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Janesville native moves closer to goal of Mt. Everest summit

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Lori Schneider

Janesville native Lori Schneider might summit Mt. Everest as early as Thursday.

Her father, Neal Schneider of Janesville, said Tuesday the ascent depends on weather conditions atop the world's highest peak.

"She will call me, if she makes it," he said.

Lori Schneider has been in contact with her father by satellite phone to give him progress reports.

"She sounds good and is in great shape and great spirits," Neal Schneider said.

The 52-year-old Bayfield woman and her team from Alpine Ascents International have been climbing from the 17,000-foot base camp and descending back down to get used to the extreme altitude.

Neal Schneider said his daughter was resting Tuesday and would leave for Camp 3 at 24,000 feet. Then the team would wait for good weather to ascend to Camp 4 at 27,500 feet and eventually the peak.

Everest soars 29,035 feet high in the rugged Himalayas between Nepal and Tibet.

If Schneider gets to the top of Everest, she will have completed a dream of summiting the tallest mountains on all seven continents a decade after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She has already climbed the top peaks in Africa, South America, Europe, North America, Australia and Antarctica.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that can result in loss of muscular coordination.

"I would not have been as driven, if not for the MS," she told The Janesville Gazette in December.

"It was a gift in my life to move me to a different place."