Denali

My Memories are Everything climbs are to raise awareness and research money for Alzheimer's Disease. My mom, Ida, passed away from Alzheimer's in 2009.

Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, with another person newly diagnosed every 69 seconds. It affects more than 5 million people in the United States and over 25 million worldwide. The burden on families and family caregivers are significant both personally as well as financially. With our aging population, these issues are increasing dramatically. Today, there is no reliable method of early detection and no cure. And there is hope with research.

100% of your donations got to your selected non-profit and none to Alan, his climbing expenses or supporters.

The Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Program of Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy and Pfizer Inc. funded my climbs for the 7 Summits campaign and will continue to fund my ongoing campaign efforts. All money I raise from donations goes directly to the organizations I have selected. Click here to find official information about the campaign. As of November 9, 2010, content posted here is my own but subject to certain limitations in conjunction with the support of the AIP.

The Cure Alzheimer's Fund is supported by private grants thus allowing 100% of your donations to go directly to Alzheimer's research.

The National Family Caregivers Association, is an organization that empowers family family caregivers to act on behalf of themselves and their loved ones.

The Alzheimer's Association is the world's leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research, and the largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research. The Association’s vision is a world without Alzheimer’s®. Visit the Alzheimer's Association to learn more.

Climbed June/July 2011 (reached 17,500' stopped by hurricane winds on summit)

North America: Denali (20,320'/6194m)

Denali is the native American name for the mountain but it was changed to Mt. McKinley in honor of President McKinley and then officially changed back to Denali by the National park Service in 1980. It is in central Alaska - 300 miles South of the Arctic Circle and 200 miles East of the Bearing Sea. Denali offers some the the largest vertical gain of any mountain on Earth. With base camp at 7,200' and the summit at 20,320', this 13,120' of gain over twelve miles is larger than Cho Oyu (8,407) or even Everest (10,535). The biggest threat on Denali is the weather. It is well known for socking you in for days with high winds and snow. An estimated 32,000 climbers have attempted Denali with about a 40% success rate. Almost 100 have died including 11 in 1992.

The second highest mountain in North America is Mt. Logan in Canada's Yukon at 19,551'/5959m and is 385 miles southeast of Denali. Similar to Denali it is a huge massif but with eleven peaks. Logan is believed to have the largest base circumference of any mountain. The normal route is consider straightforward but weather is a huge problem for Logan like it is for Denali in addition to being so remote.

Denali Resources

I have climb on Denali three times. You can read about my climbs thru these links: