Naperville North graduate Lucy Westlake is all smiles at the summit of Mount Everest after becoming the youngest American female to reach the top in May 2022.
Courtesy of Lucy Westlake
Former Naperville resident Jack Westlake never had a chance against sister Lucy in their occasional battles for the top bunk at bedtime during vacations.
“I am two years older, so that helped me,” said Lucy Westlake, now 20 and a rising junior at the University of Southern California.
But the 2021 Naperville North High School graduate and former IHSA all-state cross country runner had more than age on her side. Lucy Westlake also had an extraordinary inclination to reach apexes that weren’t covered by bed sheets and a blanket.
Years before becoming the youngest American woman — at age 18 in May 2022, with a Sherpa named Mingma — to summit Mount Everest, Jack’s big sister, accompanied by her father, Rodney, scaled to the highest point in each of the 48 contiguous states. The journey began with Black Mountain in Louisville, Ky., at age 7.
“When Lucy was 5, she ran up a 15,000-foot mountain in Mexico in a family climb organized by a relative,” said Rodney Westlake, who two years ago moved to Nashville, Tenn., with his wife, Amy, and their three children (Lucy, Jack and Leah). “I remember that because I had to run with her while carrying Jack.”
Lucy was only 12 when the father-daughter duo ran out of highest points to conquer in the United States’ lower forty-eight. Five years later, on Father’s Day, Lucy and Rodney made it to the top of Mount Denali, in Alaska, state No. 50 in their series of reaching the highest points in the U.S.
She’s now helping others achieve new heights as a mountain guide for Seattle-based Alpine Ascents, the same firm that taught an 11-year-old Lucy and her father mountaineering skills in 2015.
“I enjoy interacting with climbers who want to overcome their struggles,” said Lucy Westlake, a Public Policy major and a cross country/track and field athlete at USC. “Mount Baker (in Washington state) is an ideal mountain for beginners. We also serve as guides on Mount Rainier in Washington. It’s nice to see mountaineers of all ages explore and challenge themselves.
“I get more of a sense of accomplishment while helping others climb than I do climbing.”
But don’t look for Westlake to hang up her crampons and ice ax anytime soon. She has ascended five of the Seven Summits — the highest mountains on each of the seven continents — and might aim to mount the highest peak on each of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. Plus, with each significant climb, Westlake gets to spotlight her favorite nonprofit, Louisville-based WaterStep, which seeks to provide safe water in communities through empowerment, equal access and transformative hope.
“Lucy doesn’t climb to break records,” Amy Westlake said, adding her daughter has visited Uganda three times since becoming a drawing/pen pal with a young Ugandan girl, whose family didn’t have access to safe water about 17 years ago. “After being recognized with a leadership award at the ESPYs two years ago, Lucy had the choice to either accept $10,000 toward her education or donate that same amount to an organization.”
Lucy opted the donation route, informing the AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation that she’d like to fund opportunities for young climbers and support the foundation’s goal to advance gender equality on and off the mountain.
“Lucy is very passionate about creating pathways for young mountain climbers,” Amy Westlake said. “She has always wanted to give back — that’s what makes our family most proud of Lucy.”
Before Lucy Westlake channeled the bulk of her energy and determination to earn views from mountain peaks all over the world, she ran and ran.
And ran some more.
Entrants at least twice her size had to watch a 5-year-old Lucy pass them in an official 5K race. In a play group with other kindergartners some 15 years ago, she spent nearly every minute of the two-hour session running.
“That’s when we started thinking, ‘Wow, this child is really active and one who won’t ever get tired,’” Amy Westlake recalled. “I also remember wondering, ‘Why can’t she just swing on a swing like the rest of the kids?’”
Lucy Westlake finished in ninth place at the Class 3A girls cross country state meet in 2021, helping Naperville North’s Huskies take seventh in the team standings.
Her dream job, post USC, is to represent a team — minus the race bibs — in New York.
“I’d like to work for the United Nations someday, maybe in its water sector,” she said. “Maybe I’ll have time to guide mountain climbers on the side.
“I’d be up for doing both.”