[Photo] Emilie Drinkwater
EMILIE DRINKWATER LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK Emilie was born in the small town of Enfield, New Hampshire. She basically grew up on skis and it wasn’t until her college years at St. Lawrence University that she discovered climbing. She started out on a student-constructed climbing wall made of plywood with river stones for holds. The first time she went outside to climb, she went to the Beer Walls in the Adirondacks. “I climbed 5.7 with such voracity that I couldn’t grasp the steering wheel for the drive back to school,” Emilie says. “I was pretty much hooked at that moment.”
Notables: The Trilogy Link-Up (unrepeated): A 17-hour, 25-mile, 20,000’ solo winter enchainment of three Adirondack backcountry ice climbs. FA of Pumo Kangri (PD/AD 6440m) in the Indian Karakoram.
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climberism | MAGAZINE
Since her early days, she has taken her love of climbing all over the world. As a full-time guide, Emilie doesn’t spend much time at home in the Adirondacks. She travels the world instead, taking clients wherever they hire her to go. She prefers ice to rock and spends more time in the big mountains but says she still appreciates the joys of her local crags. Emilie says she loves the challenges, complexities and unknowns of the mountains and loves to figure out how to move through and up them in the most efficient manner possible.—NR