Summit The Highest Peak In Your State For A Cause!

I caught this story over at Trailspace today and thought it was a good event for a good cause.

It seems that the American Foundation for Children with AIDS is organizing an event called Climb Up So Kids Can Grow Up in which we are all encouraged to climb the highest peak in one of the 50 United States to raise funds and awareness for children who have AIDS.

In the Summer Summit Challenge, participants will be asked to raise $115 in sponsor money as an individual, or $5000 as a team, and then attempt their "summit" between June 27th and July 6th of this year. The money raised will be used to purchase medical and supplies for kids living in Africa who are afflicted with the HIV virus.

If you would like to join in, just go to this age and sign up. Before hand, you may want to have a look at this page however as it lists the tallest peak in all 50 states. You might want to know what you're getting yourself into ahead of time. ;) For instance, in Alaska you'll be facing the fearsome Denali, which stands 20,320 feet in height and is a challenging mountaineering climb. On the other hand, if you live in Illinois, you'll be topping out on Charles Mound at just 1235 feet. Does a place with "mound" in the title really have a summit? Maybe those climbers should have to go up twice or something.

Anyway, it's for a great cause, and obviously there are challenges here for all skill levels. Back in my home state of Iowa, I'd be facing the 1670 foot Hawkeye Point, but here in Texas it's the slightly more daunting Guadalupe Peak at 8749 feet. Hmm... maybe I should schedule a trip home that weekend.