Denver student hikes all of Colorado's 14ers to raise money for disaster relief organization
DENVER — When Brittney Woodrum moved from Kentucky to Denver, she knew she was going to hike some of Colorado’s “fourteeners,” the name for a mountain peak of at least 14,000’ in elevation.
What she didn’t plan on was hiking all 58 of them in a single summer. She has the COVID-19 pandemic to thank for that.
“I was sitting there looking out at the mountains out of my apartment in Denver, and I thought it seems rather fitting that I should go out and find some physical mountains to climb as we, as a global community, are coming together to overcome this very metaphorical and abstract mountain that is COVID-19,” said Woodrum, who is working towards her masters in Humanitarian Assistance at the University of Denver.
She hiked all 58 of Colorado’s fourteeners in just 78 days. “It was about 232,000 feet that I climbed, which is like climbing Mt. Everest at least eight times,” Woodrum explained.
As if that wasn’t hard enough, Woodrum completed each hike with a cumbersome, green ShelterBox on her back. ShelterBox is a disaster relief NGO that provides shelter and other forms of aid-- often packed in their namesake boxes-- to people around the world who have been displaced by disaster or conflict. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, for example, ShelterBox provided shelter for over 28,000 families.
Woodrum is currently a ShelterBox Ambassador. She wanted to use her hikes as a way to raise awareness and money for the organization. The goal was to raise $1,400 per mountain, which amounts to about $82,000. The total money raised is currently just under $75,000.
“I wanted to do something this summer that would make an impact. I was looking for a way to do so where I could make a big, positive impact while making as minimal a negative impact as possible,” Woodrum said. “Mountain climbing seemed like a great option.”
Woodrum is no stranger to challenging hikes. She has completed the Appalachian Trail as well as Spain’s Camino de Santiago.
“It’s really cool to go and climb a mountain because it’s a very clear physical goal. You look at the peak, and you know what your goal is, and you know that if you just keep taking another step, you’re making progress towards that goal,” Woodrum said. “And I don’t think that’s always so clear with some of the goals that we set for ourselves in our day-to-day lives, or some of the challenges or problems we have to deal with.”
To learn more about her hikes or do donate to the campaign, click here.