Almost on top of the world

One of Chantilly’s own students began a climb up the side of Mt. Everest on Oct. 4 and achieved her goal of climbing up 20,000 feet of the 29,000 feet.

Senior Jennifer Sadeghi has been climbing since she was 7, and although she was only 9,000 ft. from the top, is currently in training to one day reach the tip of the tallest mountain in the world.

“This was training to go back to the top,” Sadeghi said. “I thought I was going to have this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, but I got there and I started cursing because you could see the tip of Everest. I just looked at it, and I was like, ‘Crap, I should be up there.’”

The climb was a long and difficult one, and near the peak of the journey, it got even worse.

“There is just no oxygen up there,” Sadeghi said. “You can feel it, and I remember that if I thought about breathing I would get panic attacks, and I’d feel like I was drowning because there was no air.”

Sadeghi said there is no way to train to handle the high altitudes better. The only advantage she had over the other climbers was her age and intensity of training.

“The main thing that separated our performances was how our bodies handled the altitude and that has nothing to do with you,” Sadeghi said. “You can train to get in the best shape so that when it happens you can handle it better and decrease the chances of it happening, but if it does happen, then you’re done.”

This lack of air is the cause of altitude sickness among climbers.

“Two of our teammates got really sick,” Sadeghi said. “I just got the beginning symptoms,”

The team also consisted of her uncle and her uncle’s friends that climb. Sadeghi was by far the youngest and one of three girls on the trip.

The climbing trip took Sadeghi out of school for around three weeks, and she had to find ways to make up the work that she missed.

“My teachers were very helpful,” Sadeghi said. “They made plans, and basically, I get I’s, incompletes, and then I make the stuff up.”

Sadeghi’s Latin teacher Norman Achin said it was difficult to make up the work, but it was worth it for the experience she got.

“The opportunity was so incredible that I was happy to support her,” Achin said. “Whenever you have an experience that gives you a sense of what the world is like, it’s great.”

Sadeghi’s goals do not end with just climbing up to 20,000 ft. She has plans to go all the way to the top of Mt. Everest one day and much more.

“I definitely do want to go back to the top, but I have other projects coming up,” Sadeghi said. “I have a marathon on Mar.  17 and then I’m planning on a climb 10 days after that.”

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