Fort Carson Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy Climbs Everest For PTSD Awareness

You saw this picture in the previous post and now you know why she did it!

Female Fort Carson soldier summited Mount Everest Tuesday in bid to raise PTSD awareness 
The Gazette 
By: Seth Boster
May 25, 2016

"I think about the fallen soldiers I'm climbing for every day, especially when things got difficult on the mountain."
Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy,

Fort Carson Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy, was atop the world Tuesday.

Medvigy, 32, summited Mount Everest in the morning hours with a fellow active-duty soldier and a veteran in a climb for U.S. Expeditions and Explorations, a nonprofit seeking to raise awareness of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to a news release, the nonprofit believes Medvigy to be the first active-duty female soldier to scale Earth's highest mountain.

The Ridgway native was joined on the 29,029-foot summit with 2nd Lt. Harold Earls and retired Staff Sgt. Chad Jukes, who lost his right leg in Iraq. She was the first to reach the top among the group, at 7:40 a.m. Everest time, according to an online chronicle of the climb by the nonprofit. She and her team began the ascent on the mountain's north side April 25.

In a photo provided by the group, Medvigy is shown on Everest's peak holding pictures of Army Pfc. Keith Williams and Staff Sgt. Benjamin Prange. The two died during combat in Afghanistan.
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