What's Your Mountain?

We all have a “mountain” we’re trying to climb; a physical goal we’ve always wanted to attempt, but maybe have been too afraid to do it. Nicole Ver Kuilen, a.k.a. “Forrest,” an amputee and founder of the non-profit organization Forrest Stump, just completed a 1,500 mile triathlon down the West Coast. Now, one year later on September 28th, she will attempt to summit a 19,347ft highly active volcano in Ecuador, known as Cotopaxi. She will be climbing with an elite group of amputees from the Range of Motion Project. In taking on her mountain, Nicole wants to know, What’s Your Mountain?

Nicole lost her leg to bone cancer at age 10, and for 17 years has struggled to access the technology and care she’s needed to be mobile. She’s raising awareness on  behalf of the 2 million amputees across the United States who are being denied access to the appropriate healthcare they need to live their best lives. Through Forrest Stump, Nicole is working to raise the standard of care for amputees and call for better rights for the disability community.

In taking on your mountain, we hope you’ll be reminded that there are others, like amputees, who are overcoming enormous physical obstacles every day in their effort to regain their mobility. Perhaps this notion can inspire us all to take on something we never thought we could do in solidarity with Nicole’s climb and amputees everywhere.

In the spirit of Nicole and her Climb, we suggest the following distances for your virtual event but you can chose any distance or goal that is meaningful to you:

17 Mile Bike (in honor of Nicole’s 17 years as an amputee)
1700 Meter Swim (in honor of Nicole’s 17 years as an amputee)
1.7 Mile Hike/Run (in honor of Nicole’s 17 years as an amputee)
3.7 Mile Run/Hike (in honor of Cotopaxi’s 19,347 ft – or 3.7 mile – summit)