Both times Bob Summer has battled cancer, once in 1981 and again in 2004, children undergoing tests, surgeries, and treatments made a lasting impression on him.  With recovery came a clear objective; combine climbing with raising money to place children dealing with cancer in a setting that allows them to be children again in an outdoor camp setting, and to raise hope. In 1997, the Cancer Survivors on McKinley team was guided to the summit by Caitlin Palmer, Colby Coombs, and Scott Darsney.  Over $110,000 was raised allowing 300 children dealing with cancer to attend special cancer camps around the country.  Flags from the camps were taken to the summit of Denali and held by cancer survivors.  The flags and photos were sent back to the camps where they still provide an extra bit of hope to the young ones attending.

More recently, in 2004, while Summer was undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the University of Washington Medical Center for Burkitt’s Lymphoma, another fundraising climb was born. Cancer Survivors on Mount Aspiring is in the same spirit as the 1997 Denali climb, just in a different part of the world. A team member from the 1997 climb, Cam Pollock, brought in a video of a climb in the Cascades from which he had just returned.  One of the climbers in the video, Klev Schoening, a cancer survivor himself, inspired Summer who was in the middle of chemotherapy treatments.  Summer was amazed at the impact it had on him, though still in the hospital bed and at one of the lowest points in his treatment.  “Watching this healthy guy (Schoening) moving easily up the mountain and realizing he was in the same position a couple years ago that I was in made me realize I could get through this and get after climbing again.  What I was trying to do for young people was being done to me.”

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Summer wants to be sure everyone understands that all money raised goes for paying for tuition for children to attend these special cancer camps. No monies raised will go for airfare to New Zealand, lodging, guide fees, gear, or benefit the team in any way.  These climbers are paying their own way out of their own pockets. On top of this, each team member is requested to raise $10,000 in donations for the cause – to pay the tuition for children dealing with cancer to attend these “cancer camps” that are designed and staffed for young lives that cancer has entered.   

Besides money to send children to camps, the intention is to raise hope by climbing a mountain - a unique mountain with a great name - in a magical country (the place Sir Edmund Hillary grew up, a personal hero of Summer…he appreciates the New Zealand 5 dollar bill).  "Mount Aspiring looks like a mountain a child would draw" was what one person associated with this climb mentioned.  It is, so pyramid looking, so dramatic, so beautiful; it is a classic looking mountain and will serve as a classic example of a goal to achieve, much like a young person facing cancer and achieving the goal of reaching normalcy and good health.

The dates for the climb are:  December 27 – December 31, 2007
The team will leave Wanaka and head up the Matukituki Valley to the Collin Todd Hut, then up the Northwest Ridge.  Four team members will be guided by Adventure Consultants.

Please take a look at their website: aspiring2007.org

Feel free to contact Bob Summer with any further questions.  Thank you for your interest in this project that is so close to his heart.  Please give Bob a call at: 907.262.6631

Bob Summer, Coordinator
Cancer Survivors on Mount Aspiring 2007
Cancer Survivors on McKinley 1997
”Still Climbing For Kids”

The following companies have donated gear, that in turn, is auctioned off at fundraising events. All the money raised from these auction items will go to pay tuition for children with cancer to attend cancer camps.