Taking a look at the Corpus of Contemporary American English, there seems to be an about equal number of ascent of versus ascent to. Examples from the corpus:

[...]an expedition in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest.

The ascent to Mountain Lake Lodge is a slow, winding seven miles.

I was wondering whether there is a sense or "process" when using the preposition to, meaning an ascent that is perhaps not completed, whereas ascent of would be preferred when referring to the actual conquest of a mountain.

Any thoughts?

Taking a look at the Corpus of Contemporary American English, there seems to be an about equal number of ascent of versus ascent to. Examples from the corpus:

[...]an expedition in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest.

The ascent to Mountain Lake Lodge is a slow, winding seven miles.

I was wondering whether there is a sense or "process" when using the preposition to, meaning an ascent that is perhaps not completed, whereas ascent of would be preferred when referring to the actual conquest of a mountain.