Summit For Someone Gears Up For 2009!

I've mentioned the Summit For Someone program before, and by most accounts it was a highly successful year for the organization that hopes to help at risk kids by raising money for Big City Mountaineers, whose goal is to bring memorable and life altering outdoor experiences to urban youth who might not otherwise get the opportunities.

The Summit For Someone program is a simple concept. Those who want to help the cause can sign-up, and choose from a variety of mountains to make a climb attempt on. They're then tasked with raising a certain amount of money, based on the climb they choose. That money goes to the cause, and the climbers get to go on their climb and get a bunch of new gear to help them along the way.

The registration for 2009 opens next week on the 15th. and there seem to be plenty of options to chose from when it comes to the climbs, including expedition climbs on Denali and Orizaba, as well as a woman's only climb. One change from past years is that when you signed up, you would receive a gear package that contained most of the items you would need, but this year they will instead give gift cards to MountainGear.com of $300, $800, and $1200 values depending on which climbs you sign up for.

The Summit For Someone program is also sponsored by Backpacker Magazine and one climber's successful fund raising efforts is enough to send five kids and their youth leader, on an outdoor mentoring program during the summer. A worthy cause indeed.

So, if you're interested in climbing for a cause, and helping out the Big City Mountaineers, while getting some great experience in the mountains, and some cool gear as well, I can't think of a better way to go about it.