Edmond Woman’s Journey Towards Peak Of Mount Everest Cut Short

An Edmond woman who was just days away from reaching the top of Mount Everest is now headed home early.

“Our summit attempt was cancelled because our crew was sick. And unlike most mountains, this one is impossible to climb without their help,” Jess Wedel said in part on social media Tuesday night.

Wedel wrote that they were preparing to wake up in a few hours for their rotation, 55 days into the journey, when she learned the news.

An COVID-19 outbreak has infected more than 100 hikers. Wedel said she took all the right precautions to avoid catching the virus.

“The last 36 hours have been excruciating,” Wedel explained in her post. “While we had protected our team, kept our distance and managed to not have any COVID, we were informed at the last hour that the situation with our support Sherpa was much worse.”

Wedel, an ovarian cancer survivor, expressed disappointment but said one day she will remember the positivity from her trip.

There was tremendous excitement about the climb Monday after she posted to social media saying she was preparing for the trip to the summit. She said there would be 8 to 10 days of radio silence as she made the trek, adding that no news was good news.

The bad news came late.

“We fought at every avenue possible to have a chance to climb,” Wedel shared. “Like all the other teams in our group had. We had waited. We had distanced. We had done everything we could. I feel broken. Such disappointment."

Wedel began the journey alongside her mother, Valari, in hopes of becoming the first mother-daughter duo to reach the summit. Valari was forced to turn around due to asthma.

Wedel will soon make the lengthy hike down to Kathmandu.