As it turns out, one man at Coldwell Banker Commercial Schneidmiller Realty will go to great heights to help kids.

Mike King, an associate broker with the large Coeur d’Alene real estate agency, traveled to western Washington in mid-July to scale Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan for the 2010 Coldwell Banker Climb For Kid’s Sake, a national fundraising event that raises money for the youth-mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters.

King and the rest of the five-person climbing team raised more than $25,000 this year for BBBS, an amount that covers the cost of matching about 25 children with mentors. During the past four years, the climbing effort has raised a total of more than $100,000.

This year, the team began its ascent on July 8 of Mount Shuksan, which is east of Bellingham in North Cascades National Park and just south of U.S.-Canada border. The climb took two days, and the group got within 300 feet of the summit of the peak, which is at an elevation of 9,127 feet above sea level. King said the last 300 feet of climbing involves Class 4 and Class 5 rock climbing, and the group and its two guides decided the weather were too severe to attempt the summit.

“The weather was perfect going up, but you never know what you’re going to get at the summit,” King said. “The mountains have a tendency of making weather systems of their own.”

After a day’s rest, the group tackled Mount Baker, which is just west of Mount Shuksan and about 1,600 feet higher. The climbers reached the summit in two days, but as at the Shuksan, the weather at the mountaintop was harsh, so they descended quickly.

In past years, the group has successfully reached the summit of three other well-known Northwest peaks: Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount Rainier.

King has been involved in each of the Climb For Kids events. He wasn’t a climber before getting involved in the events, but he was a Big Brother through a local chapter of the organization. Now, he’s heavily involved in the both the program and the avocation.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to try, and I got hooked,” King said.

The rest of the climbing teams included volunteers from across the country, ranging from Coldwell Banker associates from Atlanta and Washington, D.C., to a telecommunications professional from Seattle.

Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, in addition to sending one of its brokers, was one of 24 corporate sponsors for the event.

Along with supporting the Climb For Kids, the company is a community partner of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Habitat For Humanity, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and its agents are involved in nearly 40 charities and civic organizations throughout the Inland Northwest.