Illinois teen describes title as youngest American woman to climb Everest as ‘surreal’
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Mount Everest might be 29,032 feet above sea level compared to Lucy Westlake’s hometown of Naperville at 702 feet. But according to the new youngest American woman to climb the mountain, Naperville has one thing in common with the world’s highest peak: traffic.
When Westlake reached the top of Everest at 5:36 a.m. last Thursday at age 18 years, 6 months and 8 days, she broke a 15-year record previously held by Samantha Larson, of Long Beach, Calif., who was 18 years, 7 months and 9 days old.
Speaking to the Naperville Sun from Nepal, Westlake, who graduated from Naperville North High School a semester early so she could attempt the record, described standing on a precipice at the top of the world as “surreal.”
“I was just kind of repeating
