Melissa Arnot Bio
Melissa Arnot Bio – Melissa Arnot (born December 18, 1983) is a climber and mountaineer from the United States. She has six times reached the peak of Mount Everest.
Name | Melissa Arnot |
Date of Birth | December 18, 1983 |
Age | 38 years (2021) |
Net worth | $1 million |
Husband | Tyler Reid (m. 2016) Jon Duval (m. 2012–2015) |
Profession/Occupation | Mountaineer |
Gender | Female |
Nationality | American |
Education | University of Iowa |
Height | 5 feet 3 inches |
Melissa Arnot Early Life and Background
Melissa Arnot Early Life and Background – Melissa Arnot grew up in Whitefish, Montana, right outside Glacier National Park. She began living out of her van after graduation to save money and climb mountains.
Melissa Arnot Education
Melissa Arnot Education – She graduated from high school in 2000 at the age of 16. She proceeded to study at the University of Iowa, with a double major in business and health promotion.
Melissa Arnot Husband
Melissa Arnot Husband – Melissa Arnot is married to Tyler Reid. She was previously married to Jon Duval but just prior to Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, Arnot’s three-year marriage with Jon Duval ended. She married Tyler Reid a fellow climber and trainer in 2016.
Melissa Arnot Career
Melissa Arnot Career – In 2001, she made her first ascent of Mount Rainier, which she described as a “watershed moment.” In 2002, she began teaching wilderness medicine, and in 2004, she joined Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. as a guide on Mount Rainier. By 2006, she had advanced to the position of lead guide.
She has climbed Rainier more than 90 times since 2001. She is a trained Wilderness EMT and teaches Remote Medical International’s Wilderness EMT training.
In 2008, she joined the Everest Team Inspi(RED) with Jeff Dossett and David Morton to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and Microsoft and Dell products that support Product Red.
She organized a celebrity climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in 2010 to raise awareness about the lack of safe water availability.
Summit on the Summit, an MTV special, included actors Emile Hirsch, Jessica Biel, and Isabel Lucas, as well as singers Kenna, Lupe Fiasco, and Santigold, as well as scientists and activists.
In 2013, she assisted in the defusing of an attack on Mount Everest by three European climbers and a gang of a hundred Sherpas; see Mount Everest in 2013.
Avalanches on Mount Everest thwarted her Everest summit efforts in 2014 and 2015.
She was the first American woman to summit Mount Everest and survive the descend without supplemental oxygen in 2016; another American woman, Francys Arsentiev, did it in 1998 but died on the descent.
The 32-year-old mountain guide had reached the summit of Everest without the use of supplementary oxygen on May 23, 2016, after seven years, three previous attempts, and fourteen hours of climbing, a feat accomplished by only 200 of the more than 7,001 Everest summiters.
Arnot began her fall after 15 minutes on top of the globe. She became the first American woman—and just the seventh woman ever—to successfully summit and descend Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen eight hours later, when she arrived at camp at 24,934 feet (7,600 meters), one of the final significant prizes for American female alpinists. She’d also climbed Everest six times, the most of any Western woman. Arnot had, without a doubt, cemented her position in Himalayan history.
Melissa Arnot Sponsors
Melissa Arnot Sponsors – She is presently sponsored by Eddie Bauer and was one of the first six mountain guides that designed items for the First Ascent brand, alongside Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs, Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, and Chad Peele, and continues to engage in product development and testing. Whittaker Mountaineering, a retail store in Ashford, Washington, is also a sponsor.