Ryan Waters

Ryan Waters is a professional mountaineer, mountain guide, and polar adventurer. He has worked in the professional guiding and outdoor education field for 20 years. He is the first American and one of only 12 people in the world to complete the True Adventurers Grand Slam. His expeditions have taken him to Nepal, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Tibet, Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Tanzania, Greenland, Indonesia, Antarctica, the Arctic Ocean, and beyond. His guiding résumé includes over fifty ascents of the various Seven Summits, well over thirty-five expeditions in the Andes Range, and twenty-four expeditions to the Himalayas including six summits of Everest and fourteen times standing on the summit of various 8,000-meter mountains.

A team unsupported west-to-east ski traverse of Greenland expanded his interests into the polar regions, where he cut his teeth on difficult polar ski expeditions in addition to climbing. In 2010, Ryan and Cecilie Skog completed a 1,120-mile Antarctica ski expedition over seventy days from Berkner Island in the Ronne-Filchner Sea to the South Pole, continuing to the Ross Sea to complete the first ski traverse of Antarctica without resupplies or the use of kites. In 2014, Ryan and Eric Larsen skied for fifty-three days to complete the last unsupported full ski expedition to the North Pole. The expedition was made into a two-hour Discovery Channel documentary. He has contributed as a writer to several media outlets, books, and documentaries, including the book Antarctica, published in Norway by Gyldendal. His photographs have been published in several magazines, books, gear catalogs, web outlets, and two book covers. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and is a certified Master Polar Guide with the International Polar Guides Association.