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Kids Alive supporter Rick Poole made it to the top of the world’s highest peak!
Rick With Kids Alive Flag at Base Camp
In the latest report received by Kids Alive from Camp 4, Rick successfully made it to the rooftop of the world at 29,035 feet above sea level on 23 May at 11:15 am local time.
Rick’s every step to the top of Mt. Everest had to be meticulously calibrated, tested, and then executed. There was no room for mistakes. One misstep could plunge him down the face of Mt. Lhotse at an incline of 30-40 degrees, or worse, send him down one of the many bottomless crevasses in the Khumbu Ice Fall. Each step came with a grim reminder of his fragility and mortality.
This is similar to the reality faced by many children before they arrive at a Kids Alive site.
Rick was moved by the sight of some of the children he encountered during his visit to Dominican Republic with Kids Alive. It moved him profoundly enough to commit to raise $1 for every foot he climbed to the top of Everest. Rick is raising money, as he puts it, “to put a smile on the faces” of children. These are at-risk kids who navigate the formidable Everests in their own lives, climbs which, without your intervention, can lead them down deep crevasses of injustice and poverty.
Rick and his fellow climbers left Camp 4 at 26,400 feet and trudged all the way up via South Col to reach the summit, scaling the last and the most treacherous 2,635 feet leading to the summit over an area known as the “Death Zone.” This last section had to be scaled within 24 hours as the altitude, weather, and physical endurance of the human body is subjected to extreme conditions. One 55-year-old climber from Utah who went ahead of Rick is believed to have died of cardiac arrest on his way back from the summit.
Will you join us in praying Rick and his team back down the mountain safely? And please encourage him by “putting a smile on the children’s faces” – give a gift that represents 200, 100, or 50 feet of Rick’s climb to the top!
Rick with his family at Base Camp
Click below to watch more on climbing Mt. Everest, courtesy Google Earth:
