Cree teacher and mother sets sights on Mount Everest with encouragement from her kids

Louise BigEagle · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 5:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

Randi Gardypie took ice baths and acold showers to get utilized to the acold she'd experience in Nepal, but says thing prepared her for dealing with the altitude portion trekking to the Mount Everest basal camp.

The 42-year-old Cree parent of 3 lives successful Merritt, B.C., but is primitively from Saskatchewan. She spoke to CBC Indigenous this week from Dingboche, Nepal, astatine an elevation of conscionable implicit 4,000 metres.

"This has been the highest I've ever been successful my life," she said.

"Right now, due to the fact that of however my body's adjusting to the altitude and it's truthful hard, I can't adjacent fathom however challenging this trek is."

Gardypie grew up connected Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation, wherever her dada is from, but is a member of Yellowquill First Nation. 

Visiting Mount Everest has been thing that has been connected the teacher's caput implicit the past fewer years, but now with 2 kids already having near the nest and one in precocious school last October she decided to bash thing astir it.

"It is simply a spot of a brainsick goal, but I was ever drawn to this mountain," said Gardypie.

"It's making much consciousness each time arsenic I get person and yesterday erstwhile I was sitting determination successful the monastery listening to the monks chant, it's conscionable truthful powerful."

Gardypie said 1 of the challenges is how acold it is up there. After having a lukewarm ablution she needs to unreserved to enactment connected lukewarm clothes.

But determination person been challenges harder than others. The debased oxygen levels owed to the altitude origin shortness of enactment conscionable from walking and headaches.

Gardypie said she had a panic onslaught trying to respire owed to the particulate and a buff implicit her mouth, wherever she didn't deliberation she could spell connected anymore, but her usher stepped successful to get her breathing relaxed erstwhile again.

"I'm truthful grateful for him astatine that infinitesimal because I would person called it and I'm truly gladsome I didn't due to the fact that I ended up having similar an astonishing day," said Gardypie.

Gardypie said she got successful shape with walks mundane and going to the gym and did outdoor wintertime sports with her students at the Lower Nicola Band School, similar hockey, snowshoeing, and skating.

Gardypie said her 3 kids person been supportive successful her escapade and conscionable asked that she makes definite she comes backmost home.

"I privation to bash this for me," said Gardypie.

"My full beingness has been astir my children and their needs and they're each moving retired of the nest. They are doing good, you know, they're each truly pushing for maine to unrecorded this adjacent section for me. I don't privation to dependable selfish erstwhile I accidental that, but I deliberation arsenic mothers we ever thin to bash things for different radical and I wanted to beryllium to myself that I person religion successful myself, that I judge successful myself."

Semiah Cote said she ever knew going to Mount Everest was 1 of her mom's lifelong goals.

"For a portion she didn't deliberation it was imaginable and I conscionable kept telling her you tin bash it, if you enactment your caput to it," said Cote.

Cote said her ma often takes connected a lot, particularly erstwhile it comes to different people, particularly making definite her children are OK.

"I'm honestly truly arrogant of her for taking this clip for herself due to the fact that she's ever worrying astir different radical and sometimes she doesn't adjacent cognize that she's worrying astir different people," said Cote.

To assistance with the outgo of going to Mount Everest, Gardypie made a reddish jingle formal to raffle disconnected and also started a fundraiser to assistance with the outgo of her gear. She said she surpassed her extremity truthful present her fundraising efforts volition spell toward helping kids with sports programs and equipment.

"I've travel crossed truthful galore talented children and that was the main crushed wherefore they couldn't play definite sports — due to the fact that they couldn't spend to," said Gardypie.