Who?
Melissa Arnot Reid
Where?
Washington
What?
Arnot Reid is a professional mountain guide who leads Fortune 500 CEOs to the world’s tallest peaks. In 2016 she became the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. In the same year, she set a world record for reaching the highest point of each U.S. state in 41 days, 16 hours and 10 minutes. She has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro twice, Mount Denali four times, Mount Everest six times and Mount Rainier 108 times.
I never leave the house without…
A lightweight rain jacket. You can go anywhere outside if you have one.
A book that inspired me is…
Ronda Rousey’s My Fight / Your Fight. It was an awesome parallel experience being able to relate to an athlete who has persevered through a lot of different challenges.
My favorite app is…
The Gaia GPS app. It has changed how I interface with GPS in the field. I just use my phone now instead of having a GPS device.
My favorite pick-me-up is…
Sushi. It always makes me feel better.
I’m currently watching…
House of Cards on Netflix.
I just started listening to…
Reveal. It’s awesome. It’s a podcast with in-depth, investigative journalism.
My favorite musician is…
Ani DiFranco.
My secret weapon is…
Perseverance. It’s how I handle disappointments, too.
I’m inspired by…
My clients when they’re completely out of their element [climbing] for the first time.
TYLER REID
In the mornings…
I’m an efficiency animal. My feet exit my bed and into my running shoes, and I’m out the door from Minute 1.
The most important lesson I’ve learned is…
The reward is not achieving everything you’re trying to achieve, but in the path of getting there.
TYLER REID
The best career advice I’ve ever received is…
Do the best job that you can so you never question why you’re given opportunities.
I don’t…
Keep a bucket list. I make decisions about what I want to pursue based on what I’m doing right now. I’m reactive with my goal sets.
My next big goal is to…
Mentor the next generation of young women climbers.
My aha moment was…
When I was 19. I had just finished college and I came back to Montana where I went to high school. A friend took me out into the mountains and that was my first time doing anything significant in the mountains. We summited this peak in Glacier National Park, and I felt like I had just found the answer. I felt really at home and really comfortable. I’ve always been really athletic, but I’m incredibly noncompetitive so I struggled to find a sport that I could identify with—in the mountains I found exactly that.
Related: My Way: 14 Ways I Stay True to Myself
This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
