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Mill House Podcast

Episode 16: Ryan Smalls - Ski Racer, Addicted Angler, Traditional Archer

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5973 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2020

⏱️ 83 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At the tender age of 4, after watching Franz Klammer win Olympic gold on TV, Ryan Smalls knew he wanted to be a ski racer. Growing up in the greatest of all ski towns, Aspen, Colorado, it all made sense. He trained hard and eventually made the U.S. Ski Teams talent squad, raced in Europe, and was fulfilling his dreams. He, the only child of his parents Ray and Karen, was their pride and joy.Ski racing is hard and fast and dangerous. His racing longevity succumbed to the odds with a terrible injury. Along the way, Ray showed Ryan the outdoors like few people knew it. After graduating from college, Ryan came home to the rivers and animals of his fathers tutelage. As a plane circles for the weather to clear, so did Ryan's identity. But that didn't take long - he became a guide..... He guided fishing, hunting, and skiing.As a big hearted, passionate man, I know Ryan Smalls to be a perfectionist, world class in everything he cares for.In this episode, we chat about being caught in an avalanche, getting addicted to fly fishing for Tarpon, and being successful in the elk woods.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Ryan Smalls and Aspen, Colorado Native, had Olympic aspirations as a young man.

0:07.0

He was skiing on the U.S. ski team in Europe when those dreams were shattered by injuries.

0:12.0

After graduating from college at

0:13.9

C. U. he was back in the Aspen Valley, pursuing the passions of the

0:18.2

mountain man he is. His father, Ray, had Ryan in the woods screaming at elk when he was just out of diapers.

0:25.0

He fished the local rivers and chased elk in the fall.

0:28.0

He eventually made his way to the Florida Keys where dinosaurs reside. over the years he became world-class at

0:35.8

catching large fish and harvesting piles of elk with his stickbow. On today's

0:41.0

episode we reminisce his brothers, two guys who continue to chase dreams, living life to our fullest.

0:50.0

We broke everything, we broke lines, we broke hooks, we broke rods, we broke our minds, we broke

1:01.2

we broke our minds, we broke the whole thing.

1:05.0

We came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls and

1:10.0

whoever had the biggest pair of panties went to pot.

1:12.0

I knocked another arrow pain he's won the pot.

1:13.1

I knocked another arrow and he turned around the other way and I shot him going through the

1:16.7

other way.

1:17.7

I double-lunged him both ways.

1:19.9

But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.

1:24.0

I got him on, all right now, we're going to teach him a lot so.

1:29.0

I'm just an old guy that likes to fish and I'm not quitting yet. And he said, well who the

1:34.8

hell do you think you are, Sue App? And I said that's exactly who I am. Life's journey

1:41.3

to the grave should not be one arriving with a pretty well preserved body,

...

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