On a sunny day this past June, Melissa Arnot-Reid ski-toured up to Camp Muir, Mount Rainier鈥檚 iconic 10,188-foot-high camp. For Arnot-Reid, 34, it was pretty pedestrian鈥攕he鈥檚 ascended the route well over 100 times as a mountain guide while leading clients to the summit. But this time she was carrying especially precious cargo: her seven-week-old daughter, Kaia. It was Father鈥檚 Day, and she was taking Kaia to see her dad, Tyler Reid, who skied her back down the rolling Muir snowfields. She loved it.
Kaia has been on the planet for fewer than 70 days, but she鈥檚 traveled every weekend of her life since she was three weeks old. She鈥檚 already been to Canada, and this fall she鈥檒l go to Nepal and Japan. None of this is surprising, though, if you know who her parents are.
Her dad, Tyler, is a mountain guide just like her mom. And her mom, Melissa, is one of America鈥檚 best-known professional climbers. She started working as a guide for Seattle鈥檚 Rainier Mountaineering Inc. in 2004, at age 21, and now runs her own guiding business. She鈥檚 summited Everest six times鈥攎ore than any other American woman鈥攊ncluding once without bottled oxygen in 2016, a feat that fewer than 200 people have pulled off. She was the eighth woman to do it. She also works with the Juniper Fund, a nonprofit she started with fellow guide David Morton that provides vocational training and financial assistance to Nepalese families of mountain workers.
Perhaps counterintuitively, her life in the mountains has uniquely prepared her for motherhood鈥檚 alpine starts, and she鈥檚 well equipped to deal with high-stress situations. 鈥淚 have basically made my career being a professional caretaker and risk manager, and that’s a lot of what parenting is,鈥 she says. 鈥淪o much of what I do in guiding and climbing is a series of making situations work when you鈥檙e tired, and taking care of people. So it feels pretty normal, in a way.鈥
Arnot-Reid grew up near Durango, Colorado. Her family didn’t have much money, but they put a premium on the outdoors and emphasized internal happiness. Following one鈥檚 passion was far more important than adhering to societal norms, like going after college degrees and nine-to-fives. Even so, Arnot-Reid graduated from the University of Iowa when she was just 18. But she missed the West and soon moved into her truck to pursue climbing and work as an EMT in Montana.
She and Reid plan to instill the same ethic in their daughter. Instead of starting a college fund for Kaia, they鈥檝e started a travel fund. 鈥淣ature teaches us so much more than humans can teach each other. Traveling teaches you flexibility and resilience,鈥 she says. 鈥淚f traditional education is what she wants, we鈥檒l support her in that, but that鈥檚 not my goal for her.鈥 There are scholarships available for college, says Arnot-Reid, but it鈥檚 not likely that someone will fund your personal travel.
鈥淲hen you become a mother, you become part of a group that you didn’t know you weren’t a part of,鈥 she says. The love and support she鈥檚 received from other moms is similar to the community she鈥檚 created through her own mentorship program. Arnot-Reid currently has a handful of female mentees, ranging in age from 16 to 36, to whom she teaches not only technical skills, like crevasse rescue and rope systems, but also how to navigate the often testosterone-filled world of mountaineering. 鈥淚 let them into my life, into my house, and give them full disclosure on how everything works. I鈥檓 pulling back the curtain,鈥 she says. And in return, they’re teaching her. 鈥淚n creating a safe space to be vulnerable, they鈥檝e also taught me to be vulnerable.鈥
Arnot-Reid鈥檚 goal with the program is twofold: to get more female mountain guides in the system, so they can mentor even more women, but also to help transform longer-held鈥攁nd deeper-seated鈥攇ender stereotypes in the mountains. Early in her career, Arnot-Reid had male clients refuse to be on the rope team she was leading, because she was a woman. She knows there鈥檚 a lot of work to be done before people don鈥檛 just picture a man when they think of a mountain guide. 鈥淚鈥檓 lucky enough to have a daughter, and she will grow up thinking of a mountain guide as both her mom and her dad,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something we won鈥檛 have to teach her.鈥
Melissa Arnot-Reid’s听inspirational story is the fourth听to be featured in our partnership series with听. Our first story featured pro surfer turned humanitarian听Jon Rose,听our second featured adventure photographer听Chris Burkard, and our third featured biker听Ayesha McGowan.听Check them all out听for听stories about exceptional adventurers and their journeys to redefine freedom.