Tag: Merit Travel

Calling for Climbers! Come with Christie Lake Climb for Kids in 2019!!

On By paulmcguire2013In Christie Lake Kids, Climb for Kids, Tour de Mont BlancLeave a comment
Our Climb for Kids Launch at the Senate Tavern last Friday

Thanks to all of you who were able to attend our launch last Friday. We had a great turnout and now we need to fill the final 7 spots to make sure we have a group for 2019. Pretty exciting to see so many people out to celebrate 2018 and hopefully, take part in this year’s trek.

We have 7 trekkers and we need 7 more by mid-November to offer a trip for next July (departure July 12). You may be thinking of going or you may know someone who would be great on this trek. There are always lots of reasons for putting off adventure, but there is only one good reason to go – try something really different that changes you and the lives of children!

I know that the people who went with us last year would all agree with this. Climbing in Peru was great, climbing with a wonderful, committed group of people was even better.

Our Ausangate group – do you see yourself in this picture for 2019?

So this week I am making the big push to fill up our group. I am sending emails, tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram messages – anything I can think of to get people motivated to move way outside their comfort zone.

don’t miss out on this great adventure!

What certainly works better than social media is word of mouth. The people who came with us last year were all linked to others in the group. If you are reading this maybe you are that link – bring a friend, a colleague or partner! Think what you can learn and experience together!

If you are planning on waiting until next time you may be too late – life doesn’t wait and neither should you.

To help you make up your mind we do have some resources for you.

  1. A new ESRI Story Map that has all the information we have on the trip, including the booking form, itinerary and the video invitation.
  1. a great Climb for Kids digital poster – we have copies of the poster and can make more if you need them. We can even supply you with these to pass on to your friends.

    Here is the official 2019 Climb for Kids poster unveiled at our launch last Friday
  1. If it would help if I contacted you or someone else directly via email I am happy to do this – please feel free to pass on my address and phone number (613-218-9615) if this will help.

Climb for Kids is a great group experience – we combine adventure with a unique opportunity to help kids – please consider joining us!!

Paul

Booking form:  https://bit.ly/2Q06H3u

Itinerary: https://bit.ly/2pAdMwl

A very cool Tour de Mont Blue Interactive Map:  http://u.osmfr.org/m/206457/

Our video promotion!

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Christie Lake Kids Goes to Peru

On By paulmcguire2013In Christie Lake Kids, Climb for Kids, Climbing Kilimanjaro, Leaning in, slow travelLeave a comment

In a few days, we leave for the mountains of Peru. We are 17 climbers all raising money for Christie Lake Kids – transformative recreation for low-income children here in Ottawa.

A year ago we started putting this experience together. Our small team recruited hikers, planned fundraisers and over the space of eight months raised over $25,000.

This is the big idea. Come up with an exciting experience then recruit fellow adventurers who are willing to raise money for kids and work together to train for a demanding physical experience.

Climbing in the Peruvian Andes is an arduous experience. We will trek for 5 days and 4 nights reaching as high as 5200m (Mt. Everest is 8,848 m). Over the five days, we will never go below 4300m which means we will be living in a high altitude environment for an extended period of time, more than most of the group has attempted before.

We are a new group, we didn’t all know each other before this whole thing started. We have trained together and have held really fun fundraisers together, but the first time the entire group will be together will be in Cusco, Peru. We are united in our love of adventure and the willingness to support a truly wonderful organization that is changing the lives of children every day.

We are supported by Christie Lake staff, three different travel agencies, a wonderful local artist (who just happens to be one of our daughters), two outdoor gear stores which have sponsored us and given us equipment discounts, two physical trainers, various corporate sponsors (whose logos we will take to 5200m) and a tremendous number of individual stores and donors who have supplied silent auction items and venues for our group fundraisers. We also have so many contributors who have helped us surpass our original funding goal by $10,000. We now stand somewhere over $25,000!

just some of our sponsors from our first group fundraiser

So, with such a large community of supporters, I think it will be important to let people know how we progress through the mountains.

To do this, we will be using a great tool first suggested to me by Ottawa adventurer, Elia Saikaly. We will be using the InReach satellite tracker. Once activated, the tracker will send out a waypoint every ten minutes.

The InReach track I created on the way up Kilimanjaro last year. You may notice, there is no track down the mountain. For some unknown reason, I turned the InReach off once we reached the summit!

The link you can use to follow our progress is here: – https://share.garmin.com/climbforkids

I will also be able to use the InReach to post messages on Twitter and Facebook. We have some preset messages ready to go and I am able to send other messages during our trek. Here’s the tag #climbforkids.

We have also tried to catalogue most of the events that have taken place over the past year. For this, we are using an Esri Story Map, a great communication tool that allows you to tell a story using maps, video, audio recordings and pictures.

One of our Esri Story map pages highlighting an earlier fundraising achievement by the group.

I have a bunch of cameras that I will use to document the trip. The most important part of this will be to get the stories of the individual group members – why are they doing this, what are the challenges they see ahead, how did it feel to put yourself out there as a fundraiser?

The training is over and so is most of the fundraising (we are still happy to take donations here!) The story gets really interesting now as we pack our bags and get ready for a gruelling 11-flight from Ottawa to Cusco. We have a great group and we are raising money for a wonderful organization.

We all hope you follow us up the mountain!

Halfway to the Rainbow Mountain Christie Lake Climb for Kids!

On By paulmcguire2013In Christie Lake Kids, Climb for Kids1 Comment

We are getting closer!

Today, we signed up our eighth climber, we are now halfway to getting our group of 16 climbers for our first Christie lake Climb for Kids!

This is something we have been working for. A team of 16 climbers, an eleven-day excursion to The Rainbow Mountains of Ausangate. An opportunity to raise funds for Christie Lake Kids and their transformative recreation programs.

This what Christie Lake Kids is all about and this is why our group will be climbing in Peru:

All kids deserve a safe, healthy childhood.

All kids deserve the opportunity to learn, to achieve, and to succeed.

Teaching skills of all kinds not only builds those particular skills; it also builds self-esteem, social skills, and other positive qualities.

Children from low-income families deserve the same recreational and skill-development opportunities as other children.

Caring for children and youth is not just a private issue; it is a collective responsibility.

from CLK Basic Principles

Now we are assembling the elements of our first expedition. Our fundraising page will be ready soon. Each climber will have their own individual page so they can solicit donations from friends and followers, the proceeds will go directly to Christie Lake programming.

We will be climbing as high as 5200 meters – this is a really challenging physical and mental endeavour. To make sure we are successful, we will be training as a group. We are planning to work with Canadian Strength Institute here in Ottawa to develop a group fitness plan. This is essential, for a climb as high as this, people will need to be in excellent shape.

We will plan a series of fundraising events this spring to bring people together who want to help support the climb. These events will be great ways to learn more about the climb and celebrate with this year’s group.

We are also working with Great Escape Outfitters to help us with our gear selection. To complete our team, Merit Travel is planning the trip to Peru and booking our flights. You can’t do a trip like this without great partners and we are certainly in good hands.

What’s next? We would like to fill up the group as soon as this Christmas. As soon as this is done we will be able to launch our group fundraising page. By the new year, we should be able to start training as a group.

This is a really exciting venture. We have great partners and we as a group will be starting something brand new here in Ottawa. I am very excited about the group we have now and its just going to get better!  The idea of taking part in a group adventure to raise funds for a very worthwhile organization is exciting and something worth training hard for.

In the months ahead there will be more updates as the group grows and trains together. You will all be invited to our fundraising events and all the members of our team will be introduced here on this blog.

So, if you are interested in taking part in this great adventure, you need to sign up soon. The way things are going the last eight spots will be going soon!

Christie Lake Climb For Kids! Join the Adventure!

On By paulmcguire2013In Christie Lake Kids, Climb for Kids, Leaning in4 Comments
Our official logo for Christie Lake Climb for Kids!

 

This is a great day and the start of a new adventure.
We are very happy to announce that the Christie Lake Climb For Kids fundraising trek is now ready to sign up participants.
The August 2018 trek will be taking place in Peru, starting in Cusco and will head towards Ausangate Mountain. The trek reaches an altitude of 5200 m which is a real mental and physical challenge. Are you interested in a big challenge?

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Each participant on this expedition will be asked to raise money for Christie Lake Kids, a wonderful organization in Ottawa that provides recreation opportunities for low-income children throughout the year.
The trip is being planned and coordinated by Merit Travel here in Ottawa.
Christie Lake will provide each participant with their own fundraising page and will help each team member to raise money throughout the upcoming year. This is really a big community fundraising event that will take Christie Lake all the way to Peru.

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A full itinerary is available here along with a booking form for those who are interested in signing up. We will be taking 16 people and to reserve your spot, you need to complete the form and make a $500.00 deposit. You can contact Darren Prashad at Merit Travel to secure your spot he can be reached at DPrashad@merittravel.com

We are planning an information meeting for mid-November to go over all the details and to introduce people to the personal training group we plan to use to get everyone in great shape for the trip!

You can now sign up for the information meeting here. The meeting will take place on November 20th at 6:30 PM at Great Escape Outfitters 369 Richmond Road in Ottawa.

This will be a terrific adventure and a unique way to give back to a wonderful organization. Having done one of these trips to Mt. Kilimanjaro last April, I know this is a great way to help others and yourself at the same time.

 If you can’t go but would like to help with the fundraising, I will share our fundraising page once this is up.

Looking forward to a great year and a terrific climb!

 

 

If You Want to Learn You Have to Walk

On By paulmcguire2013In slow travel1 Comment

OK, so I didn’t post every day during the West Highland Way. Can’t blame the wifi – it was pretty good in most places. It’s all me. By the end of each day, I was totally exhausted, ready to eat, drink (a pint or two) then sleep.

It is totally exhausting to trek over 20 km a day over rough, and very beautiful territory. Colleen and I did this for over 100 km in all sorts of weather.

The walk really tested our limits and this is an exhilarating experience! At the end of the day, we could hardly move and I got used to padding around the hotels and B&Bs in my sock feet – it was too painful to wear my shoes!

There is an immense amount of learning that has gone on here. When you walk through a country for eight hours a day over pathways that are easily 200 years old the character of the land begins to seep in.

For both of us, we had more and more questions as the days lengthened. Where do the feral goats come from? Why are there so many abandoned stone houses everywhere? Who really was Rob Roy? What is the legacy behind Scottish giants like William Wallace and Robert Bruce? Why did the Glen Coe massacre happen?

It is thought that these wild goats are all that remain from the Highland Clearances

Each night after we poured over our trip notes (excellent!) for the next day we turned to our history books to answer some of these questions. Walking the country calls you to learn more about this beautiful rich land.

This was my constant companion – along with Colleen – throughout the trek

I know as we take a much-needed break today in Fort William (why is it called Fort William?) we will both be reading up and sharing information on what we are learning

hey dad, do you know what Celtic priests were called?

This is why a love of history is so important. It informs your travels and enriches the walking. The walking, in turn, brings out a curiosity to learn about the land.

What a wonderful way to travel!