Climbing lots of stairs for a good cause

Published 11:25 am Thursday, March 19, 2015

In full firefighter gear, nearly 2,000 competitors climbed steep stairs in honor of cancer research.

Aubrey Schermerhorn and Halley Parnell, former Orcas students, made the grueling journey this year in the “Scott Firefighter Stairclimb” in Seattle’s Columbia Center.

Parnell is a firefighter and EMT with the Billings Fire Department in Montana, and Schermerhorn is a firefighter/EMT with the Sedro Wooley Department.

At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,311 steps to reach the observation deck overlooking the city.

The stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising and entry fees. This year a total of 1926 firefighters from 27 states and seven countries participated.

Parnell and her team raised $8,000, while Schermerhorn’s team raised $4,000. Fundraising will remain open until March 31 at http://www.llswa.org/. The total raised so far is $1.9 million.