The Last Post of the We Challenge MS Climb 2020

 

Hello everyone. I thought I’d send a “last post” to recap a few weeks of physical and mental training, an intense day of climbing on Tuesday and an intense and very successful 2 weeks of fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis, which as you know by now is a cause very close to me heart.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE. As cheques take a bit longer to post, the total on the MS site shows $25,035 as of now but I’m aware of a couple of very significant cheques yet to be posted which will push the total to $29,635. WOW, that’s terrific and so close to our stretch goal of $30,000. I’m hoping the $29,635 total is like a “false summit” you may encounter when you are climbing a mountain. What happens is you can see what looks like the top of the mountain or the summit and you set your sights on that only to arrive there and see there is another “hill” yet to climb to get to the true summit. I’m hopeful some of you on the distribution list will help push our fundraising beyond this “false summit” to a higher, true summit in the weeks to come. It’s never too late to donate.

MS. I’ve received some really heartfelt stories about how MS has affected many people’s families along with some great stories about how some people with MS have made simple, healthy life changes along with taking relatively simple treatment choices and have great results. No matter what the circumstance there is always something to hope for and together I think we will bring more hope to some people living with MS.

CLIMBING UPDATE. My legs have not taken me up anything longer than a flight of stairs since Tuesday and remarkably I feel much better than I thought I might- probably at least partly due to a good training program leading up to Tuesday’s long day. For the statistical geeks in the crowd, the totals from Tuesday were almost exactly 11.5 hours from the first steps to the last step with about 9 hours of actual climbing time, a nice hike of about 23 km and approximately 2600 meters of vertical climbing up and an equal amount down.

THANK YOUS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First to all of you who have gone to the blog, www.briansclimb.com, to read about the Triple Crown of Canmore, to learn more about my adventure and to raise your awareness of MS and how it affects far too many young Canadian women and men. Also, for sharing the story with others who would otherwise not have seen it or read it.

To the 54 people who have donated to support the cause. I’m remarkably pleased with how much money we have raised but equally pleased with how many people made the commitment to donate and support.

To my wife and training partner, Cathy New. I did a lot of the training solo but Cathy hiked with me up Ha Ling Peak both on my 2 mountains- in- one- day training run and most importantly late on Tuesday when the nice, steady pace she set through the gale force wind was just what I needed to complete the Ha Ling climb.

To Matt Williams from our office for the technical support and lastly to Laura Fisher, our Chief Marketing Officer, who built the blog spot, set me up on social media, edited and organized all of the posts and on climbing day had them posted in real time. Without her support it would not have happened or at best would not have been as interesting.

This campaign was a lot of “fun” and a gratifying opportunity for me to give back in some small way made possible by all of your support. Thanks again to everyone, take care and be safe,