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Himalayan mountains navigating With a team of nine people, shear death drops, snow, yaks and they supplied the children with climbing up, gasping for oxygen at
high altitudes. Imagine doing it wheelchairs, shoes, school and high altitude, Trevor and I were the
blind,” Petra said. medical supplies. first of our team to summit,” she said.
Petra had ventured to Nepal to
Completing their work at the
“After four hours of relentlessly
“Together we proudly stood on
work with orphans with disability for CDCA Project, Petra and the team the summit, experiencing Mount
the CDCA Project in Kathmandu. were ready to trek 10 days to Gokyo Everest standing boldly opposite us,
Ri, one of the highest peaks in Nepal laughing.”
overlooking Mt Everest.
“But then Trevor’s guide became
is the same altitude as Everest Base
stay in Kathmandu,” Petra said. Camp. However, helping Trevor
“I could see Trevor’s dream achieve his dream of conquering
of conquering the Himalayas and the Himalayas was a huge feat for
sensing Mount Everest was fast them both.
Trevor, who lives in the United
“But I wasn’t going to let his States, visited Nepal aligned with a
dream die and decided to take up charity called No Barriers USA. He
the challenge of guiding him. There said being guided up Gokyo Ri by
was no way I was going to let Trevor Petra was ‘epic’.
just go home when I had the power
to help.”
Petra said with no experience,
“After becoming blind, darkness
eclipsed my life, giving me a feeling
of hopelessness. After connecting
using only a bell, she guided Trevor with No Barriers USA, a flame ignited
over rolling mountains, through inside me to find purpose and
snow, over shaky bridges and past continue doing the things I love,”
laden yaks. Trevor said.
“Often, I would shimmy Trevor
“The trek with Petra as my guide
along a hairy 30cm trek with a rock ignited a friendship where we had
wall on one side and a death drop on one common goal, me trusting Petra
the other,” she said. as my guide, and Petra trusting my
“We’d have a laugh as I often got
my left and right confused and I had
to use my trekking poles to guide
Trevor to safety!”
Petra said after six to seven hours
a day of walking along dangerous
terrain in the cold with some team
linkonline.com.au
challenge to climb Gokyo Ri, which
too sick to go trekking and had to
disappearing.
Petra and Trevor
at the summit,
image courtesy @
thesocialgirltraveler.
Petra said it was a personal
ability to reach the summit.
“Standing on the summit was very
empowering.
“The spiritual feeling of the open
spaces and Himalayan giants was
more fulfilling than any view.
“Because of my mind, body
members including Trevor suffering and soul, I overcame my fears and
mild altitude sickness, it was finally proved to myself that I live a life of no
time to summit Gokyo Ri. limitations and ‘what’s within me is
At 4:30am on a crisp morning,
Petra, Trevor and three other team
members set off for the summit.
stronger than what’s in my way’.”
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