CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – Five years ago Julie McKelvey from Cumberland County climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and since then she has traveled the world summiting the tallest peak on each continent.

McKelvey’s journey of climbing these mountains, which is commonly referred to as the seven summits, is getting ready to come to an end when she reaches the top of Mt. Kosciuszko on Dec. 29. McKelvey’s two sons, Jackson and Jacob, and her husband Bobby will complete the final climb with her.

“I want it to be about them because I could never have done this without them,” said McKelvey. “I know it was hard on them . . . and they know that I had mom guilt over it and my husband knew that I felt guilty and all they did was 100% support me the whole time.”

Less than 100 women have finished the seven summit journey and part of McKelvey’s mission with these climbs has been to show women that anything is possible. McKelvey wants women to know that they can have a family while still pursuing their own, individual dreams.

“Women. . . I think just don’t believe in themselves enough,” McKelvey said. “They feel like they have to put all of the pieces of their life together, put everybody else first and then later do what (they) want to do,” McKelvey said. “And you might not get the later.”

McKelvey is a mom, a business owner and a mountaineer. Her life has taken many turns to get her where she is today and she says a large part of that is because she “just said yes”.

“This story of me coming from the background I came from, nothing pointed to this,” McKelvey said. “And yet I said yes. And I kept saying yes when stuff was put in front of me.”

McKelvey has used her seven summit journey as an opportunity to help people gain access to hearing aids. McKelvey started the campaign “Summit for Sound” to help raise money for her nonprofit the Miracle-Ear Foundation. She has been raising money to donate free hearing aids to those in need with every climb.

So far, $248,000 has been raised since McKelvey started this adventure five years ago.

“That’s hundreds of families that are directly impacted because of this,” McKelvey said. “This foundation, like any foundation, like any nonprofit, cannot operate without funds coming in. It’s amazing what we do with helping people hear better. It’s life-changing for them.”

Although McKelvey has relished the opportunity to experience every continent and challenge herself with the training for these climbs and the climbs themselves, she is ready for this part of her life story to come to a close.

Over the past half a decade McKelvey has trained aggressively every week. At her peak, McKelvey was training for 20 hours a week. Currently, she trains for 9 hours a week. Although she feels strong physically and has enjoyed the discipline, she is ready to rest.

“Every vacation for five years has revolved around my training down to which hotel (my family) stays in,” McKelvey said. “The activities are planned around my long session. (Now) we can just go have a vacation. I can sleep in, we can go out to eat. I never had breakfast with them because I was always training.”

McKelvey is looking forward to more time with her family once the journey is complete and being able to experience what she calls the “simple things” such as being able to attend all of her son’s basketball games.

Kosciuszko is the shortest of the seven summits at 2,228 meters. The other six summits from tallest to shortest include Mount Everest in Asia at 8,848 meters, Aconcagua in South America at 6,962 meters, Mount McKinley/Denali in North America at 6,190 meters, Kilimanjaro in Africa at 5,895 meters, Elbrus in Europe at 5,642 meters and Mount Vinson in Antarctica at 4,892 meters.

There is another variation of the seven summits which switches out Mount Kosciuszko with Carstensz Pyramid at 4,884 meters. McKelvey was originally planning on completing the Carstensz Pyramid version, but due to unsafe conditions for foreigners and COVID, the mountain has been closed indefinitely.

However, McKelvey plans to complete Carstensz Pyramid, therefore finishing both versions of the seven summits, whenever it becomes open to the public again. For now, she is thrilled to be finishing this portion of the seven summits with her family at her side, as they will not be able to climb Carstensz Pyramid with her due to its technical challenges.

“There are rumors that Carstensz Pyramid is going to open up and if it does I will go do that,” McKelvey said. “I will train for that and I will go do that because it’s a place that I just have always really wanted to see and experience.”

After McKelvey’s family comes back down from Kosciuszko they plan to celebrate by ringing in the New Year in Sydney at the iconic opera house fireworks display.

“I couldn’t have scripted this out any better,” McKelvey said. “To go with my husband and my kids and we all walk up this hill together and then get to celebrate in Sydney for New Year’s Eve with the fireworks, it’s just incredible. I don’t think it’s really going to hit me until I’m over there.”

McKelvey is already planning her next adventures because she strongly believes in the philosophy that the keys to a happy life are having “something to love, something to do and something to look forward to”.

McKelvey will be doing the rim-to-rim hike in the Grand Canyon in the fall with some of her friends, which is about 50 miles. She noted that hiking this will be a very different experience than these mountain expeditions.

“I’m better when I have a goal, I’m better mentally, I’m better physically, I’m better all the way around when I have something that I’m looking forward to,” McKelvey said. “I think that’s important for everybody in life.”

Read about McKelvey’s Everest experience here: Cumberland County woman completes her sixth of the seven summits by topping Everest

McKelvey has stood on top of the world, she has climbed over 126,079 feet, dealt with a broken foot, a broken mouth, multiple hernias and overcome her own mental and spiritual challenges these past five years. Now, it’s time to wrap up her big journey and finish 2023 with a bang.

“I haven’t had a lot of pausing to reflect on what’s about to happen, which is probably a good thing,” McKelvey said. “But (I’m) excited I think more than anything, just disbelief almost.”

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