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Picture of Erik Weihenmayer gazing into clouds atop Mt. Everest

Grand Teton

In August, 2009, Erik was accompanied by brothers, Mike and Pat O'Donnell, on a climb of the Grand Teton. An icon of Rocky Mountain majesty, the imposing peaks of the Tetons rise abruptly from the Wyoming grasslands, piercing the sky with sharp granite teeth. At 13,770 feet, the Grand Teton is one of the steepest and most technical peaks in the lower 48 states and the place where many mountaineering legends have learned their craft to challenge peaks around the world. It has been on Erik's tic-list for many years.

Not long after Erik, Mike, and Pat arrived in Jackson, WY, the starting point for the climb, they encountered two friendly faces. On a ferry across Jenny Lake en route to a practice climb, they ran into longtime friends, Kelly and her husband, Craig Perkins.  Kelly, a hero of Erik’s, was the recipient of a heart transplant in 1995 after a severe virus destroyed her own heart. Kelly and Craig have climbed all over the world, from the infamous face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in California to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, championing the cause of organ and tissue donation.  In 2001, Kelly stunned her doctors by climbing 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Roof of Africa.

On this most recent trip, Kelly and Craig set out to complete the Grand Traverse, a classic route that reaches ten summits along the Teton Range. Kelly enlisted seven cardiac nurses from the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center to join her on a portion of the climb. The project, aptly named "Stand on the Grand for Organ and Tissue Donation, " taught the nurses about the excertional demands of climbing on the heart, and served as an inspiration for heart patients as well. Most importantly, the climb helped to promote Craig and Kelly's campaign for organ donations