Today, in episode 16, we sit down, in person, with Jack Ryan an adaptive trad climber and mountaineer and founder of Paralyzed to Peaks. Jack is not your average trad climber. On November 29th Jack’s neck was crushed in an illegal move done by his blackbelt instructor during a Jiu-Jitsu sparing session. He suffered a broken neck at C4-C5 resulting in paralysis from the neck down as well as numerous strokes due to blood clotting the following morning. He lost everything that day and has been fighting to regain it all ever since. Since his life-changing injury, and having never climbed before, he has begun to forge a new path in the world of adaptive climbing. In August 2020, in tandem with the founding of Paralyzed to Peaks, Jack Ryan became the first and only individual with a spinal cord injury and incomplete quadriplegia to summit mount Whitney and is currently the only individual in the world with incomplete quadriplegia taking the sharp end on sport/trad climbs. He has a large vision for the future including several large technical mountaineering objectives and aims to change the world's perception of adaptive athletes.

Links:

1) Paralyzed to Peaks | https://paralyzedtopeaks.com/

2) IG | https://www.instagram.com/paralyzedtopeaks/

3) Paralyzed to Peaks - The Story of Jack Greener

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLgo20ZAbKk