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Brooke Barnes, of Bend, is pictured here during a Puja ceremony at Mount Everest Base Camp, during which Sherpas pray to gods for a blessing and a safe and successful expedition.
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A mountaineer from Bend has made it as high as 21,500 feet in her attempt to guide a climber with multiple sclerosis to the summit of Mount Everest.
Brooke Barnes, a guide for Mountain Link Guide Service in Bend, is aiding Wendy Booker as the 54-year-old from Boston tries to become the first person with MS to climb the Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each of the world’s seven continents.
At 29,035 feet, Mount Everest is the tallest peak on Earth, towering above the Himalayas on the border of the south Asian countries of Nepal and Tibet.
Barnes and Booker — both attempting Everest for the first time — reached Camp 2, at about 21,500 feet, last Friday, according to www.mountain-link.com.
They spent several nights at Camp 2 at the base of the Lhotse Face, a sheer wall of ice that must be climbed to reach Camp 3 (24,000 feet). Their team of Sherpas (Tibetan climbing guides) set the route and fixed rope lines on the face while Brooke and Booker trained and acclimatized, according to the Web site.
High winds forced Barnes, 40, and Booker back down to Everest Base Camp (17,000 feet), the Web site reported, and possibly to a village below base camp. The thicker air at lower elevation will allow them to rest and refuel their bodies before making a push to the summit, according to www.mountain-link.com.
Booker hass no visible signs of MS — an inflammation of the nervous system — just a numbness on her left side from her toes to the top of her rib cage. Barnes and Booker have climbed three of the Seven Summits together.
More than 400,000 Americans have MS, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. Currently, there is no cure for the disease, but it is not fatal. Symptoms include muscle weakness, numbness, and an increasing loss of coordination.
MS or not, fewer than 25 percent of Everest climbers reach the summit on their first attempt, Booker noted last fall before a training session with Barnes at Mount Bachelor.
More than 200 climbers have died on Mount Everest. Constant avalanches from the west shoulder of the mountain may have killed a climber on Thursday, according to www.mounteverest.net.
The first summits of Everest this year were reported this week. David Tait of Britain and a group of Sherpas reached the summit on Tuesday, according to www.mounteverest.net.
For more information, visit the Mountain Link Web site at www.mountain-link.com.
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