Spotlight on David Nickoloff!
 
Congratulations to our latest Grand Slam finisher David Nickoloff! We had the opportunity of asking David a few quick questions.
 
Q: What was your first fourteener, and when did you climb it?
A: My first 14er was Mount Princeton, June 27, 1998.
Q: At what point did you commit to finishing them all?
A: Before climbing Mount Princeton I had decided that I wanted to climb them all.
Q: What is your favorite fourteener route?
A: My favorite route is probably the traverse from Crestone Peak to the needle.
Q: What is your least favorite route on a 14er?
A: Least favorite is the last section of Pikes peak's Northwest Slopes.
Q: What was your most delightful moment on a 14er?
A: My most delightful moment on a fourteener was spending about two hours on the summit of San luis peak knowing that I only had Capital and Culebra left to climb.
Q: What was your most terrifying moment on a 14er?
A: My most terrifying moment was when a refrigerator-sized rock came tumbling down the couloir on El Diente's North Slopes and missed me by about twenty feet, that being after I had ran from my original position.
Q: Do you have any plans for future mountain lists?
A: I currently have climbed 75 of the 100 highest mountains in the state, and I plan on finishing those and moving on to the two hundred highest.
Q: What is the single most important piece of advice that you would give to someone just starting out?
A: The piece of advise I would give to someone starting out is to just have the determination to complete your goal, whether that be a short term goal of summiting the peak you're on or the long term goal of climbing them all, and also remember that the mountains will be there long after we're all gone, so don't risk your life for one more notch on your stick if the conditions are not right.