The Climb to Conquer event took place in Pasadena, Newfoundland on June 27th, 2015. The group of around 100 people from the Pasadena area came out to climb and walk for Huntington Disease. With the use of personal Facebook pages organizer, Rich Wheeler promoted this event to his friends, family, and business contacts with help from a fitness partner.
Climb to Conquer combined the walk event and climb event this year, with about 50 participants in each. The climbers climbed to the top of Killdevil Mountain in about 2 hours, took photos and had refreshments at the top, and began their descent. Once safely at the bottom, the climbers met at the local Lion’s club with the walkers who had just finished their 5 km walk around town for a barbeque and prizes. This event had a goal of $5,000 and blew it out of the water with $12,000!
Rich has received tremendous feedback from this event. Everyone enjoyed the day and there was an opportunity to spread awareness to those who did not know about HD. Rich’s wife, Ruby is the only person in the community with HD so awareness is a very important component at Climb to Conquer.
“Seeing the support from friends and family who participate is a real satisfaction for me. Sometimes when a person is facing a fatal disease they feel they are alone. We have so much support here from people who just stop us when we walk.” – Rich Wheeler
Rich and Ruby have been involved in organizing events since 2013, and have since organized climbs, as they live in the hiking capital of Newfoundland! They have also started brainstorming a new cross country hike event for next year in the Gros Morne area followed by a social/dance.
“I try to personally thank each and every person who participates. I thanked one lady on the climb when she reached the bottom. I said that it was a tough climb, and thanks for coming along. She said, ‘It wasn’t tough compared to what Ruby is facing with HD’. That says it all!” – Rich Wheeler
To see photos from Climb to Conquer, click here.
Killdevil Mountain is a 1,837 ft / 560 m mountain peak near Pasadena, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 99th highest mountain in Newfoundland and Labrador and the 9418th highest mountain in Canada. See the Killdevil Mountain map, 3D fly around, and the Killdevil Mountain photos to get a better sense of the mountain.
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