Mount Everest Climb
This April, former Naperville North High School student Lucy Westlake will be attempting a climb of Mount Everest to become the youngest American woman to make it to the top. In an Instagram post, Westlake shared the motivation behind this decision is for her to help motivate young girls.
“Mountaineering is a sport dominated by men twice my age and size who can shoulder 75 pounds of gear with ease,” said Westlake in the post. “And I’m ready to fight to change that. To show this generation of young girls that we belong in the mountains.”
AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation
The 18-year-old is raising money to make the climb to Mount Everest, dedicating the journey up to the AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation. The foundation helps make mountains accessible for girls of any age to climb them. She started a GoFundMe for this effort, with the goal of raising $40,000.
“Girls don’t feel they belong in the outdoors because they don’t see anyone like themselves there. The mountains belong to everyone and the lessons learned in them build strength, confidence, adaptability, and resilience,” said Westlake in the GoFundMe post. “Skills that young girls in our world need. They need a role model – to see someone like themselves – climbing these mountains. That is my motivation for standing on the top of Everest this May.”
Westlake has been climbing mountains with her father since she was seven years old. She set a world record when she became the youngest girl to climb the 48 high points in the continental U.S. at 12 years old, and set another world record of youngest female to climb all 50 U.S.state high points when she summited Alaska’s Denali Mountain, the tallest peak in North America, in June 2021.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
photo courtesy: Lucy Westlake
