WAYZATA, Minn. (FOX 9) – Ryan Rivard knows a thing or two about setting up goals. As a teenager, he set out to reclaim his life.
Twenty years later he has claimed Mount Everest.
“I reached the top successfully,” Rivard said just after his trip back to the Twin Cities. “It’s pretty fantastic. It’s pretty amazing.”
The views he gets while climbing Everest are still fresh from the comfort of his backyard patio.
“The emotions hit me a few days later,” he recalls.
For Rivard, this is a journey twenty years in the making.
At the age of 19, he almost lost his life due to a heroin overdose.
He sought treatment through the Hazelden Betty Ford Teen and Family Program and has been sober ever since.
In almost every respect, he has parlayed his recovery into personal and professional success. He and his wife have four children and a thriving marketing business.
Rivard says recovery has taught him to seize life’s moments and adventures.
During two previous expeditions to Nepal in 2022, Rivard reached both Lobuche and Amadablan. But on the horizon was the biggest of them all: Everest.
“For me, Everest is the pinnacle of human endeavor,” Rivard said of the symbolism of his summit attempt when he spoke to FOX 9 in March. “I feel like if I can show what I was before, and then climb up and then reach the highest point, it’s a metaphor. It’s a symbol of that kind of hope and resilience.”
He dedicated his trip to highlighting Mental Health Awareness month and has raised money to fund scholarships for recovery and mental health programs.
Rivard traveled to Nepal in early April after months of rigorous training at Life Time Fitness in St. Louis Park.
Along with a team of experienced Everest expedition leaders, Rivard and about two dozen other climbers waited at base camp for their summit window in mid-May.
When their slot arrived, it took five days to reach the summit.
“I thought about my family first and foremost,” Rivard said of the moment he reached the highest point on earth. “I brought a photo of them.”
All that work and training only lasted a short time.
“I found out I actually spent about 45 minutes,” Rivard recalled of his time at the summit. “It was quite a long time.”
And the views on the way to the top made the work and extreme risk all worth it.
“It’s breathtaking,” Rivard said, describing what no photo can truly capture. “I mean, it’s honestly one of the most remarkable things you’ll ever see. The clouds are so far below you, and they look like cushions of snow that you could walk on. And just the sight alone is spectacular.”
However, the path to the top of the world is only half the journey. Once there, climbers have to descend again.
“75% of our crew was really starting to struggle,” Rivard said of the descent from the summit. “Coming down is really the challenging part because you’re so exhausted at that point and you’re running out of food and supplies.”
By the time they arrived at camp four on the mountain, some climbers were running low on oxygen and succumbing to frostbite.
“Many of the people were then roped down and carried to camp two, where they were then rescued by helicopter to Kathmandu,” Rivard said.
He landed safely under his own power and quickly arranged to fly back home to his family.
On his Facebook page he wrote: “We have one life and it goes fast. Start living.”
“There’s never been a better time to have kids, start a new job, climb a mountain. It’s just now,” Rivard said.
