Extreme Mountaineering or Extreme BS? I think the latter...

i got more likes helping out w/ the birth of my niece than any of my mtn pics, if that's any comparison to the "extreme"

at least a few of the m14 peak baggers were able to walk up the big slag heap in the south

I really miss the original teaser video. Does anyone have it archived?

They posted this in January on Facebook:

"Changes to our plans...http://www.mission14.org/
After receiving extensive input from the climbing community and our primary sponsors about our original plans to climb all fourteen 8,000 meter peaks in 2014, Mission 14 has substantially revised its goals and climbing style. We are grateful for the candid (albeit painful at times) feedback we received concerning the risks and style of our original approach.

Starting in the spring of 2015, we will attempt to set a new Himalayan record of summiting six of the highest mountains in the world in a single year. We have formed a multi-national team of eight climbers who will participate in the climbs. These individuals come from varied backgrounds with solid climbing experience. The diversity of the team is expected to provide great insight, color and content to the overall story of the expedition.

The climbs will happen in the two key climbing seasons; spring and fall. In the spring the plan will be to summit Everest, Lhotse and Makalu. In the fall the team will be on Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.

The primary goal of the mission is still to raise awareness and funding for organizations working to eradicate human trafficking in the US and around the world. Despite our early missteps, our current financial support allows these organizations to do the work they have been called to do."

From the "Team" page on Mission14's website. Current team members are Nick and his wife, evidently.

“At 18 years old I left college and enrolled in a 3-month outdoor leadership course in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. Four weeks later I lay dead at the bottom of a dark, wet cave. My rope broke as I was rappelling down into the main room and I fell over 75 feet bouncing off walls and rocks. Despite the fall I didn’t have a single broken bone, just some torn muscles in my lower back and slight concussion. Two weeks later I was climbing and skiing in the backcountry.” -Nick Cienski

David Barbour wrote:They posted this in January on Facebook: "Changes to our plans...http://www.mission14.org/ After receiving extensive input from the climbing community and our primary sponsors about our original plans to climb all fourteen 8,000 meter peaks in 2014, Mission 14 has substantially revised its goals and climbing style. We are grateful for the candid (albeit painful at times) feedback we received concerning the risks and style of our original approach. Starting in the spring of 2015, we will attempt to set a new Himalayan record of summiting six of the highest mountains in the world in a single year. "

While their overall goals/style still do not do much for me, at least they listened. And probably realized that they were not being taken seriously thus were not going to meet their goals in any shape or form.

"Awareness climbs" and "Fundraising Climbs" are still B.S.

Kai Larson wrote:"Awareness climbs" and "Fundraising Climbs" are still B.S.

More BS than other charity fundraisers? How so?

Ryan Watts wrote: More BS than other charity fundraisers? How so?

Most charity fundraisers the person organizing them gets very little out of the event. Take a swim for fun to raise awareness of the dangers of di-hydrogen monoxide. The organizer and participants get to say they swam a mile and not die. But really that is it. The organizer on their own accord could probably arrange to do such a swim on their own regardless. That is there are very little up front costs that directly support the organizer.

With Mission 14 and other many other similar fundraisers there are significant up front costs that go directly to supporting the organizer. Supporting them in a way that enables to have fun at someone else's expense that in normal circumstance they could not afford to do.

Watch the video posted on the front page of the site.

mission14.org/

Allen Sanderson wrote: While their overall goals/style still do not do much for me, at least they listened. And probably realized that they were not being taken seriously thus were not going to meet their goals in any shape or form.

Allen, while they may have listened to the climbing community, I still don't see much of a presence from the anti-human trafficking community (i.e., experts on trafficking and the response to trafficking.

As another post stated, the idea of raising and spending $6M to raise awareness to raise more money is BS; there are many organizations engaging in this issue that don't aggrandize one person's project like climbing 8000 meter peaks.

Sad.

5-6m would be 2-3 years funding of the full budget of the NYF which builds rural nutritional rehab clinics, fights child slavery and the kamlari system, rescues and provides housing to street children, and provides education scholarships for impoverished youth in Nepal.

charitynavigator.org/index.…

John Vanek wrote: Allen, while they may have listened to the climbing community, I still don't see much of a presence from the anti-human trafficking community (i.e., experts on trafficking and the response to trafficking. As another post stated, the idea of raising and spending $6M to raise awareness to raise more money is BS; there are many organizations engaging in this issue that don't aggrandize one person's project like climbing 8000 meter peaks. Sad.

I absolutely agree John, my comment was to at least give them a wee bit of credit, they went from totally unrealistic to just unrealistic. However, the whole thing is as you said a case of "exploiting the exploited" and as I like to say the fallacy of the first. So unreality not much progress.

wow. trolling and talking an immense amount of shit on the internet ACTUALLY WORKS!!!

Sweet.

John Vanek wrote: Allen, while they may have listened to the climbing community, I still don't see much of a presence from the anti-human trafficking community (i.e., experts on trafficking and the response to trafficking. As another post stated, the idea of raising and spending $6M to raise awareness to raise more money is BS; there are many organizations engaging in this issue that don't aggrandize one person's project like climbing 8000 meter peaks. Sad.

To me, the bolded portion is the absolute crux of this endeavor. At its core, Mission14 is about Nick, and his peak-bagging adventure. Through clever (or not-so-clever) marketing spin he has tried to represent this as a charitable endeavor. Apparently Nick has some charisma, and he has been able to convince some gullible people and corporations to fund his expeditions. That doesn't change the fact that the marginal benefit to "the children" from this is minimal at best, and any $s spent on the expedition could be put to better use by real charities that are not busy climbing mountains.

It is also interesting that Mission14 is now keeping a VERY close eye on their FaceBook Page. Any comment that is not 100% complimentary is immediately deleted and the poster blocked. Comments on their YouTube account are disabled. They do not respond to any e-mails asking difficult questions about the "mission." It is also very telling that they have removed all references to their corporate sponsors from their website. I can only assume that it is very difficult to continue to solicit corporate support when your sponsors receive feedback from the public that contradicts Nick's spin the "mission." Despite their claims of welcoming an open dialogue, it seems that they have no interest in discussing this endeavor with the public and will do whatever they can to obfuscate any less than positive commentary on their endeavors.

I do not see the change in the goals of Mission14 to be a positive thing. Simply put, Nick is still a scam artist and should be paying for his own guided vacations. Whether they climb 14 peaks or 6, representing this ill-concieved and spurious endeavor as a charity is a travesty.

I just took another look at the site. Apparently this is a good way to build a team for 6 x 8,000m next year:

"Next year we will need the best team possible to achieve our goal of summiting 6 of world's highest peaks in a single year. Our climb here in Argentina was a good start to building that team."

This is just plain funny. Albeit a shallow attempt to get a free trip.

No matter how hard you polish, a turd is still a turd.

According to their 2012 990 they took in $78,224 in revenue, spent $43,290 of which $36,934 was for a salary and have $34,934 in the bank.

Also interesting is the gobbledygook language that describes the mission. Not one word about climbing 8,000m mountains.

Might want to pick up the fundraising somewhat!

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For those of you that have been banned from the Misson14 FB page for questioning the efficacy of spending millions to climb mountains in order to raise awareness about human trafficking, you can still make comments on the video of his TedX presentation.

Don't be shy. Let Nick and others who view this video know what you think about the scam that is Mission14.

youtube.com/watch?v=C9XIVtU…

I climb for free range dolphins that fart rainbows.

Seriously, a Ted talk? Holy crap did that event just lose a bunch of credibility.

Buff Johnson wrote:I climb for free range dolphins that fart rainbows. Seriously, a Ted talk? Holy crap did that event just lose a bunch of credibility.

TEDx events aren't on the same level as the main TED talks. The X means it is an independent and locally organized event, usually with local speakers. The video is an enormous load of crap.