Collingwood's Blue Mountain climb echoes Mount Everest's height

Blue Mountain's Everest Challenge challenges teams to climb the mountain to match the height of Mount Everest, Oct. 16, 2022 (CTV NEWS)

Climb any mountain enough times, and, in theory, you will have reached the top of Mount Everest.

Blue Mountain’s Everest Challenge is a one-day hiking event that challenges participants to raise $400 and hike the height of Mount Everest.

It takes 40 trips up Blue Mountain to achieve this goal, which is why they do it in teams. A team of 10 people only has to hike the mountain four times to reach the goal. The bigger your team, the fewer times you climb.

“No issue is insurmountable when we work hard together to push beyond our limits, that is the message and spirit of this incredible community event,” said Andrew Siegwart, president of Blue Mountain Village.

On Oct. 16, teams of 2 to 20 will climb Blue Mountain together to reach the combined height of 29,092 ft., or the height of Mount Everest.

This year five local charities will put in teams and all the funds raised by those teams will go back to those individual charities.

Gilda's Club Simcoe Muskoka is the first charity to partner on the Everest Challenge.

“So many individuals in our community are diagnosed with cancer every day, and their journey is not unlike the one to climb Everest – you need a team, you need a plan and you need a lot of help to climb that mountain,” Gilda’s Club’s executive director Aaron Lutes.

The Blue Mountain Village Foundation exists to close social gaps in the community, supporting local charitable organizations in South Georgian Bay, including Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Stayner, Town of the Blue Mountains, Meaford, Duntroon, Singhampton, Kimberley & Creemore.

Since its inception over 15 years ago, the foundation has raised more than $1.61-million dollars that have been invested in the community through meaningful and necessary programs and support services.