Under Armour Designer Climbs Everest To Combat Human Trafficking

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- One of Under Armour's top designers came up with what even he calls a crazy idea: climb some of the six highest mountains on earth to combat human trafficking.

He's back now but, as Mike Schuh reports, little went as planned.

Nick Cienski is a top designer at Under Armour. His organization, Mission 14, battles human trafficking. Everest will be the start of six mountaintops in one calendar year.

"We planned for every possibility. What we didn't plan for was everything that happened," he said.

What happened first was the Nepal earthquake and avalanche. Wind, snow and boulders scraped through base camp. Rescue choppers evacuated scores of wounded. Twenty-two died.

Cienski's tent was just 60 feet from where boulders landed. Tents and people were gone.

He's been back for three weeks now---back from things he'd rather not remember.

"It was very difficult to get back up because you're dealing with the death and injured imminent in base camp and then you're trying to figure out what do we do on a bigger scale," he said.

His team helped there and then for another two weeks down in Kathmandu. Then it was on to the next mountain: K2 in Pakistan. But soft snow made a climb to the top impossible. Then the final mountains in Tibet were closed by the Chinese.

"We did not stand on the summits we intended to stand; however, our goal was to inspire people to get off the sidelines and engage with us in this fight against human trafficking and I think we succeeded there," he said.

Between two billion web interactions and raising $200,000, their fight was about more than climbing mountains.

"I think if I was just doing this to do this, I probably would have given up after Everest," he said.

There is a fundraiser next Thursday night at MICA. Tickets are $25 and some of the Under Armour clothes Cienski designed will be given away that night. For more, click here.