Mexico: Combating Water Crisis by Climbing Mountains · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The Challenge is to raise awareness about the water and sanitation crisis all over the world and raise money to ensure safe water for people. The founder of Challenge 21, Jake Norton, means to do this by climbing the top of the 3 highest peaks in each continent and the next couple of videos allow us to look into how he's doing.
Recently he climbed to the summit of the 3rd tallest peak in North America, Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. Josh Wolff documented the climb, his first ever, through a video documentary and a post on the Gadling travel blog.
My most recent adventure brought me to the border of Puebla and Veracruz states in Mexico in order to attempt to summit the third highest peak (18,500 feet) in North America and the highest peak in Mexico, the stratovolcanic Pico de Orizaba.
This wasn't just any ordinary climb. In addition to the altitude, there was also a cause. Mountaineering pro Jake Norton and the Challenge 21 team are attempting to climb the 21 highest peaks of the world, all in the name of clean water and sanitation for the world's neediest. It's one of the most pressing issues of our time. Wanting to push myself, and to do so for a good cause, I signed up to join Jake in Mexico.
With 7 peaks already conquered, including Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Stanley as well as the 3 North American peaks, the 3 to 4 year-long project is well off on its way. The Challenge 21's YouTube channel has several videos of the Everest expedition, such as several ones showing sanitation facilities a the Everest Base Camp. On the website more information about the expeditions is available as well as links to make donations to the Water for People organization and social media links to follow the project's progress.
Expeditions undertaken by Jake Norton and Challenge21 are completely funded by outside sources. In other words, any money donated to Water For People will go completely, 100% to Water For People and their programs around the world. No funds donated through Challenge21 to Water For People will go to underwriting the cost of the expeditions or any other aspect of Challenge21.