Mountaineer Jake Norton has just begun an ambitious new project that combines his love of climbing with a burning desire to have a lasting impact on the world. He is calling his project Challenge21, and over the next four years, he hopes to climb the three highest peaks on each of the seven continents, while raising awareness of the need for safe drinking water for people all over the world.
The expedition is officially underway right now, as Jake is currently in Kigali, Rwanda where he is preparing to travel to the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda to begin his first climb. First up on the list is Mount Stanley's Margherita Peak, the third highest mountain in Africa at 5109 meters (16,763 ft). It will be the first of many challenges on the way to not only topping out on all 21 mountains, but also raising a proposed $2.1 million for Water For People, an organization dedicated to finding safe drinking water solutions for developing nations.
You'll be able to follow along with Jake's progress on the Challenge21 Blog, where he is already posting updates. There is also an official Challenge21 Facebook page and Twitter Feed as well. You can also learn more about Jake's plans in the video below, which outlines what Challenge21 is all about.
So what mountains will Jake be climbing? You can checkout the entire list by clicking here. We're all familiar with the Seven Summits of course, all of which are obviously on this list. There are also quite a few lesser known peaks as well, which should make this an interesting challenge to say the least. The toughest challenge will obviously come in Asia, where he'll not only take on Everest (A mountain Jake is quite familiar with!) but also K2 and Kangchenjunga as well. Those three alone are enough to keep most mountaineers up late at night wondering how they're going to scale them.
This should be a fantastic adventure to follow along. Good luck to Jake on this amazing, and very worthwhile, endeavor.