NEPAL — Months after quitting her finance job, a Boston woman reached the top of the world Thursday.
Rebecca Long, 28, completed the months-long trek up Mount Everest Thursday. She finally reached the summit around 9:00 pm eastern Wednesday night, or shortly after 5 a.m. in Nepal Thursday morning, her sister, Melanie Long, told Boston 25 News.
Long, an Andover native and Boston University grad, has spent the past three months documenting her expedition up the mountain. She’s shared everything from authentic Nepalese dishes, dancing Sherpas and the harrowing, biting pain of an ascent through rapidly thinning air.
“Everest has been a life-long dream for me, and I’ve had a tendency lately to seize the day; who knows how much time we all have left to do stuff like this?” Long wrote in her blog. “Trying my best to strike a balance between that attitude and some semblance of stability, I fought hard to retain my job after my 2.5 month hiatus, escalating to higher ups and offering to take unpaid leave, but my employer ultimately wouldn’t bite, so I resigned in order to climb Everest. YOLO, right?”
Long set out for Everest with an International Mountain Guides group, consisting of a small band of people that would journey to the foot of Everest and four others that would attempt to reach the top with her.
Intermittent stops at secluded mountain villages eventually gave way to increasingly backbreaking hikes as they drew closer to the looming peak.
As Long struggled to adjust to the higher altitude, her guide Gyalzen Sherpa, admonished her for carrying more than she was able.
“It’s embarrassing being considered too helpless to even carry your own water,” Long wrote in a May 7 blog post. “I enormously appreciate all the extra help, but I’ve been trying (probably unsuccessfully) to avoid being cast as a Sandy Hill Pittman type, the seemingly unprepared and helpless female climber vilified as a prima donna in Krakauer’s Into Thin Air.”
One of Long’s fellow climbers, Jonathan Sugarman, passed away on May 1.
Although Jonathan’s passing shook the group, Long shared a moment soon after where the path forward revealed itself once again.
“After sitting in the dining tent together, drinking tea, talking about it and crying together for hours, trying to even begin to process this, Phunuru called us all outside. The nonstop overcast of the past few days had mystically cleared as the setting sun shone through and there were now stunningly beautiful views all around camp 2. It was impossible not to connect this with Jonathan,” Long shared.
After reaching the summit, just one of 2 climbers left from the original group, Long’s path forward is now down the trail she just spent months conquering.
Her sister tells Boston 25 she has a phone call with her celebrating family waiting for her.
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