Climbing a peak to kill polio

People often go great lengths to achieve a goal, but it's usually not 23,000 feet - straight up.

But Kelowna resident Gordon Savage, along with six other local Rotary Club members and two guides, will be trekking to the top of the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, all in a bid to eradicate polio from the planet.

The group leaves next week for Argentina, where they will start climbing Mt. Aconcagua on December 2.

Savage says the group has been working on the idea, called Peaks for Polio, for about two years, after one of the members, Finbar O'Sullivan, suggested the idea.

"Now, why Mt. Aconcagua...you can actually climb the mountain without the need for technical aids such as ice axes or ropes."

The biggest challenge the team faces is altitude sickness, says Savage, so the group has hired Laurie Skreslet, who was the first Canadian to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.

"We trust his safety record," says Savage, noting Skreslet has climbed Mt. Aconcagua more than 25 times.

Savage says the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has promised Rotary one dollar for every dollar they raise for this program, up to $200 million.

In Kelowna, the Peaks for Polio program has raised $42,000 so far, which is enough to vaccinate about 150,000 children.

"Rotary's involvement (in eradicating polio) goes way back, as early back as the March of Dimes in the '50s," says Savage. "But in 1985 Rotary International took on the challenge of eradicating polio worldwide."

"They made it a 20-year project and it's called Polio Plus. They made it a project of theirs, they said, 'in 20 years, we want to eliminate polio.'"

Twenty years later, polio was reduced from being a problem in 150 countries to being a problem in only four - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and remote parts of India.

Savage says the reasons why those countries still suffer the scourge of polio are complex and often religious and political in nature.

Savage says he isn't nervous about the adventure.

"I'm excited to go."

Joining Savage on the trek will be Finbar O'Sullivan, Maureen Savage, Linda Frandsen, Dean McLay, Wanda McLay and Dan Fogden.