Mike Ritchie will make Big Climb for cancer research

Even when done virtually, there is nothing more real than the Big Climb in Seattle.

Let La Conner resident Mike Ritchie explain.

“The Big Climb,” he says, “is a stair climb up the Columbia Center, the tallest skyscraper in downtown Seattle. There are 69 floors of stairs, 1,311 steps and 788 feet of vertical elevation.”

Ritchie and others in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will take on the Big Climb from coast to coast on May 15 as a major fundraiser benefitting blood cancer research.

“Although it will be challenging,” Ritchie said, “it pales in comparison to what blood cancer patien...