Elaina Arenz is a professional climbing guide and is the owner or co-owner of several businesses including New River Mountain Guides and Chick with Picks. She’s spent most of her adult life living on the road, climbing nearly every day, and has been responsible for numerous first ascents all over the world, including being an early pioneer at El Potrero Chico in Mexico.

It was great to catch up with Elaina. We talked about everything from getting to reinvent herself every few years as a kid, the first outdoor climbing she ever did (including her first lead, on her first day climbing outside), her eventful and course-altering road trip from Alaska to Mexico (and the characters she met along the way), and her more recent escapades as a guide, bringing people into the world of climbing.