Daily Inspiration: Meet Drew Ruana

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Ruana.

Hi Drew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I grew up near Seattle, Washington. I began climbing when I was 3 years old after my dad would take me on weekend trips to Smith Rock on his “kid-sitting” weekends. I loved it and at 8 years old I joined the Vertical World Climbing Team, a competitive youth team in the Seattle Area. I was entranced and all I wanted to do was climb. I started medalling at youth national championships shortly after- by the time I was 17 I was competing in adult world cups. After graduating high school in 2018, I earned a place on the 2019 Olympic team and was trying to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, as it was the first year that climbing was included in the Olympics.

Although I finished one spot out of qualifying, I came to realize I wasn’t in love with competition climbing the same way I am with outdoor climbing. I dropped the team a decision to pursue only outdoor climbing. I had already deferred from Colorado School of Mines for 2 years, and with about 10 months until school started I tried to make the most of my time by switching gears to only outdoor pursuits. I very quickly realized that this was my calling and that I was so much better at outdoor climbing than indoor climbing. I was known as a strong climber before, but after my switch, I started to be recognized as one of the strongest outdoor boulderers in the world. The past 3 years have only solidified that further.

Right now, I’m a full-time student at the Colorado School of Mines as well. I was in my junior year of Chemical Engineering but I just switched to Compsci, as I feel like it’ll be easier to balance a professional career with a remote job. I’m currently working on a few large media pieces with one of my closest friends, the badass outdoor videographer Alton Richardson, as well as writing a couple of books on how to succeed in climbing and reaching new heights (no pun intended). Splitting the workload between remaining on the dean’s list at Mines as a full-time student, constantly trying and establishing some of the hardest climbs in the world, and now my personal brand growth with writing and content is exhausting.

That being said, I’d rather bite off too much and put as much effort as I can towards growth and progression than bite off too little and look back in time and realized that I wasted potential. As the years move forward I’m only more and more excited for things to come.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Nothing is ever a smooth road. There are a lot of things that go into making a world-class athlete, and I believe that one of the most defining qualities is grit. As a kid, I was extremely short. I remember being in the doctor’s office around 11 years old – “There’s nothing wrong with your son”, the doctor said to my mom. “He’s just small”.

This was a defining feature of my climbing career as a youth competitor. I was always the shortest, and the older style of setting at regional, divisional, and national level comps always was unfair for short climbers. It felt unfair to compete against kids who were quite literally over a foot taller than me at the exact same age. Time and time again, I would lose in the final round of nationals due to something out of my control. It wasn’t fair and so many of my fellow short friends ended up quitting competing due to feeling unfair. It stung, and even though I *knew* it would happen again, every time I’d return home and resolve to train even harder than the year before.

There’s a common saying to be wary of the silver medalist more than everyone else. The silver medalist is the best loser out there – so many times people would come up and say something along the lines that I should be happy about receiving silver. Screw that, I always said. I don’t train for silver in competitions, I train for gold. Years of getting beat down for an important factor outside of my control molded me to do everything I could to overcome it.

Now, I’m still not that tall, at a staggering 5’7”. I don’t ever feel like height impacts me and I completely attribute my abilities and strength now to doing everything I can do to overcome them as a child.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a professional rock climber, supported by several companies including Arc’teryx, Trango Climbing, Tension Climbing, and Tenaya Climbing, to name a few. I used to compete in the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup circuit, with my best result being 8th place in bouldering at the 2019 World Championships in Hachioji, Japan. I have since switched gears to pursue outdoor climbing where I’ve found more success and promise.

I’m currently a full-time student studying Computer Science at the Colorado School of Mines. When not in school or studying I spend the majority of my time climbing outside in the mountains, where I specialize in bouldering. Since focusing on outdoor bouldering I’ve managed to complete over 110 v14 or harder boulders, including 9 V16s. I believe I may have completed the most v16s in the world, and I’m confident that nobody else in the world has completed as many v14 or harder boulders in around 3 years.

For perspective, less than 40 people have done a single v16, and it’s estimated that .01% of climbers will ever achieve a SINGLE v14 in their lifetime. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I’ve been doing these boulders while balancing a full school load at one of the top engineering-specific schools in the country. Pretty much all the other professional outdoor climbers solely focus on outdoor climbing as a full-time job, and I’m constantly juggling school in the mix.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Climbing has already grown massively since 2020(1) Olympics.

I think that climbing will get more and more mainstream, which hopefully means that more resources will be available to support climbers who develop areas outside and resources available to maintain and protect our outdoor areas.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.drewruana.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewruana
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrewRuana1

Image Credits
Alton Richardson