Denali 2010 Rhema Grace Orphanage Charity Climb: February 2010

The Project

The Rhema Grace Orphanage is located near Tiko Cameroon. The orphanage is home to 54 children. The University of Alaska Anchorage Engineers Without Borders (EWB-UAA) student chapter has been involved with the orphange for over two years. They are currently in the project implementation phase, where they plan to install a hand pump for extracting clean drinking water and perform kitchen upgrades in the summer of 2010.

To learn more about the project please visit: http://ewbuaa.uaa.alaska.edu/Projects.html

Contributions

The Denali 2010 Rhema Grace Orphanage Climb is trying to raise money to assist the UAA-EWB in their efforts to provide sustainable solutions to improving the quality of life at the orphanage.

Please consider contributing to our cause. All proceeds go directly to the UAA-EWB Rhema Grace Orphanage project.

Suggested donation amount is $1.00 per 1000ft elevation. The elevation of Denali is 20,320ft = $20.32 (Any amount is appreciated, the .32 helps us identify donations from the charity climb).

To donate to the project please visit:
https://www.ewb-usa.org/donate.php?fund=4&chapter=871

The Climbing Team

Ivan Chikigak-Steadman - Ivan is a lifelong Talkeetna resident and recent UAA graduate. He is currently traveling through SE Asia. He enjoys the outdoors and spending time in his hometown, Talkeetna.

Garrett Yager -Garrett is a former president of the EWB-UAA chapter. He is originally from New Mexico and has lived in Alaska for 8 years. He currently lives in Anchorage with his wife Jamie and his son Liam.

Jason Robinson - Jason is a UAA grad who also has strong ties to Talkeetna where he attended high school with Ivan. Jason works for Volunteers of America and lives in Anchorage with his wife Jamie and his children Kaden and Brooke.

Chris Love - Chris, who is originally from Michigan now calls Talkeetna home. The mountains and rivers are his office where he works as a flyfishing/river guide and teaches for the Alaska Avalanche School. Chris is also an EMT for the Talkeetna Fire Dept. officially giving him the title "Team Medic".

Friday, February 26, 2010

High Mountain Frequencies

I read this morning that you can pick up many radio stations on the mountain. I imagine you can also pick up KTNA the Susitna Valley radio station. I will be bringing my solar/hand-crank radio so we can catch "Denali Echos" and the great variety of music that ranges from '80s butt rock to bluegrass with some NPR programming tossed in the mix. Many houses in the valley do not have phone service, or other utilities. Denali Echos on KTNA provides a means of communication for these rural households including people requesting rides to Anchorage, or announcing that your library books have arrived at the public library.

Check it out online at http://ktna.org/

Cheers,
Garrett

Monday, February 15, 2010

Welcome to the adventure

Welcome to the Denali 2010 Rhema Grace Orphanage Charity climb. My intentions are to keep this blog up to date with climbing trip preparation and training news as well as postings from the UAA-EWB project as they prepare for the implementation trip this summer. The climb is scheduled for May 15, 2010 and we plan to be on the mountain for 2 1/2 weeks. Sign up to follow this blog and receive notices on updated postings. Also please consider making a donation to the project.

Cheers,
Garrett

Denali 2010 Rhema Grace Orphanage Charity Climb