Manoah Ainuu

For February's Speaker Series, we were excited to have The North Face athlete Manoah Ainuu join us to speak about his relationship with climbing.

Climbing wasn’t the obvious path for 25-year-old Manoah Ainuu. Born in Compton, California to first-generation immigrants from Samoa and Ethiopia, Manoah’s childhood was surrounded by concrete and congested freeways. Before Big Sky, there was Big Bear, the ski area two hours from Los Angeles where Manoah’s dad would take him skiing once a year.

“It was the first thing we did outside,” says Manoah. Recognizing the positive influence of the outdoors on their son and the need for a better education, Manoah’s parents moved a nine-year-old Manoah and his sister from Los Angeles to Spokane, Washington.

Nowadays, his everyday views include vertical blue ice, pocketed limestone crags and the high peaks of six mountain ranges in a 1.8-million-acre forest.

A $15 donation is suggested for viewing these videos to help Montana Mountaineering Association provide low to no-cost mountain experiences for marginalized, underrepresented, and at-risk populations.