RECORD

ing her debate if she even wanted to complete the rest of the record attempt.

“I have only had a few close calls in the mountains before and that was one of them,” Ton said. “It kind of made me evaluate some things.”

Instead of bailing from the project completely, Ton decided to pivot to some “easier” 14ers in the Sawatch Range, which she has done dozens of times before.

Although the Class 2 peaks in the Sawatch Range did give Ton a fair amount of con dence, her lack of sleep made her continue to question if the chasing after the record was worth the risks.

“I went into this project leaving the sleep element out,” Ton said. “ e rst three days, I moved really fast through the San Juan peaks and I only got an hour and a half of sleep those rst three days. It catches up with you fast.”

In severe sleep deprivation and swirling summer storms, Ton made a rm shift from chasing after her personal time goal of 12 to 13 days, to just nishing the attempt.

She ultimately persevered and was able to set the rst ever summer 14ers women’s self-supported fastest-known time record with a time of 14 days, 10 hours. Ton nished

“You don’t see too many people ying a kite nowadays,” said Lee. “I swapped out the kite for drones and made it much more interesting.”

“Drone Away From Home” is a story that involves friendship, overcoming obstacles and going on a worldwide adventure.

Lee’s story is about a young boy named Darius and his drone friend, Finton. One day, Finton gets lost in a storm and meets a cloud named Sophia who helps him nd his way back to Darius.

“You just hear all the stories of how you know, kids weren’t reading during the pandemic,” said Lee. “My goal was to help inspire kids to both read and write about technology.”

Lee got a master’s degree in Information Technology and is now an engineer. Lee said this book and his future books are going to infuse technology, whether it’s about how the record on Capitol Peak in Pitkin County on July 30, with her friends and family coming out to support her in completing the 365-mile, 159,356 vertical feet, trek across the Colorado High Country.

“I was really happy to nish on Capitol,” Ton said. “It was super meaningful to me personally, because I remember when I climbed all the 14ers for the rst time, I was looking at pictures of the nice edge on Capitol and thought, ‘No way I would ever do that.’ Now, it is cool to re ect back on my progress. I am not a super emotional person, but I did shed a few tears.”

Since claiming the record, Ton has taken a few hours to recover, but has already ventured out the door to do some easy climbs in Boulder and the surrounding area. She doesn’t know if she will ever reattempt the women’s summer 14ers record, but she does have several ideas for her next big feat of endurance.

“I had been contemplating going after the women’s self-supported record for the Colorado Trail late September, early fall time, prior to starting (the 14ers record),” Ton said. “I am going to see how recovery goes and how my body is holding up, but I always have a long list of mountain adventures I want to do.” is Summit Daily story via e Associated Press’ Storyshare, of which Colorado Community Media is a member. technology can help people or bring people together.

“Drone Away From Home” is the start of a series. Lee plans to have another book come out next year. e next book will be a kind of prequel as it will take kids through the process of how a drone is created in a factory and the tests drones have to go through before they can go to a store to be sold.

Lee also plans to write multiple spin-o series based on the cloud, the drone and the little boy from “Drone Away From Home” each having their own series.

For “Drone Away From Home” Lee commissioned illustrator, Nyrryl Cadiz, from the Philippines and together, they created the images for the book.

Lee’s book was published by Book Baby in June and on Aug. 19 from 1 to 3:30 p.m., he will be holding an event at the Highlands Ranch Library to celebrate the launch of the book. e book is available at Book Baby Bookshop, Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and Wheelers Books for $17.99.

“I look forward to releasing more creative children’s books that use technology and friendship and overcoming challenges,” said Lee. “And just helping inspire more and more readers.”