An intrepid team of friends and family, led by 11-year-old Matt Moniz of Boulder, is attempting to climb 14 Colorado mountains in a fortnight.

They began last Friday and continue the ambitious trek to aid Matt's best friend, Iain Hess, who suffers from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Iain's dad, John Hess is a DOTmed User and medical equipment industry veteran.

"Today I gained a true appreciation of what Pulmonary Hypertension patients experience daily; hypoxia. God bless everyone with PH," John wrote in a tweet from atop Mt. Tabeguache.
The fundraiser is called Pulmonary Hypertension Walk in My Shoes Climb for a Cure: Fourteen 14ers in Fourteen Days. A "14er" refers to a mountain of 14,000 feet or more.

PAH is a condition that costs about $100,000 yearly to treat and requires continual infusion of medication to dilate blood vessels in the lungs. It also robs patients like Iain of his breath, a struggle for oxygen that mountain climbers can relate to.

"What if by climbing a mountain you could experience a day in the life of your best friend?" Matt asks on his website, www.climb7.com. "You would know the same shortness of breath after walking a few steps."

DOTmed caught up with John Hess Tuesday night in between climbs of Mt. Antero and Mt. Belford. "We have to prepare for the next one, get some food and get ready," he said. "Tomorrow morning we have to get up at 2:30 and depart the trail head while it is dark, with headlamps. You want to reach the summit before the afternoon storms come in. That is really important because the number one killer of people in the mountains is lightning."

John stays in touch with Iain who is updating the team's Facebook account. Oddly, cell phone service is excellent since the team has a line of sight for 50 miles and can pick up service from towns below. The fundraising is going well and corporations have sponsored the peaks.

"The most satisfying thing are the emails from people with pulmonary hypertension who are thankful that Matt is raising awareness of this disease through this mechanism because they feel so isolated," John said.

In the two-week stretch, the core team including John, Iain's sister Olivia, 11, Matt, and Matt's dad Mike will have ascended 36,846 vertical feet and traveled 65 miles. They are also joined by other hikers and supporters.

Young Matt has already put together a resume that many mountaineers would be proud of, having reached the 22,841-foot summit of Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina in December. He has also climbed the tallest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus (18,510 feet); and Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet); and he reached a Mt. Everest Base Camp.

Now he is tackling the Rockies. The 14ers are:
-Torreys Peak: 14,267 feet
-Grays Peak: 14,270 feet
-Quandary Peak: 14,265 feet
-Mount Elbert: 14,433 feet
-Mount Belford: 14,197 feet
-Mount Oxford: 14,172 feet
-Mount Missouri: 14,067 feet
-Mount Harvard: 14,420 feet
-Mount Yale: 14,196 feet
-Mount Shavano: 14,229 feet
-Mount Tabeguache: 14,155 feet
-Mount Antero: 14,269 feet
-Mount Bierstadt: 14,060 feet
-Mount Evans: 14,264 feet

The team was recently featured on CBS News.

You can follow the team's effort online and donate here.

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