Episodes Feed
EP 87: Alita Contreras
Alejandra (Alita) Contreras is a half Colombian half Venezualan professional rock climber, coach, and translator. We talked about the economic situation in Venezuela and why she moved to Colombia six years ago, about living in Germany and translating training books by Udo Neumann, about coaching women, our global climbing family, and her current 5.14a project.
EP 86: Dylan Barks
Dylan Barks is an elite-level boulder and sport climber, and a dark horse in the climbing scene. He sent ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, his first V16, just two weeks after this interview. We talked about how Dylan uses a spray wall for 95% of his training, how he prepares for both bouldering and sport climbing trips, and about recovering from an eating disorder to climb his hardest ever.
EP 84: Boone Speed
Boone Speed is a photographer, innovator, and was the first American to climb 5.14b with his route ‘Super Tweak’ in Logan Canyon, UT. We talked about Boone’s upbringing, discovering climbing in American Fork, most memorable routes and trips, bolting and training in the Hell Cave, creating the Grasshopper Board, and his vision for the future of artificial climbing.
EP 73: Kyle O’Meara
Kyle O’Meara is a high-level boulderer, route climber, and successful climbing coach. He’s a total lifer. We talked about his early climbing and development in the PNW, some of his favorite first ascents, outdoor bouldering vs. indoor training, climbing and life goals, discovering coaching, leading by example, and sharing the love of climbing with his team.
EP 72: Eric Hörst (Part 2)
This is part 2 of my conversation with Eric Hörst. We talked about the differences between Eric and his sons’ (Cameron and Jonathan) training plans, advice for parents who want to get their kids into climbing, how to train pinch and sloper strength, why Eric started PhysiVantage, and the importance of collagen for building stronger fingers.
EP 71: Eric Hörst (Part 1)
Eric Hörst is the author of the international bestselling book Training for Climbing and the founder of PhysiVantage. We talked about his dual career as a meteorologist and climbing coach, early route development, how training has evolved, the roles of campusing vs. hangboarding in improving finger strength, why coaching is like 3D chess, and how to train your core.
EP 70: Steve Maisch
Steve Maisch is a training legend and has been pursuing improvement in rock climbing for more than two decades. Jon Glassberg credits Steve’s training methodology for his recent send of ‘The Nest’ V15. We talked about Steve’s background in climbing and how he became interested in training, how he helped me add structure to my Hueco bouldering trip, and the 85% rule.
EP 68: Steve McClure
Steve McClure is one of the best rock-climbers in the world, having made the FA of the hardest sport route in the UK at 9b (5.15b), at age 46. We talked about early hitchhiking stories, discovering sport climbing, the three parts of climbing ability, how to improve over the long haul, foot-on campusing, and much more.
EP 64: Christophe Bichet
Christophe Bichet is a world-class rock climber and a motivational speaker. He was born with a rare blood disorder called Fanconi Anemia and is also a cancer survivor. We talked about climbing as a metaphor for life, finding your “why”, learning new skills, how to achieve world-class endurance without training endurance, and holding on and letting go.
EP 60: Leif Gasch
Leif Gasch has been a climber for over 25 years and now works as a trainer and coach. We talked about his path from construction to coaching, balancing training with a physically demanding job, how to be a better weekend warrior, mini-goals, breaking into new grades, warming up for hard redpoints, and much more.
EP 55: Kai Lightner
Kai Lightner is a professional climber and the founder of Climbing for Change. We talked about how Kai discovered climbing, his reflections on an eating disorder, the importance of flexibility for tall climbers, early racist encounters, starting a non-profit to help open doors for other people, and some of Kai’s favorite training music.
EP 54: Matt Segal
Matt Segal is a professional rock climber and the founder/owner of Alpine Start, a company that makes “Instant Coffee That Actually Tastes Good”. We talked about how Matt got started in climbing, his nickname ‘Miami Vice’, early mentors, losing friends in the mountains, recovering from a paragliding accident, starting a business, and innovating new products.
EP 51: Chris and Heather Weidner
Chris and Heather Weidner are a hardcore climbing couple, both with many 5.14s under their belt across multiple rock climbing disciplines. We talked about drink counting, New Year resolutions, current injuries, the steps to becoming a kneebar wizard, projecting tips, hard conversations, and balancing climbing goals with maintaining a healthy relationship.
EP 50: Jon Cardwell
Jon Cardwell is a professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and sport climbing. Jon’s tick list includes V15, multiple 5.15a’s, and hundreds of 5.14s. We talked about lessons learned from ‘Biographie’ and ‘La Rambla’, about his off-season and pre-training modes, about bouldering for sport climbing, and about his current 5.15 project at The Fortress in Colorado.
EP 49: Darek Krol
Darek Krol was known by many as the “Mayor of Rifle”. He managed to climb 400+ of Rifle’s roughly 500 routes in his 23 years in the canyon. Darek was killed in an avalanche shortly after this interview. We talked about his love of climbing, about stewardship, and about his close friend, the late Dave Pegg. Darek was well-loved, and he will be deeply missed.
EP 48: Alex Johnson (Part 2)
This is part 2 of my conversation with Alex Johnson. We talked about how she improved from 12b to 14a in her sport climbing, why she no longer does weighted pull-ups, isometric training for arm strength, a typical strength training session, performance vs. training vs. practice, and about Athletic Brewing and the Post-Send Lock-Off Challenge.
EP 47: Alex Johnson (Part 1)
Alex Johnson is a two-time world cup gold medalist and has been climbing at a professional level for a decade. We talked about sieging ‘The Swarm’ V13, her effort to qualify for the Olympics, telling an honest story, failing publicly, lessons from coaching, coming out as LGBTQ, learning about self-love from her partner Bree, and becoming a role model.
EP 46: Chris Kalous
Chris Kalous is the host of the Enormocast and has been immersed in climbing for more than thirty years. We talked about training to be a climber in high school gym class, climbing mountains in New Zealand, soloing El Cap in winter, the infamous “Aid Rant” and the mythical grade of A6+, the ‘Freerider’, old-guy training, raising a kid, and the future of the Enormocast.
EP 45: Dru Mack (feat. Nat Gustafson)
Dru Mack is a professional rock climber who spent his formative years in the Red River Gorge, and is now traveling full time pursuing hard sport climbing. Nat Gustafson sits in on our conversation to talk about hard projecting, tricks for maintaining power and finger strength, an update on “The List”, training recommendations, hype up songs, and Dru’s battle with ‘The Crew’ 5.14c in Rifle.
EP 44: Steven Dimmitt
Steven Dimmitt is the host of The Nugget Climbing Podcast. In this reverse interview, Ethan Pringle takes over and asks Steven about his upbringing, his path through climbing, and about starting the podcast. This episode also features questions from past guests on the show, asking Steven about some of his biggest mistakes, lessons learned, climbing heroes, and inner life.