Scaling new heights, literally, for a cause

I’ve always been in awe of any athletic achievements that force you to push yourself to your absolute physical and mental limits.

Why am I saying this in a security industry blog? Well, two industry pros reached new heights, literally, on Aug. 23 as Karl Radke, Midwest business area director at Axis, and Jason Johnston, OKR (objectives and key results) practice lead at Genetec, successfully braved the challenging 14,505-foot climb to the summit of Mount Whitney in California at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time.

If you’re asking yourself why they decided to take on this arduous climb up the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous United States, the answer is very simple – to support one of the greatest nonprofit organizations in the security industry, IMHO, Mission 500.

We at Security Systems News have been proud supporters of Mission 500 for several years now, raising money to help underprivileged children across the U.S. Whether it’s participating in the annual 5K/2K run/walk at ISC West, or playing golf, or hitting the diamond to play softball (coming up 9/23), building care packs with notes of encouragement for those in need, or filling backpacks with school supplies, Mission 500 serves the needs of children and communities in crisis across the country, working closely with the security industry to support its cause.

When I read that Karl Radke and Jason Johnston were scaling the summit of Mount Whitney to support Mission 500, I was just floored – and flat-out impressed - that these two security industry pros would brave the snowfall (currently 300 percent higher than normal) and the dangerous climb itself to raise funds for children in need.

With a social media hashtag of #LetsGoWhitney to follow the two climbers on social media, Radke and Johnston braved the elements and reached the Mount Whitney summit after 15 hours.

The picture I posted with this blog says it all. They did it, and a well-deserved congrats to both Karl and Jason for reaching the summit!

In support of the climb, Axis and Genetec each donated $2,500 to Mission 500 for a truly impressive athletic endeavor, I must say.

Following the climb, Radke stated on social media, “I’m truly pleased to let you know that our quest to summit Mount Whitney was a success. Jason Johnston from Genetec and I summited at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23. Although we faced numerous challenges during the trek, as a team we were able to overcome those challenges and accomplish our goal! Working together played a key role in our success.
 
“I want to thank everyone for your support along the way. It was amazing to see the positive response from our industry. A big thank you goes out to Axis Communications and Genetec for their support of our goal to raise funds for Mission 500. We can do amazing things by working together!”

Working together is something Axis and Genetec have already done this year, joining forces in February to create an enterprise-level access control offering called Axis Powered by Genetec.

It’s safe to say that working together to climb a 14,500-foot mountain was a tad more difficult, and kudos to Karl and Jason for reaching the summit in support of kids and communities in need.

I will be speaking to Karl Radke about this remarkable achievement this week, so be on the lookout for that interview in the coming days on our site and on our social media channels.