Frank's Big Climb

Some people will go to the ends of the earth to support St. Josephs! At 22,841 feet, Mt. Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas! And Frank Kendall of Minnesota went to climb it in January 2008! As part of his effort, he solicited donations for the St. Joseph's Family - a perfectly fitting tribute to the children in Haiti who have their own mountains to climb! Here are Franks words about his adventure:

The climb was amazing as Aconcagua is a beautiful mountain. I was climbing with a group of four friends. Unfortunately I got altitude sickness at 16,000 ft. I went back down to 14,000 ft to acclimatize and developed bronchitis the following night (I could hear the fluid filling up my lungs), so the doctor sent me down the mountain. Two of my friends made it to 20,000 ft but were turned back by weather. My fourth friend made it to the summit and back down a day later but had 2nd degree frostbite on both big toes. He will be in a lot of pain while they heal over the next month but he won't have to have his toes amputated. So one out of four (25%) made it to the summit which is pretty successful, as only 12% of the climbers on Aconcagua make the summit.

My climbing philosophy is that the journey is much more important than making the summit, and it was a wonderful journey. I hooked up with a climber from Switzerland (he was emergency-evacuated with pulmonary edema in a helicopter), and when he got out of the hospital we took a 19-hour bus ride from Mendoza to Bariloche, Argentina (Northern Patagonia). We spent five days in Patagonia white water rafting, mountain biking, swimming in beautiful rivers and going for long hikes up in the mountains. It was a wonderful side trip and enabled us to see much more of Argentina.

Then we headed to Chile (Vina Del Mar) and spent 4 days on a beautiful beach for a little relaxation. A great way to end the trip. Needless to say an experience I'll never forget. I was particularly impressed with the people in Argentina and Chile. Everywhere we went people were incredibly warm, friendly and would go out of their way to help us. The natural beauty of both countries was stunning but the people made an even better impression on me.

Thanks for all of the help from Hearts with Haiti over the past several months - it has been a pleasure working with you! I plan on staying in touch with HWH as we continue to support Michael and everyone else who works so hard to support his life journey in Haiti!!

Frank Kendall