Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Keith McCord Reporting Many college students have finished classes for the summer and a lot of folks will enjoy the break by relaxing or taking a vacation. We found three women who plan to get away, but it's no vacation. They're about to undertake a grueling journey to raise money for breast cancer victims.
Meet three very ambitious young women -- Nancy Calhoun, Sheldon Kerr and Libby Bushell. These best friends hope to strike a pose on the top of America's tallest peak, Denali, a few weeks from now.
We spoke with them today, as they were packing up their gear. Libby has kept track of the equipment; Nancy has all the medicines laid out in this corner; Sheldon minds the grocery store.
Sheldon Kerr: "So this is the kitchen, so this is what's going to go into our bodies and get us up the mountain."
Twenty-eight days of high-energy food that Sheldon, Nancy and Libby will eat on their three-week trek to, what they hope is, the top of the 20,230 foot peak.
This isn't just a summertime adventure. As avid hikers, these women decided they wanted a bigger challenge, so they decided to turn it into a fund-raiser for breast cancer research, and for the past two years have collected pledges --$27,000 so far -- all of which they'll donate.
Libby Bushell: "Originally our goal was $50,000 because it was this number we never thought was reachable. So let's just try to get as much as we can, and here's a number."
They've trained extensively the past two years. When not attending classes in Colorado Springs, they've been in Alaska and in Utah, climbing, testing gear, building their endurance.
Sheldon Kerr: "So Little Cottonwood Canyon was our Denali for a month. So we'd spend big days climbing the Pfeifferhorn and Superior, getting up all those peaks and just running our bodies hard."
Many people attempt to climb Denali each year, and probably 95 percent are men, which has given Sheldon, Libby and Nancy plenty of motivation, given the cause they're working for.
Sheldon Kerr: "That's an extremely low number, and you see even more rarely an all-women team. So it feels right to have this team of women working for a team of women who are trying to battle this disease."
They're battle to summit Denali begins May 27th. The climbers have set up a website with more information on the charity their working with. Check it out at www.botwb.org.
