WILMINGTON, N.C. — One 15-year-old from New Hanover County has big goals, Mount Everest-sized goals, in fact.
River Savante plans on being the youngest American female to ever summit Everest. She’s already hiked to the base camp — a trip that took two weeks— and is now preparing for the even longer and harder journey ahead.
What You Need To Know
River Savante will be summiting Mount Everest next spring, a journey she expects will take about two months
In the meantime, Savante is training by going to the gym and hiking local trails but will be going to Nepal to hike two other mountains to train for the technical parts of the climb
Savante has already hiked to the base camp, which inspired her to go even higher
Savante grew up traveling the world with her mom, a cultural anthropologist. Last year, they hiked to Everest’s base camp, the two-week journey that she says started it all.
“You know it pulled me in, and I needed more,” Savante said. “I needed to go higher, and now I’m going to the top of Mount Everest.”
It may sound like a lofty goal for a teenager, but she knows she can handle it.
“It doesn’t take much, really, just you have to believe in yourself 100%, and the rest just happens for you on the mountain,” Savante said. “It just opens you up, completely.”
It will be hard work though. Summiting Everest takes about two months and requires lots of physical training ahead of time.
“So to train for Everest, I will be running and walking on these trails,” Savante said. “Staying fit in the gym and doing things on the treadmill and the StairMaster for like two hours.”
When she gets to Nepal, the training will continue. She’ll be hiking Lobuche East and Island Peak to prepare for the technical parts of the climb. Savante says it’ll be the hardest thing she’s done yet, but it’ll be worth it.
“I’m doing it mostly for me,” Savante said. “To push my body and stand on top of the world.”
But before she stands on top of the world, she still has to be just a normal teenager, and that means keeping up with her schoolwork.
She’ll be taking courses online for her junior year, and her teachers are in full support of her decision.
“They were a little shocked, yeah for sure, and a little worried about me making up my work,” Savante said. “But it’s kind of just like, you know whatever, go have fun.”
And she will have fun, but along the way, she’s hoping she can make a difference. She wants to inspire her classmates, friends and other young women to follow their dreams, no matter what, just like she’s doing.
“I’m hoping by summiting Everest at 16, it will inspire other young women to follow their dreams and achieve their goals,” Savante said. “Reach as high as you can because anything is possible and anyone can do everything, so I want to send that message to the world when I climb this mountain.”
Savante will begin her journey to Nepal this August to complete her training and plans on starting the trek up Everest in the spring. She’ll be just 16 when she summits the mountain.