Climb for Captives Follow the 2009 Climb for Captives Adventure

Send ClimbForCaptives to Higher Peaks with the Gore-Tex “Experience More Challenge”

Climb for Captives has been given an incredible opportunity to take our next climb to a whole new level, but we need your help to make it possible!

Thanks to the Gore-Tex Experience More Challenge, Climb for Captives has been selected as one of 6 finalists where the Grand Prize Winner receives $10,000. Our dream is to use this prize to fund an epic climb outside the US, elevating our fight against human trafficking to a global scale. To win, all we need to is to get more votes than the other five finalists… and that is where YOU come in. If you are willing to vote for us, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1. Join the Gore-Tex Community

The competition is part of an online outdoor community and to be able to vote you have to be a member of the community, which means you have to sign up first. Membership is FREE and there are no strings attached.

Step 2. Log in to the Experience More Challenge

Once you have created an account and are LOGGED IN, look for the “Experience More Challenge” and click “VOTE NOW”

Step 3. Vote for “Climb for Captives 2009“

That’s all that is needed! Special thanks to PaulHassell.com for his amazing photography, and thanks to all our supporters and fellow abolitionists who are joining with us. If you are ready to help us raise $10,000 and take Climb for Captives to a whole new level click HERE to sign up.

Sincere thanks,

The Climb for Captives Team

www.ClimbForCaptives.com

Climb for Captives Celebration - Sept. 25th

If you live near Seattle, WA and are wondering what to do next Friday night (September 25th) come meet the Climb for Captives team and hear more about our work to fight human trafficking around the world.  There will be live music, a film about our climb, and time to talk with the climbers about human trafficking.

Here’s the info:

When: September 25th, 2009 at 7pm

Where: Calvary Fellowship
23302 56th Ave W.
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043

Live music from:
Sam Martin
http://www.sammartinmusic.com
&
Chris Sharpe
http://www.myspace.com/chrissharpemusic

We hope to see you there!

Knoxville Television Interview // Paul Hassell

Climb for Captives climber and professional photographer, Paul Hassell, was recently interviewed by a local television station in his home town of Knoxville TN. Paul does a fantastic job describing the project and why we climb. Be sure to watch part two as well.

Climb for Captives ‘09 Trailer

2009 Rainier Summit Trip Report

On the Summit

Our journey up Mt. Rainier began at 9am on Friday morning when we departed from the Paradise trailhead 5,400 feet. We spent the previous night at the Whitaker Bunkhouse, a European style alpine lodge frequented by mountaineers from around the world who visit Rainier as a training ground for high altitude Himalayan adventures.

Each member of the team carried a 60lb backpack loaded to the brim with ropes, ice axes, food, fuel, tents and an assortment of other climbing goods. Energy levels were high when we set out from the parking lot and not even the heavy mist could dampen our spirits. The fog was almost enchanting. We knew that the cloud level was at 8,500 feet so it would only be a matter of time before we emerged to see the bright blue sky, which we hoped was helping to melt a layer of slick ice on the high mountain.

We made fantastic time up to Pebble creek and paused long enough at the beginning of the Muir Snowfield to eat some lunch and send out one last twitter message before pushing on to base camp.

Once at Camp Muir we decided to snuggle up inside the Climbers Shelter, a stone structure 9 feet wide and 20 feet long that sleeps 22 people on single long bunk with about as much space as a birth on a submarine. For climber who can handle close quarters, loud baritone snoring, and the smell of unventilated white gas fumes, wet socks and excessive high altitude flatulence induced by freeze dried Macaroni and Cheese, the shelter is a great option. Not only does it keep you out of the wind (which had destroyed a few tents the previous day), it puts you in proximity to the solar outhouses which helps to ensure that you don’t have to use the infamous “blue bag” to dispose of your waste.

After cooking dinner and filtering 30-40 liters of glacier melt water we laid down to “sleep” at 7:30pm. The night before climbing Mt. Rainier sleep is a relative term. People who are acclimated to sea level usually have trouble sleeping at 10,000 feet. It is not uncommon to wake up with a splitting headache, queasy stomach and a dry throat from the lack of moisture in the thin alpine air… but most of the time you don’t wake up that way because you never really fall asleep. The purpose is mainly to spend a few hours in the horizontal position resting your body and your mind preparing for an early morning start to the climb.

Our climb began at 1:10am and we were the second team out of base camp. The skies were clear and the stars were immense and overwhelming. Weather had turned in our favor.

The journey across the Ingraham Flats was precarious due to immense snow melt from a recent heat wave that shattered historical records throughout the state of Washington. Over the next 7 hours we carefully made our way up the Disappointment Cleaver, traversed a maze of crevasses and snow bridges to the Emmons Glacier, and pushed onward to the crater rim on the summit of Mt. Rainier. We reached the summit at 8:40 am and were exhausted. The 40mph gusts of wind were blowing needles of ice that punished any exposed skin, which made a long stay on the summit anything but appealing. As we prepared for our decent, word came over the radio that our prescheduled flyover had arrived. A friend of Climb for Captives was about to fly overhead in a single prop Mooney Low Wing to photograph us on the summit. The timing was perfect. After a few photos from above the plane departed and we began our long descent down the mountain.

We made it back to base camp at 2pm and were eager to pack our bags and hike back to civilization where oxygen rich air and meat lovers pizza were waiting. We slid most of the way down the Muir Snowfield, turning shovels and sleeping mats into improvised toboggans. By 6pm we were loading our vehicles, turning in our climbing report and text messaging loved ones to let them know that we had made it back alive.

It is great feeling to finish a climb that pushes you to your physical limits, but it is an even greater feeling to know that children on the other side of the world will know freedom because of what was accomplished on the mountain. Though our journey to 14,410 feet is over, the journey to $40,000 is not and we are continuing our effort to reach that goal for the next month. It is not to late to give or to join us in our endeavor to reach that ambitious financial goal. Thank you for your participation and your support. We truly could not have done it without you!

We Reached the Summit - Help Us Reach Our Goal

C4C Team Photo

The Climb for Captives team is back from a successful summit bid on Saturday August 15th. A full trip report and more picture will be posted soon. We reached the summit but we are still working toward our goal of $40,000 dollars. You can play an important role in helping us reach this goal. For the next 48 hours a donor has offered a matching gift of $500. All donations will be matched up to $500. Turn your $25 into $50 or consider turning your $500 into $1000!

Join us in the fight.

<<Give Now>>

We hope you enjoy these pictures from another epic Climb for Captives adventure.

[View with PicLens]

Why I Climb // Robby Hipp

Today the first pet I ever called my dog, a lively mess and mutt named Madi, was killed doing her favorite thing—chasing cars.

I loved Madi, but as is all-too-typical, I didn’t cherish every moment with her. Sure, she ran with me, swam with me, chilled on the couch with me. Like so many things in life though, I didn’t realize how much of a companion she was until the present has now become the past.

There are things I take for granted when constantly exposed to them. As I make my way up this mammoth mountain, each step takes me further from comfort—from my wife, my son, my friends. From my bed, my shower, my beloved Chipotle burrito. From everything, serious or trivial, we live with and cherish every day. In these moments, however, I believe we can discover more about life.

I endure the hardship of mountaineering and climbing because the journey always produces a discovery of self, a keen awareness that makes life more meaningful, more beautiful. What I lose the weekend we climb, I will value on the other side of the summit more and more. More importantly, as my personal comforts are stripped away for a brief time, it’s all to free girls enslaved in the sex trade, girls who are not only stripped of every comfort I have, but of all dignity, freedom, and hope.

The climb itself accomplishes little. But, what’s below the surface—or at that next peak—is beyond us. I could never say it so poignantly, but a quote I ran across recently (at the Fred Meyer checkout, no less) sums up what we do best:

We solved none of life’s problems, but I believe all of us returned with a new awareness of some of its realities. Each of us may have realized in his own way, if only for a moment, what Saint Exupery spoke of as “…that new vision of the world won through hardship.”

When Abolitionists Win

This is what happens when abolitionists win:

On July 28, IJM Cambodia (International Justice Mission) and local police conducted a successful rescue operation at a remote brothel: 20 girls and young women were removed from the building in the coordinated operation, and all perpetrators were arrested.  The brothel owner, formerly an officer in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, initially attempted to escape by jumping from a second floor balcony over a brick wall, but was pursued by police and ultimately found hiding in a shed.  The brothel was particularly cruel; the girls and women there were never free to leave alone and were sent to service customers at local casinos each night.  One of the girls said to IJM staff, “Now we’re out of hell and going to paradise!”  The victims are receiving care from IJM social workers as they share their stories with local authorities.  IJM will ensure that each victim is equipped with the aftercare services she needs in collaboration with local partners.  The accused perpetrators are in police custody.

Additionally, one of IJM’s South Asia teams conducted an operation in collaboration with local police at a brothel – the operation, a result of IJM investigative work, brought freedom to seven trafficking victims. Six suspected perpetrators were taken into police custody duing the rescue operation. The freed women and girls are being cared for by IJM social workers as they share their stories with authorities. (Originally posted on the IJM Institute)

This is why we support IJM– learn more about the great work of IJM at www.ijm.org and you can follow them on Twitter at @ijmhq.

Route Update // Ben Wicks

One of the challenges of a late summer attempt on Mt. Rainier is that large crevasses tend to open up, snow bridges become soft, and rock falls become a higher risk. Given the unusually warm summer we have experienced, these conditions become exacerbated. The good news is that our equipment and training provide a strong level of protection against these risks. And, of course, a clear head to judge and evaluate risk along the way up is crucial. Ed Viesturs, a local Seattle mountaineering hero, says it this way…“Getting to the top is optional, but getting down is mandatory”.

Below is an update on the conditions of our route up to Camp Muir and beyond .

August 12th

Muir Snowfield
Numerous crevasses have begun to open on the snowfield below Camp Muir between 9,200 and 10,000 feet. Although some of the known crevasses are wanded, the intense heat has been melting out the snow bridges faster than wands can be placed. The current trail travels over bridged cracks that are up to six feet across. Use extreme caution as you move above Moon Rocks on your way to camp. The recent rains have melted out a large amount of the snow above 9,000 feet leaving behind exposed and slick blue ice that requires crampons for secure footing.

Disappointment Cleaver
Late summer weather and climbing conditions have been prevailing themes on Rainier recently. This has made for a high summit success rate and even some t-shirts on top of the peak! Rockfall and melting snow bridges are the two primary risk management concerns affecting the route currently.

The cleaver has completely melted out and all travel is now on rock. As you travel along the cleaver, aim for the spine and slightly left of the spine for the most efficient and least exposed route. This route is wanded but the flags can be difficult to see under headlamp before the sun rises each morning. Be mindful of those travelling above and below you. Avoid kicking rocks or snagging them with your ropes as you move up and down the path. If you happen to dislodge a rock, alert others immediately by yelling ROCK!

The recent string of hot, bluebird days have affected the mountain’s snowpack drastically. Crevasses have been observed opening up by a foot or more in the span of a day during the warmest stretches of weather. Snow bridges are becoming very weak and the trail is becoming extremely narrow in places. The two fixed lines on the route, below and above the cleaver, have paths that are at most six inches wide. These thin routes require careful footwork with crampons to avoid accidental spike snags in gaiters and pant legs. The intense daytime sun has been weakening the picket placements that support the fixed lines. Be sure to test any gear that is in place on the route as its strength will vary widely throughout the day. The end of the traverse over onto the Emmons shoulder is beginning to break apart and requires running protection at this time.

With all of that said, the route is still pretty direct and generally in good shape as we near mid-August. Weekends continue to be near capacity up at Camp Muir and Ingraham Flats but the weekdays have been seeing much less traffic. Hopefully the weather fronts this week will bring some new snow and colder temps to help preserve the route for a while longer this season.

Why I Climb - Josh Hebert