COTOPAXI TEAM SUMMITS

At approximately 9am on a cold but sunny morning, Team Pittsburgh took the last final steps of a nearly 8 hour climb as we reached the summit of Volcan Cotopaxi and stood tall at 19,388 feet. Through the night climb to the top, we watched a lightning storm streak the skies above the Amazon Basin, the Southern Cross shine brightly above us, and only our headlamps lit the way as we paced ourselves foot, foot, axe, foot, foot, axe.

When dawn finally broke, it was nothing more than a lightening of the sky, we did not feel the warmth of the sun due to the shadow of the peak above us. When we finally stood on top and took in all there was to see, we were greeted with views of the Cotopaxi crater, the other peaks of the Andes poking through the clouds to the horizon and an incredible show as Tungurahua (nearly 50 miles away from us) rumbled to life and filled the sky with a huge mushroom cloud of volcanic ash. (not exactly something you see everyday)

It was an amazing journey and we can't thank you all enough for your support and encouragement. Our training as a team paid off as each member made the summit and had the strength and stamina to return safely back down the steep headwalls to our base without incident. Our fundraising has been fantastic and continues as our next Climb For Hope teams work towards their goal of reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro in June.

We also received some great news on the latest updates from Dr. Emens (who called us after our return to Quito to congratulate us on our climb and thank us for our commitment)