Naperville Climber Makes 'Hardest, Easiest' Choice To Forego K2 Summit

NAPERVILLE, IL — Having already reached the summit of Mt. Everest in her climbing career, Lucy Westlake had no qualms about setting her sights on the world’s second-highest mountain when she started the summer.

The 19-year-old Naperville native was looking to become the youngest woman to climb K2 in Pakistan when she set out to conquer the mountain’s 28,251. But facing treacherous weather conditions last week after climbing 26,300 feet, Westlake made the “hardest and easiest” decision to turn back.

Westlake, who reached the summit of Mt. Everest last year, becoming the youngest American woman to do so, was seeking to become the youngest woman to climb K2. But knowing that the unstable weather conditions she would face after covering more than 26,000 feet had already claimed the life of one climber, Westlake made the decision to forgo the rest of the journey.

The choice was made after she had written, “I don’t climb for the summits anymore — they are amazing — but I climb to push myself and go as far as I can” in her journal before starting out on her K2 trek.

“We all knew that if everyone kept climbing for the summit more people would die,” Westlake said in a social media post after she turned back. “I knew if I chose to go up while others chose to go down for the safety of their community members, I would never be proud of that summit. But if I chose my community over myself, I would always have peace.”

Amy Westlake, Lucy's mother, told Patch on Monday that her daughter was among 150 climbers to be making the push for the summit of K2 on July 27 when she made the decision to turn back. She said that climbs of this nature force mountaineers to endure a number of weather changes, some of which can become dangerous.

Lucy Westlake wrote in a social media post last week that while on her ascent, her group had encountered an avalanche that, had it been any bigger, Westlake said, would have claimed her life. She said that one fellow climber fell into a crevasse during the avalanche and could not be rescued. She said that the rescue attempt triggered another avalanche, and she feared that conditions only would have worsened had she chosen to continue.

"There is no right or wrong decision," Amy Westlake told Patch in an email on Monday. "It is just a reflection of how you approach life and climbing mountains."

Westlake had set out on her latest adventure while attempting to raise awareness of the lack of clean drinking water that many people around the world face. Westlake, who has been climbing since the age of 7, has been continuing her quest to reach new heights while drawing attention to the work of Waterstep, a Louisville, Ky., not-for-profit organization that provides safe and sustainable means of providing clean drinking water for 11 million people in 70 countries.

“WaterStep encompasses people of all ages, walks of life, diverse cultures, and Lucy Westlake.” Mark Hogg, the CEO and founder of WaterStep said in a news release. “Lucy has climbed some of the most challenging mountains in the world. She has also seen first-hand the impact waterborne illness can have in a community.

"We are so proud of the courageous young woman she is and so thankful she is part of our team working to end the global water crisis.”

Lucy Westlake acknowledged on social media last week that setting such lofty goals is not about her or even about inspiring others. Instead, she said, that climbing makes her part of a unique community, which she wrote, made her decision to turn back from her challenge of reaching K2’s summit an easy one.

“The conditions were extremely dangerous, and we all knew that if everyone had continued to push for the summit, more people would have died,” she wrote. “We all had to make the decision to go up or down. Many chose up. Many chose down.

“Am I disappointed? Of course, I am!!,” Westlake continued. “But I know I made the right decision.”