One of the first international climbing trips I ever took was to the island of Mallorca. I was in college. After my roommates and I had watched a pirated copy of the Dosage with Klem Loskot establishing Loskot and Two Smoking Barrels 4,000 times on my laptop, we booked our tickets to the limestone island, with visions of acquiring Klem’s Teutonic shoulder musculature over the ocean bluffs. Though technically inspired by content we first saw online, the actual trip was indelibly pre-internet in so many ways. There were no online guides to reference in advance of landing in a foreign country whose language we barely spoke. We scarcely knew how to even get from Barcelona to the island itself. We took an overnight ferry, waving bottles of rioja till 4 a.m. on the prow of the ship at the Mediterranean Sea to pass the time, with no idea of where we were going to sleep next. We napped in the grass in a park until the coffee shops opened. We walked the city of Palma, looking for an outdoors store; found one; bought a guidebook; and were on our way. More than two decades later, there are so many sights and sounds and memories that I will never forget.

Unlike skiing or surfing or other lifestyle sports, climbing is unique because it can found in every country on earth. I assert that climbing is the greatest sport in the world for this reason alone. To be a climber, it seems to me, is necessarily to be a traveler of off-beat paths. In pursuit of rock, one may find themselves in remarkable places you’d absolutely never otherwise visit, and these experiences contribute as much to your progression as a human being as they do to your climbing.

I’m really happy to share the news that some of my friends from Palestine, who are the stars of this year’s Reel Rock film “Resistance Climbing,” have gotten a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a month climbing here in Colorado. Tim Bruns, the adorable and idealistic foil to my grumpy and jaded persona in the film, has spearheaded an ambitious itinerary for them that includes connecting with teachers, guides, gyms, and thought leaders of climbing organizations to learn. It’s also a chance to just experience the climbing landscapes of the Rocky Mountains and the wild eastern Utah desert. I want you to imagine what it might be like to live in a place like Palestine, where you can’t drive 30 minutes without going through the hassle of a militarized checkpoint, to blasting 7 hours across a giant American highway, through soaring mountains and uncanny desert landscapes with adventures around every corner.

It must said that this opportunity for these climbers would almost certainly not have happened without this film and the really wonderful, moving reception it has received in theaters around the world. I can’t tell you how many people have reached out to me after seeing “Resistance Climbing” to share that they were moved to tears by this film’s assertion of the power of climbing as a vehicle for bringing meaning to one’s life.

Just securing visas for some of the Palestinians to come on a climbing trip to Colorado was not without hurdles. In fact, their visas were originally denied, without any given reason. We wrote letters, made calls, leveraged connections in powerful political offices, and were honestly just lucky to be successful on the second round of applications.

Against all odds, they’re now here! I’m so psyched to be able to share my home with them and return the hospitality they showed me last year.

Tim and I have put our heads together to figure out how to pay for this trip, and we’re trying to raise $10,000 to do so. We’ve already raised about $1,500 and I’m positive there are enough climbers out there who would be not only willing but also stoked to help us cover these expenses.

Some of our trip highlights will include:

• Attending the Mountain Film festival in Telluride, where “Resistance Climbing” will be shown.

• Crack climbing in the desert

• Black Canyon multi-pitch climbing with local guides

• Cultural exchanges with Denver climbers

• Women’s climbing retreat with She Sends Collective

• Rest day rafting trip

• Tawfiq’s first time on an airplane!

To contribute:

If you like’d to make a contribution, please Venmo Tim @tim-bruns-3 (last four digit 6920) or send him a check: Timothy C Bruns, 60 S. Bannock St., Denver, CO 80223.

If you live abroad, try Tim’s PayPal account, linked to this email: skibruns30@mac.com

And if anyone gives $100 or more, I’m more than happy to offer a year subscription to Evening Sends so you can read all of my paywalled content. Just email me with a screen shot of your contribution, and I’ll hook you up. andrew@eveningsends.com

Thank you to everyone who helps us out, and I’ll share highlights from our trip over the next month.