Woman who was rescued off side of mountain two years ago conquers Rainier
One week ago, Kelly Brown was on top of Mount Rainier.
"After sobbing for a few minutes, for the sheer joy of making it, it just was peaceful," she said.
An avid climber, Kelly Brown worked her way back from injury. In September 2021, she broke her leg while climbing Mount Bancroft.
"I ended up just misstepping on that downstep and then rolled with the gravity and it just rolled me about 25 feet on some pretty jagged rock," she said from a hospital bed back then.
She was rescued off the side of the mountain by the Alpine Rescue Team and that journey from rock bottom to on top of the tallest volcano in the cascade volcanic arc began, but wasn't easy.
"It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life both physically and mentally," said Brown.
She spent the past year training but she says she couldn't have done it alone.
"I got myself there physically but I had a whole team of people that helped me get there and Alpine Rescue is within that group absolutely," Brown said.
That's why she raised funds for the Alpine Rescue Team on her climb to the top of Rainier and for the second year in a row she is organizing and running the Evergreen Town Race which benefits the Alpine Rescue Team. They say the money goes a long way.
"The funds that we receive from the Evergreen Town Race are a significant portion of our budget," said Howard Paul with the Alpine Rescue Team.
And while Kelly has done a lot she says she wants to keep giving, but she can't do it alone.
"We need the community to be able to reach that goal," she sadi
If a 5k or 10k in Evergreen sounds like your idea of a good time and you want to raise money for an organization that might save your bacon someday, you can sign up for the Evergreen Town Race online. The race will be held on August 6, 2023.
