‘You can do anything’: Hoggard student training to climb Mt. Everest, hopes to become youngest female to summit

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - River Savante has been traveling the world with her mom since she was just 5 years old.

“A big part of my life was spent in Nepal. So, I’m very connected with the people and just the culture and everything. Nepal is like my second home. So, climbing Everest has never really been too far out of reach. The mountains, the Himalayas, have always kind of just been my backyard. So, it was kind of I kind of knew at some point that I would get into mountaineering,” Savante said.

Now, at 15 years old she’s training to climb Mt. Everest soon and be the youngest girl to reach the summit.

In October, she hiked to base camp on Everest which took her about two weeks but summitting Everest will take about two months.

“You know, you’re not thinking about anything other than just kind of being in that moment. And that’s so, so special. It’s my favorite feeling in the entire world. And I don’t get that feeling anywhere else. So, I’m very excited to feel that again and be surrounded by these enormous mountains just towering over you every day, it feels like they’re protecting you in a way even though something could go wrong,” Savante added.

And despite everything that could go wrong during her rigorous trek, she says she just doesn’t think about it and keeps climbing towards her goal.

“I’ve really only been focusing on this, the super positive part about doing it for myself and how I’m excited to see how far I can push myself and my body,” Savante said. “Climbing a mountain is a very physically challenging thing to do. But it’s mostly mentally, it’s like a mental thing because the mountain is where you let go, you release everything because you can’t think beyond the next step that you take. So, you can’t think about that. You just have to be, you know, right there.”

But Savante says Everest isn’t the biggest part of her mission.

“I want to try to do my best to inspire young women to follow their dreams and achieve their goals as much as they can. Because, I mean, you know, you can do anything.”

Savante will do at least two training climbs in Nepal before taking on Everest. That means she would be missing school in person, so she will spend her junior year online to stay on track at Hoggard.

She is planning on doing the trek solo with her guide, or sherpa, but knows that her mom will be there in spirit every step of the way.

“That’s what makes it even more exciting. But [my mom] will be with me every step of the way online,” Savante said.

Right now, she is training in a gym until she finishes the school year and can head overseas to start more intense training to prepare her for Everest.

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