By Melissa Arnot
Our first day in Quito starts with a fresh-fruit breakfast influenced by the coastal regions before we head out to see what Ecuador is really all about. The culture in Quito is an amazing mix of old and new. You literally can be walking in front of a skyscraper, only to turn the [...]
Tune into MTV this Sunday, March 14 at 9:00 p.m. EST to catch First Ascent guide Melissa Arnot, Grammy-nominated musician and mastermind behind the expedition, Kenna and the rest of the SOTS: K team on their journey to raise awareness for the global clean water crisis
By Melissa Arnot
The sunshine is gone this morning as we head out to Floreana Island. After stepping into the chilly morning water, I feel compelled to stay there on the shore and wait for the penguins. Carlitos, our naturalist, tells me that we may see penguins but we must be patient. I have gotten a [...]
By Melissa Arnot
The theme for today is birds. North Seymour Island in the Galapagos is really the place for birds, and now is the season to see them. As we disembark, I immediately see the bright red necks of the frigate birds, and only a few feet away from our landing spot I can see [...]
By Melissa Arnot
One of the first major expeditions Eddie outfitted was in 1953 and 54. The Inca Highway Expedition was a 2-year archaeological exploration of the “Royal Road” that stretched from Quito, Ecuador to Santiago, Chile. This spring, in honor of our 90th year of adventuring, First Ascent’s Melissa Arnot went back to Ecuador, to [...]
By Caroline George
Hydnefossen could be the single most outstanding climb in Norway. Although there are harder and longer routes, Hydnefossen is one of those must-do classic hard ice climbs, one that any ice climber would want to have on his or her tick list. It’s of the same stature as other legendary climbs, such as [...]
By Caroline George
The forecast this morning is for sunshine and no wind. We drive to climb Will’s route, a 400m long WI5+ climb, but the wind is blowing snow so strongly that we can’t even make out the road. The summits are again lost in a cloud of snow. The forecast was wrong yet again [...]
After numerous days of traveling, scouting and climbing, a down day was sounding pretty good. We decided that Eidfjord was just too “dead” to enjoy and that we should have a mellow day of climbing instead. Luckily for us, we had the perfect route to explore. On one of our last scouting missions, when we [...]
By Caroline George
We pull into Ossa, a little hamlet across the ferry north of Eidfjord, sitting on the tip of one of Norway’s many fjords. A striking blue line peers from behind a rocky outcrop. We drive to the end of the road and the view reveals two long pillars of bright blue ice. The [...]
By: Adam George
For the past week, we’ve followed climbers Chad Peele and Caroline George as they attempted a bevy of first ascents in Norway. Also on the trip is George’s husband, Adam, who gave us a sneak peek at what it’s like to tie into rope with your partner in climbing and in life.
Over the [...]
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