You’ve most likely noticed an increase in many things ‘awesome’ around here – granted, it’s probably a California symptom but hey there are in fact many shades of awesome-ness on the left coast of the US. The latest being ‘Awesome Challenge’ where ordinary people take on extra-ordinary tasks like um deciding to climb Cali’s highest summit Mt Whitney at 14 505 ft starting April 28th and besides the personal challenge of it all, it’s for a great cause in helping under resourced urban teens make it into the great wild outdoors and beyond.

Gus and Chuck prepare for an Awesome Challenge

So what’s it all about ? Why climb Mt Whitney when it’s oh so cozy at home ? well you know, c’mon an awesome challenge is just that ! our first local heroes Chuck Parker and Gus Valentino (dedicated spirited dads with families) love a good outdoor, physical and mental challenge that would on top of it all raise money for not as fortunate inner city teens to do the same (enter Big City Mountaineers and Summit for Someone ). Clearly this isn’t the Sound of Music where you don’t just ‘climb every mountain’ especially as high as Mt Whitney but with their prior physicality and forays into white water rafting, skiing, hiking, dog sledding, and yikes even a triathlon, Gus and Chuck decided to make this daunting climb their next awesome challenge ! and we’re proud that they came to us as storytellers and as K-Swiss the California Sports Company who love to ‘Have An Awesome Day’ to help support them and tell their story.

Simple right ? not quite – they live on the East Coast, have been training full on in their K-Swiss Tubes with 50lb backpacks since January, whilst still flying around the globe as commercial pilots. Training continued in whatever environ they found themselves in from Tokyo to Anchorage and when we all met a couple days ago, Chuck and Gus were positively beaming and ready for this – we’re all inspired for sure ! and wish them the best of luck …..

In Chuck’s words “we could have any sort of weather on the climb at 14000′ in April!  The top of the climb will be above the tree line and snow covered.  Slopes will be from 25 to 50 degrees and we will be in mountaineering boots and crampons!  We will be wearing a transmitter and our progress can be tracked via the web.  We have been documenting out training and will continue to document the climb and entire experience with photos and video.”

Here’s their journey that we’re tracking here and on Facebook, with a full flag waving from the summit report and video of this exciting challenge shortly after their return:

April 26th and 27th
arrive in LAX, and head for Lone Pine, CA.  We plan to do a day hike or two on the 26th and 27th in order to fine tune our gear and begin acclimatizing to the altitude.

April 28th
We meet the guides and climbers at the Mt. Whitney Cafe at 0700 for breakfast and head off for the trail.  We will begin our trek from about 8,350′ and snow shoe / hike our way to the Lower Boyscout Lake at 10,400′ where we will make camp and spend the night.

April 29th
We leave Lower Boyscout Lake and head for our High Camp at 12,000′.  We plan to arrive in the early afternoon and rest there to continue acclimatizing.  We will also check over our gear and make final preparations for the summit attempt the following day.

April 30th
Summit Day!  Wake up at 0200am – 0500am, depending on the weather conditions and begin out trek to the Summit (about 15,000′) and return to the High Camp (12,000′) for the night.

May 1st
Pack up and head the rest of the way down to arrive in Lone Pine around 1pm.

Welcome back guys !