Bret Kristin Halverson

The Camel's Hump Challenge-Year 6! In memory of my grandmother-Elsie Tompkins Brecht

Training and skiing with close friends this time of year is always something I look forward to, and this event is great motivation. As many of you know, this cause has always been deeply personal. My grandmother, Elsie (pictured in the white dress in the center of this photo) and Paul’s dad, Russell, have both lived with this disease, and watching how it slowly reshapes the people we love is a difficult journey.

By supporting our team, you are helping fund research, education, and caregiver support for families like ours here in Vermont. Thank you to everyone who has supported this trip year after year. It truly means so much.

About the event:

This year marks my sixth time skiing around the Hump with Team Chasing Waterfalls. We first skied the course in 2020 when COVID canceled the official event, but our team went out and did it anyway. We had great years in 2021,22' & 23', then had the event canceled in 2024 because of low snowpack. Last year, in 2025, we were finally back on the trail, and now we are hoping for another great event in 2026.

The Camel's Hump Challenge is a rigorous wilderness ski touring experience where spirited backcountry Nordic skiers traverse around the perimeter of Camel's Hump - the third highest peak (4083') in Vermont's Green Mountains - to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia. Originally founded by the late Dr. Warren Beeken, the Challenge operates as a fundraiser to support the educational programs and services offered free of charge by the Alzheimer's Association, Vermont Chapter. 

The purpose of this event is to enjoy this extraordinary ski tour and to benefit the Alzheimer's Association, Vermont Chapter.", says Camel's Hump Challenge organizing committee member, Bruce Beeken. "In addition to the individual human tragedy this disease represents, Alzheimer's deprives us of what too many of our elders might offer. Many of us make this effort in honor of a parent or friend who has succumbed to this disease. Bruce shares the beginnings of this event. "Thirty-one years ago, a small group of intrepid skiers garbed in wool sweaters, knickers, and wood skis, set out on the first Camel's Hump Challenge. The route had been explored and established in fits and starts over the course of numerous winters before, and in those days, it was marked with blue ribbon. Some still know it as the 'Blue Trail'. Today the Challenge is known as a premier backcountry ski event".