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Rock Climbing News - May 2007
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Thursday, 31 May 2007
The first annual Embrace Race to break the Guinness World Record for the most hugs in a 24 hour period will be attempted by Dean Ruddy (Mt. Prospect, IL) and Ross Smith (Toronto, Canada) beginning on Friday,
June 1st at 11:00 a.m.
The pair will be giving out hugs south of the Tribune Tower at 435 N. Michigan Ave. (across from the Wrigley Building, next to the Jack Brickhouse statue.) until 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 2 and will be raising money and awareness for Dreams for Kids. During the 24 hour period, they will be attempting to break the record of 4,135 hugs. Dean and Ross both currently live in Gravesend, England where they both play professional soccer. They also have a personal contest to see who can hug the most celebrities.
"We came up with the idea during a break in our soccer schedule and are excited to partner with a worthwhile organization like Dreams for Kids" says Dean "We hope to raise a great deal of awareness and money to help them with their mission of providing Extreme Recess programs to kids with disabilities."
Dreams for Kids is a 501 charitable organization based in Chicago and the Extreme Recess program provides opportunities for kids of all abilities to experience activities like kayaking, water skiing, snow skiing, white water rafting, camping and rock climbing with adapted equipment that ensures kids with physical challenges achieve success.
For more information on the embrace race, visit the Dreams for Kids site at www.dreamsforkids.org.
The Dreams for Kids Mission is to empower young people of all abilities through dynamic leadership programs and life-changing activities that inspire them to fearlessly pursue their dreams and compassionately change the world.
Visit www.emediawire.com for more details about this news story.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
This year's edition of Rock Junior European Youth Climbing Festival will be held on June 9 and 10 at Arco, Lake Garda, Trentino, Italy. The great European Youth Climbing Festival is open to all children aged
5 -13 and their families.
Italian Police athlete and sports climbing champion Flavio Crespi will be the special guest of this year's sixth edition of the Rock Junior. He is one of the strongest athletes in the climbing world ranking who had won the World Cup in 2005. He will together participate with young climbers and their parents in this great vertical game.
The climbing weekend is made to measure for the children and their families. All can participate, beginners and experts alike, children and their parents. The Rock Junior speaks at least 10 different languages and it represents all that combines climbing and fun. And it also represents an ideal link between climbing and the fantastic nature and rocks in Arco which are the cradle of modern sports climbing in Italy.
Visit www.planetmountain.com for more details about this news story.
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
A paralysed British climber conquered Snowdon last Saturday despite his painful experienced less than a year ago. Twenty-five year old Michael Garton who is a chemical research and development officer reache
d to summit of the Welsh mountain and showed to the world his determination to climb again.
Garton was assisted by a team of 19 which includes friends from across the country and was pushed and pulled in his wheelchair, with the aid of ropes, for a gruelling 3½ hours to tackle the 3,560ft (1,085m) mountain. His helpers include a staff from the spinal injuries unit at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and tackled the mountain with 11 other people in wheelchairs. The climb was organised by the Back-Up Trust, a national charity that supports people with spinal cord injury.
Garton who started climbing at age twelve was left paralysed after falling more than 120 feet off the Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, in July last year. A piece of rock gave way and he slipped lying helpless in an isolated ledge for ten hours with broken neck. Norwegian Air Force Sea King crew came to the area and mounted a rescue. Now with only ten months after the nerve wracking accident Mr. Garton conquered Snowdon.
Visit www.timesonline.co.uk for more details about this news story.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Local professional climber, Heidi Wirtz, has scaled massive rock walls in India, Canada, and the United States, set women's speed records on multi-day climbs in the Yosemite Valley, and regularly tackles ris
ky, finger-tweaking cracks all over Colorado and beyond. Yet, she says, although climbing is fun and challenging, it just doesn't fulfill all her needs, one of which is to give back to the world community.
"I like the fact that I can now do something useful with my climbing experiences," says Wirtz. "I am doing something that really helps people."
Majka Burhardt, one of the first women to be certified by the American Mountain Guides Association, has climbed and guided throughout North America, made high-altitude ascents in Bolivia and Ecuador, and most recently led a team of three other women to establish new routes on sandstone spires in northern Ethiopia. Burhardt agrees that giving back is an important component of her climbing life.
"I believe this is an important event for the community and for women," explains Burhardt. "As a climbing guide, the opportunity to share what I love with others who are inspired by the sport is what motivates me in my work. With HERA, I get to contribute to an event that inspires me and others, which makes it hard to pass up."
On June 15-17, Wirtz and Burhardt, along with a host of other accomplished climbers, will contribute their skills, knowledge, and tenacity to yet another major challenge: the fight against ovarian cancer. By volunteering to lead clinics, give slideshows, and guide climbs as part of the first HERA Climb4Life event to be held on the Front Range, these expert climbers will instruct and motivate climbers of all abilities, whose $50 fees for participating will support ovarian cancer research and awareness-raising activities.
"By climbing together, I get to help participants reach a goal, and they enable me to see the world a little bigger," says Burhardt, who will take a group of survivors up the Flatirons on the 16th. Plus, Wirtz adds, "It's a great opportunity to hang out with amazingly rad women. It is so fun to work with the women that come to the events, they are always so excited and full of energy."
Both climbers have supported past efforts to raise funds and awareness to fight cancers specific to women, and although they have been the guides and instructors at these events, they also learn through their participation. As a member of a team of young female climbers untouched by cancer climbing alongside a team of cancer survivors in the 1998 Climb Against the Odds ascent of Denali to raise awareness about breast cancer, Burhardt came to realize, and now encourages others to know that "it's never too early to start paying attention."
Visit www.prweb.com for more details about this news story.
Friday, 25 May 2007
For the first time in history a climber from Lancaster Country had climbed the 29,035 foot Mount Everest. Terry Schuck, a veteran climber from Quarryville is successfully climbing through his way to the worl
d's highest peak.
Schuck began his quest for Everest at the end of March and keep his friend updated Andrea DeVoe through his constant periodic emails. In an email sent by Schuck to Andrea on May 10, he stated that he was confident he would reach the peak. He who had scaled the world's sixth-highest mountain, 26,906-foot Cho Oyu, in 2004 made Andrea believe he could conquer its taller neighbor, Mount Everest. As of Wednesday night, Lancaster time, Schuck still was on the mountain, with eight other climbers in an expedition organized by SummitClimb.
There are about 2,400 climbers who had scaled Mount Everest since Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand did it on May 29, 1953 and around 185 people died trying. If Schuck would make it, he would be the first man ever in history from Lancaster Country to climb Mount Everest.
Visit local.lancasteronline.com for more details about this news story.
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