Willumsen, marketing director for the Pittsburgh Opera, is one of four Pittsburghers participating in Climb for Hope. Climb for Hope's Pittsburgh team was created with the purpose of beating breast cancer by funding innovative vaccine research for late-stage breast cancer. Team Pittsburgh leaves in January to tackle Ecuador's second highest peak, Cotopaxi, which at 19,348 feet is also the world's highest active volcano.

Five marketing professionals: Willumsen, Karen Kern, Nick Cobler, Todd Lepley, and Ted Williams; make up Team Pittsburgh, the first regional team for Climb for Hope. Each team member has a personal reason for their participation. Willumsen climbs in honor of her sister, Sarah, who has battled breast cancer twice.

Willumsen, Cobler, Lepley, and Williams are traveling to Cotopaxi while Kern will set out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa at 19,341 feet, in June.

What makes Willumsen's story especially interesting is that she discovered mountaineering during her "mid-life crisis." At the age of 47, to celebrate her son Noah's 16th and her son Adam's 21st birthdays, they went glacier mountaineering in Seattle. Willumsen described it as a "life-changing experience."

"I was someone who hadn't exercised for 30 years," said Willumsen.

After the climb in Seattle, she got back into running and worked with a trainer. That led to participating in weight lifting competitions, including the Arnold Classic, which is a 5K/bench press competition, rock climbing in the Alps and the Tour de Mont Blanc, an eight to 10-day solo tour. For her 50th birthday she entered the Monster Meet Bench Pressing Competition. She chuckled that since she was the only 50-year-old woman in the competition she won the first place trophy for that age group.

"Women are so self conscious about age," commented Willumsen, "and that's a shame."

To get ready for her trip to Cotopaxi, in addition to her regular exercise routine, Willumsen has been hiking segments of the Rachel Carson Trail on Saturdays. On Sundays she climbs the stairs at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. "I'm up to 15 reps," she said, adding that she was definitely an endurance athlete.

Willumsen, who was a member of the inaugural Climb for Hope expedition last January, acknowledged that while the climb at Cotopaxi has the potential for danger, they are very safety conscious. She said their guide for the trip, Chris Warner of Earth Treks in Baltimore, has summated K2 and Everest. Willumsen said the climbers will spend a week acclimatizing to the altitude, each day climbing longer and higher. Their final hike before ascending to the summit will take them to a refuge at 15,500 feet.

Willumsen said the climbers spend the night at the refuge, then train the next morning in use of their ice axes to self-arrest, which is the way they stop themselves from falling. After training, the climbers rest, have supper and get ready to leave around midnight for the summit. Willumsen explained that when the sun gets hot some of the ice bridges start to melt and crevasses open, so the climbers have to reach a certain point on the mountain before sunrise or they have to turn back.

According to Willumsen, most accidents occur on the descent. You're focused on getting to the top explained Willumsen, but not as goal driven on the way back down. You're so exhausted, and when you're walking on crampons it is easy to get tangled and drag the rest of your team down with you. You have to be cognizant of your responsibility to the rest of the team.

Once the climbers are back at the refuge, they pack up their gear and hike the rest of the way down the mountain.

Willumsen said that for her it was hard getting into an exercise habit, and having a public goal like Climb for Hope gave her a wonderful support system. She said her opera co-workers have been very supportive, as have her sons. Noah calls her "momzilla" and Adam teases her that she's doing stuff the boys are supposed to be doing. "It's very inspiring to me," she said.

To learn more about Team Pittsburgh, or donate money, visit their Web site at www.climbforhope.org.

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Climb for Hope

Climb for Hope was organized to raise funds for promising breast cancer research, with the mission of finding a viable treatment by 2009. The inaugural Climb for Hope expedition in January 2007 to Mt. Cotopaxi raised $150,000. The money was directed towards a vaccine being developed at Johns Hopkins University by Dr. Leisha Emens, speeding up her work by 6 months and potentially saving thousands of lives.

Dr. Emens is a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer care, and is developing innovative immune-based therapies for the treatment of breast cancer. Immune-based therapy uses the body's own ability to fight cancer in a specific way that avoids the side effects commonly associated with standard cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. "This research should pave the way for breast cancer vaccines to become a unique but standard part of breast cancer treatment, and ultimately breast cancer prevention."

To learn more about Dr. Emens' research or to make a donation, visit the Climb for Hope Web site at www.climbforhope.com.