6SummitsChallenge/Mission14 to Discontinue Everest, Lhotse, Makalu Attempts

Posted: Apr 30, 2015 11:14 pm EDT

(Press release) BALTIMORE, MD (APRIL 30, 2015) - This morning, April 30, 2015, Nick Cienski, Mission 14 Founder and CEO and Under Armour Senior Director of Innovation, along with the Mission 14 and 6 Summits Challenge team at Everest Base Camp (EBC), have decided to discontinue climbing Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu as part of the 6 Summits Challenge. This decision was made out of respect for the families and individuals who have lost lives and homes during this terrible disaster.

“We feel it would be wrong for us to continue climbing these mountains," said Cienski. "We have made the decision to rededicate our efforts in Kathmandu and provide help alongside our existing partner organizations such as Tiny Hands International, Shared Hope, and Catholic Relief Services.”

"We are still committed to the 6 Summits Challenge and raising global awareness for human trafficking by setting a world climbing record, as we were before the earthquake in Nepal. In the coming days and weeks, we will work closely with Russell Brice and our sponsor corporations to put a plan together that still makes this a possibility," Cienski continues. “We want to thank everyone who supports this expedition and mission, and encourage you to BE BRAVE to continue to do good work in this fight for justice for all humanity.”

The 6 Summits Challenge team has been at EBC since early April acclimatizing for their expedition. Nick Cienski, Sandi Cienski - Mission 14 Director of Operations, Elia Saikaly - 6 Summits Challenge Videographer, Russell Brice - Himalayan Experience Owner and expedition leader, climbers Jarek Gawrysiak, Pawel Michalski, and Simone La Terra (Makalu base camp) are all unharmed.

About Mission 14 (www.mission14.org)

Mission 14®, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2011, was created to discover new and engaging ways to raise awareness, engage difference makers, and to financially resource existing best-in-class direct-service non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting human trafficking with a focus on the trafficking of children.

About 6 Summits Challenge (www.6summitschallenge.com) seeks to become a world record-setting expedition focused on attracting a global audience to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking and the fight for fundamental human rights and justice.

Related: 

Another Everest Video: Tribute to the Fallen

Wanted: 6 tops in six months. Himalaya then and now, Nick's story

ExWeb Special: 2015 Everest and Himalaya Technology Roundtable

Previous: 

Video: Avalanche hits Everest; and don't forget the villages

April 29

Climbing Season Spring 2015: It's Almost Over

Everest: List of Avalanche Victims

Another Everest Video: Tribute to the Fallen

April 27

Other 8000ers: Chinese authority suspended climbing, Decisions on Nepal Mountains

April 26

First Everest Avalanche Video Shows Monster Cloud Hitting Camps

Nepal/Everest quake, end of day 2: Aftershocks, Namche evacuated, weather worsening

Pakistan Deployed Four Military Aircrafts for Nepal Relief, Alpine Club Letter of Support

April 25

Mount Everest Update: Rescue Flights Resume

Nepal Earthquake: Everest Base Camp Avalanche

First updates:

Quake update: Everest, Annapurna, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaula, Shisha

Nepal Earthquake Updates: Mountains Tremble

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