Former Spokane resident summits Mount Everest as part of first all-Black expedition

A former Spokane resident summited Mount Everest earlier this month as part of the first all-Black climbing team.

Manoah Ainuu, who is a sponsored climber for the North Face, was part of Full Circle Everest, an all-Black climbing team. Seven members of the team, plus eight Nepali guides, summited May 12.

Ainuu, who was born in Compton, California, but moved to Spokane when he was 9, now lives in Bozeman. His parents own the popular Queen of Sheba restaurant in the Flour Mill.

Prior to the successful summit, 10 Black people had summited the world’s tallest peak while more than 6,000 people have summited the 29,032-foot Himalayan mountain. This month’s feat shows the continued diversification of a historically white activity, Ainuu said.

Ainuu summited at 1:34 a.m. and spent about 15 minutes on the summit. The moon was out and he could see surrounding peaks clearly. The climb itself, he said, felt “easy” after years of hiking and climbing.

“The days aren’t too long. I don’t think there are any days over 3,000 feet,” he said of the guided expedition. “The unknown to me was altitude. The highest I’d been before was Mount Rainier.”

His path to the top of the world was not the typical American climbing story.

His mother is a first-generation immigrant from Ethiopia . His first experience with outdoor sports was skiing at California’s Big Bear resort where his dad Layne would take him once a year.

“They were young. They loved being out there in the snow,” said Layne Ainuu of Manoah and his sister. “It was different than being in the heat and sun (of Compton). They’ve always loved the outdoors.”

When Ainuu was 9, Layne got a job at the medical laboratory PAML and the family moved to Spokane. That was a culture shock for Ainuu.

“I was the only dark-skinned person in my class,” he said.

Ainuu endured a number of racist and discriminatory encounters. Kids in his class would call him ‘manure’ and once while hiking Coeur d’Alene’s Tubbs Hill someone yelled a common racial slur at him. Those experiences, combined with a naturally shy disposition, drew Ainuu to more solitary pursuits.

“Moving to Spokane was really good,” he said, despite the discrimination. “It’s kind of what jump-started my experience in the outdoors.

“I never liked being around crowds. Climbing and skiing were a way to move fast and enjoy myself.”

As a student at Central Valley High School, Ainuu would spend as much of the winter as possible skiing at Schweitzer. During his junior year of high school, a friend took him rock climbing in Post Falls. While he was terrified of heights (“I even hated roller coasters”) he got hooked on the vertical activity.

“He just loved it. He hung out with some really good kids,” Layne said. “We just encouraged him. We loved that he liked to go outdoors and climb.”

After graduating high school, he moved to Bozeman to attend Montana State University. There he skied nonstop and continued to rock climb. In 2017, he started ice climbing at nearby Hyalite Canyon. Ice climbing supplanted skiing as the activity of choice and he poured himself into that sport, eventually meeting Fred Campbell, a Black climber from Seattle. The two hit it off.

In 2019, Ainuu became a sponsored athlete for the North Face, although he still worked two part-time jobs. Last spring, he became a full-time athlete for the outdoor apparel company. Layne said when his son signed with the North Face he told him he was happy for him “as long as you don’t climb Mount Everest.”

Layne was to be disappointed.

The dream of an all-Black team was born while ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado, in 2019. Ainuu was there as was Campbell and another Black climber, Phil Henderson. The three looked at each other and realized that there were “three guys with dreads.”

From there, the idea of an all-Black Everest expedition was born. Everest was first climbed in 1953, but a Black climber didn’t summit until Sibusiso Vilano did so in 2003. The team went to Nepal in mid-January and taught at the Khumbu Climbing Center, which is dedicated to teaching Nepali men and women technical climbing skills that can then be used to get jobs guiding.

The team returned to Nepal in April and started trekking to Everest base camp. Ainuu was joined by his wife Rachel for the trek in. She is also from Spokane and did not summit Everest.

The successful summit on May 12 garnered international headlines. Ainuu just wrapped up a trip to New York doing interviews and promotional work for the North Face. Ainuu hopes that his example – and others’ – can help pave the way for a new generation of Black outdoor enthusiasts.

“That’s why all this stuff is important,” he said.