From 24 June to 13 July, 2010, a team of combat wounded veterans comprised of single amputees, a graduate student studying prosthetic biomechetronics from Georgia Tech, a former Navy surgeon, and a Palm Harbor University High School student from Palm Harbor, Florida conducted mountaineering training on the Pica Glacier in the Alaska Range.

SCUBAnauts International, in coordination with an anonymous sponsor and Alaska Mountaineering School, facilitated and conducted the mountaineering training course in advance of a planned summit expedition of Mt. McKinley (a.k.a Denali) in June 2011.

The purpose of the two week mountaineering training course is to provide combat wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan an opportunity to achieve a common team goal made seemingly insurmountable by their injuries and to realize that they can overcome any challenge before them. An advanced leg and arm prosthetic engineer also accompanied the 8-man team and collected field data that will serve to expand the usefulness of lower and upper limb prosthetics for next generation prosthesis for outdoor and athletic use.

The expedition is also intended to inspire others with similar challenges.
The eight man team was trained by highly skilled mountaineering instructors led by Colby Coombs of the Alaska Mountaineering School (AMS). These instructors have extensive experience and are uniquely qualified having trained combat wounded veterans during previous summits of Denali.




The course will include training on roped team movement on glaciers, winter camping, self arresting, crevasse rescues and other key skills needed for successful high-altitude mountaineering.
The team members learned not only how to overcome the normal obstacles like weather, altitude and challenging terrain, but also how to deal with limitations caused by their injuries. Photos from this mountaineering training can be located at the Gallery link to this website.

2011 Mountaineering Training Expedition

From 14 - 21 June, our second team of combat wounded veterans will complete a six-day mountaineering course. The six day course introduces people with little or no climbing experience to mountaineering in a challenging and remote glaciated environment. Moving and building camps, roped glacier travel and crevasse rescue, avalanche transceiver searches, and mountain climbing techniques are all on the agenda. During this course, the participants will learn how to live comfortably in mountainous snow covered glaciated terrain and have an understanding of what it takes to pursue longer climbs in the Alaska Range. Six days is a short amount of time to cover a large number of topics, move camp, and climb a peak, so our veterans have been training hard on their own to meet the upcoming challenge.

Denali Challenge – 2011

On 25 June 2011, a nine-man team of U.S. Combat Wounded Veterans comprised of lower limb amputees, a double lung transplant recipient Navy SEAL, and a Florida high school student and Eagle Scout will take on the summit of the highest peak in North America, Alaska's Mt McKinley, also known as Denali (20,320 ft). The nine-man team will demonstrate to other combat wounded veterans facing seemingly insurmountable challenges and obstacles, that anything can be overcome. Vulneror non Vincor, "I am wounded - not conquered", is the expedition inspirational motto that will carry the men to the summit.
SCUBAnauts International, a St. Petersburg, Florida non-profit corporation, Alaska Mountaineering School, the Alaska Air National Guard 212th Rescue Squadron and the Denali National Park and Preserve are facilitating the upcoming summit expedition. During the expedition, the team will test the mechanical and non-mechanical qualities of their prostheses to assist clinical providers further improve performance and functionality. They will also measure heart rate, arterial oxygen saturation, lung spirometry values, severity of dyspnea (analogic score), and symptoms and signs of acute mountain sickness in the double lung Navy SEAL recipient compared to the four healthy mountaineers at sea level and at different altitudes during the ascent of Denali. This will be the first ever attempt by a double lung transplant recipient to summit at this altitude.

The nine-man team completed rigorous mountaineering training on the Pica Glacier in the Alaska Range last summer in preparation for Denali – 2011. They were trained by highly skilled mountaineering instructors led by Colby Coombs of the Alaska Mountaineering School (AMS) located in Talkeetna, Alaska. Their training included roped team movement on glaciers, winter camping, self-arrest, avalanche and crevasse rescue and other key skills necessary for successful high-altitude mountaineering. The team members not only learned how to overcome and adapt to the limitations caused by their injuries, but also to deal with normal obstacles like weather, altitude and challenging terrain.

Kilimanjaro Challenge – 2012

Dates and times yet to be determined.