Spotlight on Ryan Mishmash!
 
Congratulations to one of our latest Grand Slam finishers Ryan Mishmash! We had the opportunity of asking Ryan a few quick questions.
Q: What was your first fourteener, and when did you climb it?

I climbed Mt. Sherman with my dad Vic on July 10, 1994.  I was only nine years old at the time and loved the experience.  My dad had been an avid outdoorsman his whole life and took me to the mountains often, but he never really went to the mountains for the sake of climbing them.  We decided to start climbing 14ers after seeing the awesome pictures in Roger Edrinn’s book Colorado Fourteeners:  The 54 Highest Peaks.  Sherman seemed like a good first one and to this day I consider it to be the easiest of the 54.

Q: At what point did you commit to finishing them all?

don’t recall a particular instance when I decided that I would climb them all.  After Sherman, I knew that climbing would be a huge part of my life for years to come, so I guess I pretty much knew right then.

Q: What is your favorite fourteener route?

I don’t have one single favorite route.  After I climbed the Crestone Needle via the South Couloir a couple of years ago, it was definitely my favorite.  Since then, the Mt. Wilson-El Diente traverse, North Maroon’s Northeast Ridge, and Capitol’s Knife Edge stick out as sure favorites.  Handies from American Basin may be the prettiest route and is probably my favorite “easy” 14er route.

Q: What was your most delightful moment on a 14er? 

A couple moments come to mind.  This last 4th of July weekend, my cousin and I left Pueblo at midnight, drove for six hours, climbed to Navajo Basin over the Rock of Ages Saddle with full packs, climbed Mt. Wilson’s north face on excellent snow with ice axe and crampons, did the traverse to El Diente, glissaded the 2000 feet or so down El Diente, had perfect weather all day, and…passed out in our tent for 12 hours straight.  Also, soloing Mt. Eolus on an absolutely beautiful summer evening with the sun setting and having the whole mountain to myself ranks right up there.

Q: What was your most terrifying moment on a 14er?

Don’t really have any to speak of.  I’ve never gotten into any real serious lightning storms while climbing 14ers, nor have I felt threatened by exposure or other adverse conditions

Q: Do you have any plans for future mountain lists? 

I’ve considered pursuing the highest 100 but have sort of decided against that for the time being.  For now, I’ll probably just climb new routes on the 14ers and other mountains below 14,000 ft. for the sake of having fun.  However, bagging the 14ers was so much fun in itself that I’ll probably eventually go after the highest 100 and maybe even all the 13ers.  I especially want to start climbing technical routes on the high peaks as well as start mountaineering more in the spring and winter.  When I graduate from college, I would like to do some mountaineering in Alaska, South America, and maybe the Himalayas.  We will see.

Q: What 14er did you climb last? Did you  intentionally save it for last or is it a 14er that previously eluded you?

My dad and I climbed Culebra on October 9th of this year.  At the beginning of the summer, I had nine 14ers left, including all of the class 4 peaks.  My goal was to climb all of them but Culebra this year and then wait a few years for the CMC to draw my name in the lottery.  It just so happened that the ranch started allowing people to access Culebra the very day that I climbed Capitol for my 53rd 14er.  Culebra is a fine mountain and made for a relaxing and very enjoyable last 14er.

Q: What is the single most important piece of advice that you would give to someone just starting out? 

I love Sir Edmund Hillary’s quote “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”  To me, climbing shouldn’t just be about getting out in the wild and admiring nature.  This is a huge bonus, don’t get me wrong.  But what a mountain climber should really be admiring is himself.  He should be admiring the enormous potential that human beings hold in being able to accomplish things that our minds consider mere impossibilities.  He should be admiring the challenge at hand and that when the challenge is met, when the top is reached, he will have been conquered and he will have grown.  I think any climber should know his limits, but more importantly, he should know that growth occurs only when the climber decides to stretch these limits beyond the realm of what the mind considers possible.