On May 6, 2014 Ryan Waters accomplished something that has not been
replicated since. He and fellow explorer Eric Larsen stood atop the
geographic North Pole, after 53 grueling days battling their way
over an ever-melting sheet of ice that fought against them the
entire way. By reaching the pole the two adventurers became the
last persons to date to complete an unsupported trip to the North
Pole from land. The ice sheet that used to link the Pole to land in
Canada, once so thick and sturdy, has so degraded over the last few
decades that explorers have had to abandon any attempts to cross
it. While reaching the North Pole was monumental for Waters it also
was the final piece needed to complete a project that he had been
persistently working on for over a decade, the True Adventurers
Grand Slam-standing atop the Seven Summits and skiing full length,
unsupported and unassisted, expeditions to both the North and South
Poles. His accomplishment that day made him just the 9th person and
first American to gain entry into this exclusive club. Never one to
embrace the easy path, Waters seemed to thrive in battling through
whatever the fates threw at him, sometimes even deliberately
seeking out struggles. Despite having little experience
cross-country skiing, he decided to go to the South Pole. Eschewing
the more typical route, he and partner Cecilie Skog completed the
first traverse of Antarctica without the use of resupplies or
kites. Skiing from Berkner Island in the Weddell Sea, via the South
Pole, to the Ross Ice Shelf, the pair skied for 70 days and covered
1200 miles, 9 years prior to the much publicized 2019 "race" across
Antarctica. To this day the two hold the record for the longest
unsupported crossing of the continent without the use of kites. How
Waters ended up standing atop the North Pole on that fateful day is
a story of hope, perseverance, faith, and a fair share of dumb
luck. From his youth traipsing around the Georgia hills to his time
leading expeditions around the Himalayas, including five summits of
Everest, Waters has always seemed to stumble into the next
fortuitous step of his journey, often ending up in the most
unlikely places. This is tempered by the fact that early in Waters'
outdoor career, he learned to live by a simple credo: "you have to
make things happen for yourself." At the beginning of his climbing
career, he was consumed by passion for the mountains, every
decision was leading to the next mountaineering challenge.
Eventually giving up a stable career as a geologist, he had a
self-described "mid 20's crisis," left his 401K and comfortable
salary for living out of his truck and 40 dollars a day as a
part-time climbing instructor. Following his dream of a life of
adventure in exchange for a life of obeying societal norms, he set
out to build a mountain resume that would enable him to circle the
Earth and work as a mountain guide in the Himalayas and beyond.
After almost two decades of hard expeditions around the planet, his
experiences include being on a hijacked airplane in Russia, rescue
of injured climbers in the Karakoram Himalaya of Pakistan, the
Everest Base Camp earthquake disaster, narrowly missing out on the
K2 2008 tragedy, near misses with avalanches, the deaths of close
climbing partners, close encounters with Polar Bears on the Arctic
Ocean, relationships with fellow adventurers, and much more.
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