50 Summits Challenge

Airmen with the Air Force Seven Summits Team pose for a group photo at Camp 4 along a southern pass on Mount Everest in Nepal on May 19, 2013. A three-man team from Kirtland is planning on taking on the challenge of New Mexico’s Wheeler Peak in October as part of the USAF 50 Summits Challenge and the successor program to the Seven Summits effort last year.

Airmen to climb Wheeler Peak, kick off 50 Summits Challenge

Published Sept. 15, 2014
By Ryan Stark
Nucleus staff writer

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- A Kirtland-based group is taking up the challenge to hike to the summit of New Mexico's highest point, Wheeler Peak.

The USAF 50 Summits Challenge is a project in which Airmen will fly the Air Force flag from the highest point in each of the 50 states. Kirtland's Maj. Quail Albairat, retired Airman and National Nuclear Security Administration Program Manager Robert Suminsby and Jeffrey Harris of Kirtland's Outdoor Recreation are planning to surmount Wheeler Peak in October to fly the service's flag there.

A non-official activity, the challenge stems from a 2005 challenge called the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, in which Airmen flew the Air Force flag from the highest peak on each of the world's continents, including Mount Everest.

The 50 Summits Challenge encompasses points as low as Florida's Britton Hill -- at an elevation of 345 feet above mean sea level -- up to 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, Alaska, the highest point in the United States.

Albairat, deputy chief at the Air Force Research Laboratory's High Power Microwave Applications Branch, says camaraderie among Airmen is foremost among his reasons for doing the hike.

"We know from experience (as Airmen) that almost nothing has the preventive or healing capacity more than the feeling of belonging to a warm, caring family," he said. "We want to remind all Airmen that we are a family, not just members of a special club. We care for one another and we do what it takes so none of us falls in the cracks of life."

The outdoor aspect of the challenge also ranks high in the rationale for the climb, Albairat said.

"There are many ways to keep busy, build stamina, keep a positive focus and start healthy habits," he said. "Outdoor activities do all these with the added bonus of a thrilling adventure and the meditative impact of the great outdoors."

The three formed a team to take on Wheeler. Though not the most challenging of the 50 peaks in each of the states, getting to the summit of New Mexico's highest peak will be more demanding than normal activity, Albairat said.

"With the challenge, we just have a different approach to raising awareness and promoting resiliency (of Airmen)," he said.

"By focusing on having fun in a team environment, challenging each participant to do something difficult, we can accomplish more, quicker and have a lasting impact."

For more about the project, visit www.usaf50summits.com.