CAC - €250,000 euros for charity all by climbers

At some point in early 2013, most likely from watching the climbing World Cup, I heard of the new charity, Climbers Against Cancer.

I didn't know the primary individual involved, John Ellison (who seems to be hugely popular amongst the climbing community), but the idea of something that involved getting the support of all climbers to band together, really rung true. Climbing has never been pure difficulty for me, but something to travel, spend time with lots of like-minded individuals, have fun, socialize, and of course, spend as much time as possible in the outdoors (especially in  new locations).

So I bought a t-shirt, supporting the cause. And one for Naomi. And I saw numerous others take a similar approach in Ireland, with regular sightings of CAC t-shirts at the climbing walls and crags. So, it was fantastic to see recent reports that in the space of one year, it has generated over €250,000! Think about that: if it was purely t-shirts, that's 14,000 people buying them. 14,000 different people. For a tiny sport, what an awesome community.

Of course, there were the naysayers - I've heard various comments from the likes of it being:

• a dumb idea
• to just give money direct to a local charity
• to the women in the CAC calendar getting criticism to just
• why?

But none of them matter - the whole idea of climbers getting together showing they could do something awesome was, and is, as much of the qualities of CAC.

I've just come across a link that the founder, John, gave to the IFSC Plenary assembly. Very humbling. And well worth a read.

Will you buy to support?