myself. Each day we're getting stronger and more comfortable with the altitude and our ability to do this. It's been great. We all appreciate all the blogging and well - wishes we've been getting from everyone. It means so much to know people are thinking of us. I certainly can't sign off without letting Arianna and Natasha know how much their dad misses them and thinks of them constantly. They've been his strength and inspiration to do this and come home safe to share his stories. Nick sends the best to his dad and Glacier. Laura sends her best to her family who we heard such great stories of today as we climbed. And I want to be sure Lara knows how much I miss her and can't wait to come home and share my photos and journal of this incredible journey. Thanks to all of you for your support and love. We couldn't do it without you.

That's all for now as we're off to bed to rest up for tomorrow. We'll write again soon.
Ted, Nick, Laura and Todd

New Climb For Hope YouTube Video...

Tomorrow morning at 7 am, Ted, Todd, Laura and Nick will begin their 10-day trip to Ecuador and their attempt to summit Cotopaxi. It's the adventure of a lifetime and an incredible opportunity to do something that's never been done before - end the threat of breast cancer for women around the world. We can't wait to get started and will keep you updated as best we can every step of the way as we gear up for our summit push. Stay tuned. The adventure is just beginning.