Climb Up Kilimanjaro is a unique fundraising event that pairs an athletic challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania with the goal of helping African children with AIDS. Created for serious hikers and trekkers by the American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA), Climb Up Kilimanjaro is an expedition of a life time.

Darn Tough Vermont is proud to support this effort.

What follows is a synopsis of the final push for the summit by Tanya Weaver, Executive Director of the American Foundation for Children with AIDS. Enjoy!

Why we did it!

It is not so late – perhaps only 6pm, but it is cold. Like, really, really cold.  I find myself shivering as I look for something comfortable to wear now that I’ve managed to wash my hair in only one cup of water.  Who knew that was even possible?  Thank  goodness for short hair!  But, now that my hair is wet, I am cold.  So, with my handy headlamp on, I fumble in my bag, looking for what I know will help me.  Out comes my awesome Polarmax shirts and pants, followed by my favorite socks of all time –my Darn Tough socks.  I put these thick Merino wool socks on top of some liners and immediately started to feel warmer.  I tuck myself into my sleeping bag to read a bit before hitting the sack (literally), but before I knew it, it was 11 p.m. and a voice is calling through the tent door, “Tanya, it is time to get up…we ascend tonight”.

With a feeling of anticipation and with my contacts practically stuck to my eyeballs, I make my way out of the tent, not believing the stars above me.  It is dizzying seeing so many stars!  It is wonderful, though. We are about to embark on the last push to the top of Kilimanjaro and I just can’t wait. It is something I dreamed of doing at 16 and here it is, finally my turn to make it to the top. After a cup of tea, a light dinner, and a cup of hot chocolate, my team and I are ready to make a move. It is dark. It is a bit intimidating as I look up and up and up and all I can see is tiny headlamps which look like the lights on a Christmas tree.  They climb and climb above me and I decide not to look up anymore. Instead, I decide this is the night I need to listen to music, so I pop my ear pieces in and soon, I am climbing to the rhythm of favorite songs.

The climb goes on forever, it seems.  In the dark it is hard to know how long time has gone by.  As we stop for a quick break (3 minutes…no more…they don’t want us to get hypothermia), I ask my team mates if they are warm.  Everyone grunts or shakes a head to say that they are fine.  Someone offers, “I cannot believe that my feet are still warm!” While my hands needed a quick rub from the porters because I quit feeling them, my feet are doing well.  Three minutes are up…time to move again.  We follow this pattern for hours.  Finally, finally – the sun comes up and I find myself grinning like an idiot behind my balaklava because we are standing above the sunrise.  Clouds are beneath us and the sun makes its presence known.  We feel warm, not because the sun is hot (it is not), but because we know we are going to make it.  We know we are almost there.

And sure enough…another hard push or two, and we make it to the top.  The glorious view is there to be touched.  The silence of gratitude to all who helped us make it engulfs us.  Then, the celebration starts in my toes and makes its way to my belly and then to my lips and I want to sing.  What a journey it has been!  What an adventure.  What started a year ago with fundraising, planning and exercising has become a memory I’ll keep forever.  My team is amazing…I love every woman on that team for what they did for our kids, for what they continue to do and for the lives they changed.  All because they got up one morning and said “I can climb a mountain to help someone else”.  And, we did it.

38,000+ feet. 14 women. 0 blisters. 0 cold feet (I asked). Thousands of children helped. The trip of a lifetime.

Thanks a million, Darn Tough!  We hope you will always outfit our teams!

-Tanya Weaver, Executive Director of the American Foundation for Children with AIDS

Each 50-65 km course unfolded differently: sometimes we would face technical, ledgy spines and rocky drops. Other trails were lined with slippery, moss and mud-covered root ladders, or fern-laden, sweeping berms. Slow, steep, switchback climbs followed by fast, sandy, double-track descents kept it interesting. And, the bridges! Whether wide or narrow, short or long, you could count on being surprised by beautifully-built features along the way.

Camaraderie was high among the race’s 450 riders from around the world. I befriended “pods” of riders throughout each race and playfully leap frogged places with an inspiring group of women. Phil and I discovered that Vermont’s landscapes – spring’s muddy backroads and summer’s diverse trail networks – had prepared us well. Our fitness and technical savvy only improved each day through the pure immersion of racing hard. I found myself on the podium five out of the seven days and finished third overall in the Master’s category. Phil was psyched with a 7^th place overall finish in the Master’s men and finishing 36^th out of 450 in one timed downhill. As Phil put it, the BC Bike Race was the hardest, yet most satisfying and transformative racing we’ve ever done.

Kylie holding Mitchell the Dinosaur

But one of the things we often forget is just how nice it is to be here in Vermont, USA, where people can come visit us and check out what we do. We remember growing up as kids and taking field trips to factories and plants. Seeing the machinery was so cool! It’s getting harder and harder for kids to have these opportunities, since so many manufacturing plants have gone overseas.

Today at our mill we had the pleasure of meeting Mitchell the dinosaur and Kylie. Mitchell came to visit Vermont from a class in St Louis, MO.  He is visiting with a little girl, Kylie, who lives locally and loves our socks. She brought Mitchell by for a visit with the DTV customer service team.  Mitchell of course had to try on some socks to find out what all the buzz was about.  He liked them so much that he picked up some stickers for the class he will be going back to and a pair of socks for his owner, Carter, in St. Louis.

Mitchell trying on some Darn Tough kids socks.

Mitchell travels from his home to other places, taking pictures and writing about his trip along the way before he returns home.  Really a neat assignment for younger kids to teach them about other areas!

Thanks for visiting, Mitchell and Kylie. We’re glad we could show you around!

This past April as I started my second end-to-end journey of the Appalachian Trail, fellow hikers embarking on their trip in Georgia examined my small pack with shock and disbelief.  My baseweight (everything on my back excluding food and water) was 7 pounds yet I saw hundreds of hikers with packs that looked like they could weigh more than me.  I believe starting a hike with a small pack gives me the ability to walk longer miles at the start of a long journey.  Eventually, everyone walking for weeks on end becomes strong enough to carry their load, but starting with a small pack prevents long-term grinding on knees and joints and trims down the chance of having a trip-ending stumble on a root.

How have I managed to walk for thousands of miles carrying a pack with gear comparable in weight to my laptop?  I started by reading several books on ultralite hiking including Ray Jardine’s Trail Life and Don Ladigin and Mike Clelland’s Lighten Up.  From them, I learned to keep my Big Three—shelter, sleeping bag, and pack—each under 2 pounds apiece.  As much as I can, I try to bring multi-use gear (for example, my sleeping pad is also the foam frame of my pack).

Knowing backcountry navigation and safety, personal comforts and limits, and how to use my gear are all the essence of the ultralite game.  Having the know-how and experience to address whatever crazy response my body or the wildlands will throw at me—whether it’s head-to-toe hives, a blizzard, or a marmot munching on my sleeping bag—is more important than any gear I carry—heavy or ultralite.

Being a lightweight backpacker is about knowing my own comforts and when and when not to carry gear; I went stoveless in the Mid-Atlantic section of the Appalachian Trail because the weather was so hot that making warm food every night seemed unappealing, even to a hungry hiker.  Yet the weight of my pack is less important to me than knowing that I will be safe. I happily added a few extra clothing layers at the beginning of the hike and in New England.

The more I hike, the more confident I feel knowing that I only need to carry the gear I will use.  I constantly assess what pieces of gear I use and how often.  This helps me decide what gear to carry and what gear I can send ahead to a place on my journey where I may need it more.

I believe that being an ultralite hiker has allowed me to walk further and faster each day. Carrying less on my pack has given me more; it lets me to spend less time worrying about the pain in my back and more time enjoying the views and spotting the birdstraveling on their long journey this fall and, enviably, carrying nothing at all.

Last winter, 25 women came together to form Mountain Moxie around a broad mission to:

• Learn about ourselves and our environment through the pursuit of sport;
• Find camaraderie around and direct support for riding, training and racing;
• Support women’s access to and participation in the sport of mountain biking; and,
• Hone technical skills, race well and contribute to the greater mountain bike community.

This group of motivated women and their sponsors (including Darn Tough, Onion River Sports, Terry Bicycles, ISIS for Women, The Confluence – Green Mountain Crossfit and Osprey Packs) put together a web of support for women to pursue their passion for the sport of mountain biking and give back to their community at the same time.

Mountain Moxie

In the spring, team members participated in clinics to improve trail technique, mechanical skills, and confidence at Coyote Hill, the Catamount Outdoor Center (through Little Bella’s) and Sugarbush’s Adventure Center. From spring to fall, riders in blue Mountain Moxie jerseys had an impressive presence at local races (and on podiums) from Quebec’s XC Challenge to races at Catamount and Millstone, the Hampshire 100 and Vermont 50.

More importantly, these women juggled jobs and kids to play on the trail as much as possible, and extended their enthusiasm to women-friends, kids, colleagues, neighbors, and spouses. When not on their bike, many Mountain Moxies were serving on the Boards of trail clubs, wielding tools on work days or using riding to fundraise for local causes.

What follows is a ten-photo chronology of the Delaware from source to sea.  Two rivers down, three to go.

-Erik Schlimmer

True start of the river atop Mount Jefferson in the Catskill Mountains

First twenty miles of the river are followed by a rail trail, tackled via mountain bike

First of a dozen campsites of the trip

Passing through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Home for two weeks

Nearing Port Jervis, NY. The highest point in New Jersey is dead ahead

Putting in at low tide, in the rain, near Philadelphia

Where a 17-foot canoe feels awfully small

Interstate 295, the last of eighty bridges

Thankful to be on dry land. The end at Fort Mott State Park, NJ

About the trek (in Christina’s words):
Informa gave me and seven of my colleagues an amazing opportunity to climb at extreme altitude (above 5,000 meters) in the Himalayas, as we trekked to Lunag (Nepal). We were part of an expedition to ascend the Lunag Massif with mountaineers Steve Holmes and Neil Philips. Unfortunately, due to warm weather the massif was too dangerous to ascend. However, all 8 of us successfully made it to Lunag basecamp! Another success is the team’s fundraising; we spent our summer and fall raising money for the Red Cross and Shelterbox.  To date the team has raised £19, 692, 82% to our goal of raising £24,000.  We are still fundraising.

To sponsor Christina, please visit:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christinaderuzza/tornadorelief
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christinaderuzza/japandisasterrelief

Link to the Lunag Blog:
http://lunag.informa.com/

How did Darn Tough size up?
“These were the only socks I wore and I did not get any blisters or have any problems with my feet. Trips like this, can only be enjoyed with the right footwear.  Thanks for making such a good product.”

Trip Itinerary

Namche, on the Everest Trail

Christina, enjoying the morning in Ayre

Lunag rising above all as the team approaches base camp

Bouldering in Ayre

Our group in front of Everest

Kelly Ault (third from left) and her Mountain Moxie teammates

Recreation has served as the ultimate anchor throughout a lifetime of change. I played team sports ranging from tennis to swim team, while moving frequently during my youth. As a young adult, I was game for just about any travel adventure to different landscapes, from canoe camping in Canada’s Algonquin Park to trekking in northern Scotland, snowboarding in Chamonix, ski mountaineering in Yosemite, and backpacking in Colorado.

Settling in Vermont, the adventures became increasingly local: backcountry skiing in the White Mountains, climbing in the Adirondacks, and trail running in the Green Mountains. After the birth of identical twin boys, I sought to restore balance with a 5-year love affair with the sport of triathlon.

Which brings me to the athlete that I am today, where my week is designed around mountain bike rides with friends and family members (often including my almost 8-year old sons, Austin and Carson, and a chocolate lab named Ali).

Underlying all this exercise is a competitive streak. Although the reasons have varied over the years, I‘ve always loved the challenge of a race or event, moving fast and long through wild landscapes, pushing physical and mental boundaries, the camaraderie of other racers and organizing a schedule that keeps me moving.

Despite decades of racing any and every event that I fancied, I’m quite an average athlete. I’m not super-technical or “a natural” at sports. I simply love the lifestyle, seek out play every chance I get, have good athletic instincts, and am resourceful in finding the friends, places and gear that lead to joy and challenge.

As I approached 40 years old, I was looking for two things: more women to ride mountain bikes with and an epic mountain bike adventure. These came together in the form of Mountain Moxie, a newly formed women’s mountain bike race team, and the BC Bike Race, a seven day mountain bike stage race from Vancouver and Whistler.

-Kelly

Darn Tough Vermont president Ric Cabot poses with Lenny's Shoes co-owner Mark McCarthy and representatives from local VT homeless shelters, who recieved 800 pairs of socks from Darn Tough and Smartwool as well as nearly $3000 from Lenny's!

Vermont business Darn Tough Vermont and Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel, joined by clothing manufacturer Smartwool, will donate 800 pairs of socks and $2,900 to representatives from local homeless and temporary shelters at the Lenny’s store in Barre, VT at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, October 19, 2011. The donations are the result of a joint effort between the three businesses to help provide warm, Merino wool socks and much-needed support to Vermont’s homeless population in preparation for the state’s colder months.

“After the difficulties our state has been dealt recently, more so than ever we feel it’s important to help out those in our communities who are less fortunate,” said Ric Cabot, President of Darn Tough Vermont. “It’s amazing to live in a place with such a strong sense of community. We’re thrilled to work with Smartwool and Lenny’s to help those in need of basic necessities.”

Over the weekend of September 22–25, 2011, Darn Tough Vermont, as well as the clothing brand Smartwool, agreed to donate one pair of socks for each pair sold of their respective brands at Lenny’s stores across Vermont during their first annual Charity Sock Sale. In addition to the sock donation, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel graciously agreed to donate $2.00 for each pair sold. The organizations receiving the donations include the Samaritan House and Voices Against Violence’s/Laurie’s House in St. Albans, the Burlington Emergency Shelter and Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) in Burlington, and the Good Samaritan Haven in Barre. Cabot adds, “Socks are what we do at Darn Tough, and if socks can serve to lend a hand to those in need, we are by all means privileged to help.”

Ric Cabot, president of Darn Tough Vermont, wheels three boxes of socks out to homeless shelters in Vermont!

“This collaborative effort was a great success, thanks to the generosity of our customers and the companies involved,” said Lenny’s Vice President Marc McCarthy. “The local charities serving Vermont’s homeless do an exceptional job and these donations are our way to help support their mission.”

For more information contact Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel by phone at (802) 476-7446. Lenny’s Barre store is located at 359 North Main Street, Barre VT, 05641.