Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 2, 2008|Volume 36, Number 28|Two-Week Issue

To prepare for the climb of North America's highest point, Lew Nescott Jr. (left) has been training seven days a week with Marc Davis (right), assistant track coach and sprint coach, who developed a high-altitude training program for him.

Staff member’s Mt. McKinley climb
will support cancer research

Yale employee Lew Nescott Jr. will put his mountaineering skills to work this July when he climbs Alaska’s Mount McKinley to raise funds to benefit the Yale Cancer Center’s Breast Cancer Research Program.

The 2008 Mount McKinley Breast Cancer Climb — supported by Trailblazer LLC — will honor the courage of survivors, and the memory of those before them, by raising vital funds for state-of-the-art breast cancer research underway at Yale.

Nescott, senior research analyst in the Office of Development, has been mountain climbing for about eight years. The peaks he has scaled include Mount Damavand in Iran, Mount Ranier in Washington state and Mount Elbrus in Russia.

His next challenge, Mount McKinley (also known by its Native-American name, Denali, meaning “the great one”), stands 20,320 feet above sea level. It is the highest point in North America and one of the seven highest continental summits in the world. McKinley is located at a longitude that is more northerly than Mount Everest, and climbers have been known to experience hurricane-force winds in excess of 100 miles per hour with arctic temperatures approaching 50 below zero.

To prepare for the climb, Nescott has been training seven days a week — and twice daily on weekdays — for about nine months with Marc Davis, Yale’s assistant track coach and sprint coach. Davis developed a high-altitude program specifically for this climb.

Despite the many challenges, Nescott says it is “a privilege to climb in support of Yale Cancer Center’s mission to bring tomorrow’s treatments and cures to patients today.” Having witnessed the heroic struggles of women with breast cancer, he says, it is a mission he is strongly committed to.

Trailblazer LLC, a Connecticut-based specialty retailer that features outdoor and running products, is supporting Nescott in his endeavor, by providing him with equipment and financial support. The retailer also held a special fundraising event at their store in February, which raised $1,100 for breast cancer research at Yale.

Another area business, Rollins Printing Inc., a graphic design company based in Hamden, is creating the banner that Nescott will unfurl when he reaches the summit of Mount McKinley. The banner, made of a special material that can withstand the mountain’s environment, will feature the Yale Cancer Center logo with the inscription “On behalf of all and for all …”

Dr. Lyndsay Harris, director of the Breast Cancer Program at Yale Cancer Center and co-director of the Yale-New Haven Breast Center, says: “Lew Nescott’s climb is going to have a positive affect on Yale Cancer Center and the Breast Cancer Program. Support such as this is so encouraging.”

If you want to make a donation to the 2008 Mount McKinley Breast Cancer Climb, visit the website at http://yalecancercenter.org/involved/climb.html; print out the online donation form (indicating that your donation supports the Breast Cancer Climb); and mail it with your donation to the Yale Cancer Center Office of Development, 157 Church St., New Haven, CT 06510-2100. All donations will go directly to the Yale Breast Cancer Program.

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