Hound Summit Team and Veterans Expedition team up in getting veteran's to the summit

HST climbers, supporters, friends, and family,

I am excited to announce the merger between Hound Summit Team and Veterans Expeditions! VetEx is a Colorado based nonprofit that uses wilderness challenges to connect all veterans, create community and raise awareness. Their work supports the reintegration of veterans into society and empowers them to overcome the challenges many face following military service. Our shared vision and mission provide a natural fit to expand our efforts to the national level.
While we are joining a larger family, the Hound Summit Team climbers and leaders will continue to empower Veterans and Wounded Warriors in the Pacific Northwest through climbing and mountaineering for years to come. In 2013, VetEx and our HST veterans will be tackling five major expeditions in the Pacific Northwest, to include  Mt Rainier, Mt Olympus, and climbs in the North Cascades and the Enchantments. Our mission this summer is to show the world that there is no limit to what empowered Veterans can do. You can continue to support our team and follow the adventures of our warrior climbers through the VetEx website www.vetexpeditions.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VetExpeditions I encourage you to subscribe to our VetEx blog, like us on Facebook, and checkout the website to learn more about our new team.

We would like to take this opportunity to offer our deepest thanks to our friends, families, and supporters that have made everything we have achieved in the last few years possible. We have served over 50 individual Veterans on over 30 events, to include adventures on Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, Mt Hood, Mt Shuksan, Mt Adams, and the rest of the Cascades range. We would also like to thank our sponsors Outdoor Research, Sterling Rope, Cascade Designs, Outdoor Prolink, ADS, Wounded Warrior Project, the Running Hound, and Remote Medical. Most importantly we’d like to express our deepest admiration and pride in our Veteran and Wounded Warrior climbers. It has been an honor to call you our comrades. Your exploits continue to humble and inspire all of us.

Thank you for your support, and join us in our future expeditions into the mountains!

Hound Summit Team and Veterans Expeditions

High Ground Movie Showing

Operation Ward 57 is sponsoring two showings of the movie High Ground on Thursday, October 04, 7:30pm - 9:32pm in Lakewood, WA at AMC Loews Lakewood Towne Center 12 and on Thursday, October 25, 7:30pm - 9:32pm in Gig Harbor, WA at Galaxy Uptown Theatre. 

High Ground the Movie: Eleven veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan join an expedition to climb the 20,000 foot Himalayan giant Mount Lobuche. With blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and a team of Everest summiters as their guides, they set out on an emotional and gripping climb to reach the top in an attempt to heal the emotional and physical wounds of the longest war in U.S. history.

Representing nearly every branch of the military, the veterans, and the Gold Star Mom who joins their trek, bring humor and deep emotion to this hero’s journey all captured with breathtaking, vertigo-inducing cinematography by three-time Emmy® winner, director Michael Brown.

HST will be present at the 25th October show in Gig Harbor.

Purchase tickets for the October 4th show
Purchase tickets for the October 25th show

If you'd like to donate tickets to local Wounded Warrior and Veteran climbers, please contact us.

HST Update!

HST is in the middle of peak season, and loving every minute of it! After a successful Shuksan climb and some craggin' in Leavenworth, our members had an absolute blast participating in the HST -WWP North Cascades Multi-Sport Trip (Thanks to Heather Timins for organizing a great event) and the WWP Summit Challenge down in Utah. One of our climbers was able to spend two extra days training and craggin' in the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons near Salt Lake as well. 

On labor Day weekend, several of our climbers will be climbing on Glacier Peak in the North Cascades Range.

Later this week, we're tentatively looking at climbing the Outer Space Route on the Snow Creek Wall near Leavenworth, and we're really looking forward to the AAC Craggin' Classic down in Oregon (14th-16th). Rumor has it their might be a diversion to to the Sounders-Timbers away game as well. As always, all are welcome at our weekly climbing / bouldering at Edgeworks in Tacoma (Graciously sponsored by the WWP). Finally, we're super stoked for our Mt. Stewart climb the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd. October is wide open at this point, and we're really basing our schedule around pickup climbs and the weather. 

If you'd like to participate in any of these events, drop us a line here.

Please check out what are friends are doing at AAC , NWMS, VetEx and High Ground.

Enjoy some sweet shots, stories to follow:

JB Craggin' in Leavenworth

Approaching Shuksan's Pyramid

Grady on the Summit!

North Cascades trip with WWP

Dan and JB showing off their sweet outfits at the WWP Summit Challenge