At the age of just 17, Emma Schwerin is the youngest American woman to climb the Seven Summits — the highest peaks on the seven continents — including Mount Everest.
Cassidy Powers reports on her remarkable achievement:
When she was five years old, Emma and her family moved to Bozeman. And you may think the mountains of Montana are what inspired her to start this climbing journey. But in reality, it was quite different.
"My eighth-grade class did a unit on Mount Everest,” Emma said. It inspired me. Then we were like ‘let’s go to Everest basecamp’. And the next day we decided to book a trip."
That trip encouraged Emma to set a goal: she wanted to be the youngest woman to climb the Seven Summits. If you’re unfamiliar with the Seven Summits, they are the highest peaks on every continent, including North America’s own Mount Denali, which stands at more than 20,000 feet, and the tallest mountain in the world, Everest, which rises to more than 29,000 feet.
And Emma admits, “When we decided to do it, we didn’t know anything about mountaineering."
But that didn’t stop her, or her father, Sam, from helping her accomplish this goal. After researching guide companies, and heading to Bolivia for a mountaineering prep course. It was time to start her journey. In November of 2023, she headed to Australia to climb Mount Kosciuszko.
“It was our first of our seven summits, and at the time I had no idea what I had gotten myself into,” Emma adds.
Next up was Kilimanjaro. Then Denali.
“I remember thinking every day on Denali, ‘This was the hardest day of my life’. And then the next day would happen, and I’d be like ‘this is the hardest day,’” Emma explained. “So the great thing about Denali was every day I kept proving to myself that I could do it."
After summiting Mont Blanc, Aconcagua, and Vinson, she saved the biggest for last: Mount Everest.
“I think the hardest part about Everest is the length of it. Because it just has a different kind of mental challenge,” says Emma.
It was a month and a half on the mountain, but Emma was determined to set this world record. On May 15, 2025, after a long journey and with frostbite on her face, she summited Everest.
“I think that I was in shock, really, that it was all happening. All of our hard work was coming to this one point,” Emma shared her disbelief.
Emma Schwerin had just become the youngest woman in the world to climb the Seven Summits at just 17 years old. To top it off, she is now also the youngest American woman to climb Mount Everest.
For her father, Sam, who climbed each summit side by side with her, the experience was profound.
“Watching her achieve the summits? I feel really proud about the impact she’s having on the world. Young adults, and on us adults. To say ‘hey, don’t judge us young people. There’s a lot we can do if you stay out of our way,’ and I couldn’t be more proud or appreciate that,” said Sam.
The message Emma hopes to share with young women across the globe is powerful:
“I hope my story shows that you can just one day discover this incredible thing? And just run with it. And if you believe in yourself and you believe in your mind and your abilities? Then you can really achieve anything."
