Climbing for clean air on Mount Hood

Last year, a colleague of mine at the Business Journal, Cathy Cheney, climbed Mount Hood for the first time. She even carried a copy of On Mount Hood all the way to the summit.

Cheney did the climb through a program of the American Lung Association called the Climb for Clean Air. Through that, climbers raise funds for the ALA while training and, ultimately, climbing Northwest peaks.

It’s a cool program and one that I recently wrote about for the Business Journal in a Q&A with Stacy Allison, the first American woman to summit Everest. She’s a Portlander and has been involved in the climbing program for years.

There’s a kickoff party for the hike leaders, assistants and past and present participants this Tuesday at the Lucky Labrador in Northwest Portland. I’ll be there with some climbing pics and tales (and, of course, a few books) to get people in the mountain mood.

While the Mt. Hood climb is all filled up for this year — you can still sign up for the wait list — there are spots still available for the Rainier and Baker climbs. Find out more at www.climbforcleanair.com.