Illinois teenager becomes youngest woman to climb tallest peak in 50 states | New

Lucy Westlake, of Naperville, made the record books this week as the youngest woman to peak in each of America’s 50 states.

On Father’s Day, the 17-year-old and her father, Rodney Westlake, climbed the last 3,000 feet to the top of Denali, the highest mountain in Alaska and Lucy’s last peak in the States. -United to face.

A similar quest by the father-daughter pair failed in 2017 when they had to abandon their plans when their guides were enlisted to join a National Park Service rescue to rescue climbers lost in whiteout conditions near the summit of the mountain.

This climbing season on Denali would be the last shot for the Naperville North senior to claim the title of youngest woman to climb the state’s 50 highest points.

Former defending champion Kristen Kelliher was 18 years and 1 month old when she climbed Denali, then called Mount McKinley, at the end of May 2012. Lucy is 7 months younger.

Instead of hiring a guide service like in the past, Lucy and Rodney Westlake opted to hike on their own and joined some climbers in Colorado. Everyone except Lucy and her father turned around.

“We started with nine, but we ended with two,” said Lucy. “It was both terrifying and exciting to lead my dad on a rope, just the two of us, 20,310 feet to the top of Denali. It was the culmination of 10 years – learning, exploring and growing together. in the mountains.”

Lucy said that when she finally made it to the top, she expected more mountains to appear. But this is not the case.

“It was an incredible feeling. It was quite surreal to be up there,” she said. “It was an amazing experience overall; it definitely taught me a lot about myself.”

Achieving her goal with her father on Father’s Day made the quest even more special.

“My dad and I have always been rock climbing partners,” said Lucy. “We have grown a lot together, not only as mountaineers, but I think as people as well.

“People call us the dynamic duo. I admit we are a good team,” she said.

Lucy said the pair worked so hard and spent so much time and effort climbing Denali. Between the two trips, they spent 40 days living on a mountain.

“It was amazing to be with him,” said Lucy. “I couldn’t have done it without him, and I don’t think he could have done it without me.”

His interest in climbing the highest mountain peaks began in April 2011 when his family reached the summit of Black Mountain in Kentucky (elevation 4,145 feet). Since then, his family has planned vacations and side trips around his quest.

In July 2016, at the age of 12, Lucy traveled the Lower 48 States with her father when they climbed Wyoming’s Gannett Peak, Montana’s Granite Peak, Idaho’s Borah Peak and Kings Peak from Utah, all in a week and a half.

Lucy was the youngest daughter and the two were the youngest father-daughter team to climb the lower 48.

Because they had already crossed Mauna Kea in Hawaii off the list in February 2016, Lucy and her father had only one top to climb: Denali.

The guide service the Westlake family planned to hire to climb Denali in 2017 said it would only agree to take Lucy if she could prove she could withstand altitudes above 18,500 feet.

In order to verify that she could, Lucy and her father climbed the 19,341-foot peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, spending seven days and six nights on the round trip.

Keliher said she was impressed with Lucy’s tenacity and persistence.

“Denali is not a mountain to be taken lightly and you need the perfect combination of fitness, mental toughness, time, money and a perfect weather window,” she said. declared. “It must have taken an incredible amount of determination on her part to even want to try again and I’m sure that attitude will take her a long way.”

Anyone can guess how long Lucy’s record will last, but “I hope her story inspires other young athletes to come out and challenge themselves and maybe share that with their families as it was. an integral part of my life-changing experience, ”said Keliher.

“Records are supposed to be broken, but if or when someone breaks their record, I hope she realizes that it’s still a pretty amazing accomplishment,” she said.

Lucy didn’t have much time to savor the excitement of Denali’s rise.

As soon as she left the mountain, Lucy was in Eugene, Oregon, for the US Olympic team’s trials for track and field as a teenage reporter.

A runner and triathlete, Lucy said she was one of 20 students covering the events.

Over the past two years, Lucy has ticked two more of the continent’s highest peaks on her list: Aconcagua in South America in January 2018 and Elbrus in Europe in June 2019.

As she traveled to New South Wales in Australia in January 2020 to climb Mount Kosciuszko, forest fires prevented her from approaching the mountain.

Besides Australia, that leaves Mount Vison in Antarctica and Mount Everest in Asia.

As the end of the Seven Summits looms on the horizon, Lucy said she will devote the next few months to focusing her energy on college applications.

Lucy said she thought she knew what it was like to push her body and mind to their limits, until this day in Denali, when she realized there were no limits. “There is so much more to you than you can imagine,” she said.

“It takes an incredible amount of determination to position yourself for the opportunity. Then it’s about making the right decision at the right time. And there is very little room for error,” said Lucy.