02/16 KEVINTalks climbing mountains, Kevin Cherilla traveling the world & helping others allyouneedforhappiness.com HEALTHY DATE IDEAS Don t break your diet this V-Day BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM Foods & recipes to beat the common cold NIKKI METZGER Meet America s Next Fitness Star GO ALL NATURAL WITH YOUR MAKEUP, WE MEAN RICHMAN MEDIA GROUP
MOUNTAINEER KEVIN CHERILLA SPENDS DAYS HELPING THOSE WITH DISABILITIES ENJOY ADVENTURE AS MUCH AS HE DOES by Gretchen Pahia / photos by James Patrick 46 ScottsdaleHealth 02/16
For many people, just simply climbing Camelback Mountain or Tom s Thumb is quite an accomplishment, and maybe even a struggle. However, for Scottsdale resident Kevin Cherilla those mountains don t even really register on his scale. Cherilla is an international mountaineer who has been conquering summits worldwide for more than 20 years. What is the best part of what Cherilla has accomplished? He turned his passion for climbing into a business and charitable organization. 02/16 ScottsdaleHealth 47
So far, Cherilla has reached the summit of five of the seven continental summits, including Mt. Everest which, as most know, is not an easy feat. It is an amazing feeling, leading these individual expeditions and traveling around the world, he says. I can t compare the feeling of being on top of the mountains to anything and that is in part why I wanted to start something like K2 Adventure Travel. I wanted to share my experiences with others, lead teams on these endeavors much like they ve never seen before. K2 Adventure Travel is a company that provides guided organized trips where groups discover new places and scale mountains. Along with his partner, Kristen Sandquist, Cherilla also founded K2 Adventures Foundation, which raises money to help individuals with disabilities experience the excitement of fun adventures like climbing and outdoor challenges. We began working together shortly after Kristen was a guide for a team of blind climbers up on Mt. Kilamanjaro, along with me and others, Cherilla explains. We raised more than $200,000 for the blind in Arizona during that climb and also assisted a local orphanage that housed blind, albino kids in Tanzania. It was right after this climb we teamed up and co-founded K2 Adventure Travel and K2 Adventures Foundation. Cherilla says for him, these days, it isn t just about the climb any more, there is so much more about the mountain adventures he goes on. I enjoy seeing the smiles on the faces of the people who thought maybe this was never possible. The people not only who pay for the trips through our Adventure Travel company, but also those who get the trips through our Foundation, the never ending smiles, that is what it is about for me, he says. Typically, people who attend a trip with K2 Adventures Travel go on to preform community service. They are not required to donate to the foundation, but they learn about it and about giving back. The community service aspect of the travel experience goes toward the foundation, I ENJOY SEEING THE SMILES ON THE FACES OF THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT MAYBE THIS WAS NEVER POSSIBLE. THE PEOPLE NOT ONLY WHO PAY FOR THE TRIPS THROUGH OUR ADVENTURE TRAVEL COMPANY BUT ALSO THOSE WHO GET THE TRIPS THROUGH OUR FOUNDATION, THE NEVER ENDING SMILES, THAT IS WHAT IT IS ABOUT FOR ME, helping people with disabilities across the board. These people are usually of all ages, located either here in Arizona or in locations like Tanzania, Nepal and Peru. For business purposes, Sandquist says the two companies are very independent and do not co-mingle. The foundation is 100-percent non-profit and all the money comes from fundraisers and donations, she explains. All the money goes back to individuals with disabilities and we serve people from around the world. Each year, Cherilla plans his climbes and he says this year is busier than ever. We have a full slate planned for 2016, he says. We have a great climb leaving at the end of the month with some of our disability folks, [a] Grand Canyon Hike in May, we have a river rafting trip this year. We will be heading to Peru in June and Tanzania in June and July, staying for 7 weeks, so a pretty full slate and we are so excited to get going and to move ahead with the year. Sandquist says she is very proud of all that Cherilla has accomplished along the way and that they have done so many things in the last few years that have touched both of their hearts, leaving them just looking ahead for more to accomplish in the days, weeks and months ahead. Together, Sandquist and Cherilla have worked hard over the last few years to make a difference in people s everyday lives and change their future for the better. Sandquist says that the accomplishments they have made thus far are what keeps the team looking ahead and trekking on for the future. We provided adapted surf boards for children who have been paralyzed from the waist down, she explains. We ve provided a wheelchair for a young girl who was essentially left in a ditch for dead and she had no insurance coverage to help her out, and that is just scratching the surface. Children are a big part of who the foundation helps. Cherilla says one of his favorite things to do is to help kids with disabilities enjoy their time outdoors. We love sending kids to camps where there are other kids just like them, for example kids with brain injuries and adventure camps. Let these kids go and be a kid, enjoy the outdoors a little and see the uniqueness of nature and the world, he says. Speaking of uniqueness, K2 Adventures Foundation is one of the only organizations around that will consider guided trips for people with disabilities to difficult locations like Mt. Kilimanjaro. Cherilla says that there are not many companies out there willing to take on the risks associated with traveling with youth and adults who have disabilities. K2 Adventures takes a different route, 48 ScottsdaleHealth 02/16
KEVIN CHERILLA ADVENTURE STATS Climbing for 28+ years 40+ mountains summited Money raised: over $3.5 million highest summit: Mt. Everest at 29,035 ft Harshest weather: 100mph winds on Mt. Everest at 24,000 ft. and minus 51 degree temperatures Favorite local climbs: Pinnacle Peak and Tom s Thumb Records: Assisted the only blind person in history to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest by looking at it as an experience and an adventure, rather than a burden and danger. Cherilla has made it his mission here in the United States, more specifically in Arizona, to make sure that every individual born with a disability has the same opportunities for recreational adventures and adaptive equipment that able bodied people have. Over the past few years, K2 has given out more than $500,000 in awards and grants to help those in need. On top all that he does to help those with disabilities, Cherilla also focuses a lot of his energies on the home front. He is the father of two teenagers a boy and a girl who also keep him very busy all the time. Like their father, both of his children are actively involved in the non-profit. Thanks to their participation, Cherilla has incorporated a junior board of directors for the K2 Adventures Foundation to include a youthful perspective and get them to understand what is going on behind the scenes. Each year, the foundation holds two big fundraisers. The first is their Masquerade Ball in the fall, which raises anywhere between $125,000-$200,000 a year. The second is called Summer in the City, which is held in the spring. This year s theme for the Summer in the City fundraiser is Women of Many Hats and it will be held April 8. Typically, this fundraiser brings in anywhere between $25,000- $85,000 in donations and the group gives back 82 cents on every dollar donated. For more information on K2 Adventure Travel, visit www.k2adventuretravel.com and for more information K2 Adventures Foundation, head over to www.k2adventures.org. 02/16 ScottsdaleHealth 49