Mount Everest is the most intense test for mountain climbers, but a mom and daughter from Oklahoma already took on a much harder challenge and won.
Valari and Jess Wedel are hoping to become the first American mother-daughter duo to make it to the world’s highest mountaintop, CBS News reported Wednesday.
The outlet recently spoke with the two women online at the Everest base camp located at an elevation of 17,600 feet.
“The possibility exists that we can get there and that would be amazing,” Jess said of reaching the summit. “But if we’re not enjoying every single moment along the way, then we’ve missed the point almost.”
It is not only a huge undertaking for 61-year-old Valari who has asthma, but also for Jess who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016 and endured several surgeries and months of chemotherapy treatments.
However, she has since been deemed cancer-free.
“It feels like part of our healing was coming into the mountains and being able to enjoy each other and have fun and just live life,” Jess told the outlet.
In a social media post on April 7, she shared a photo of herself and her mom during an acclimatization hike in Pheriche.
“We’ll move to Lobuche peak tomorrow – off the grid while we climb for a few days. This will count as 1 of our 3 rotations before we make the summit push,” she said:
Jess recently shared another photo of the two during their climb and explained the team was waiting on weather conditions to continue.
“There’s certainly a lot of stress and action around these parts. The team is doing well and mom and I are doing well,” she wrote:
The two mountaineers also survived storms on Everest which included 60 mile per hour winds and whiteout conditions.
“When we say we live every day, we really do, because we have been in a place where we didn’t have maybe the next day. So, every day,” Valari commented, adding, “I’m a lucky mom.”
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