Episodes Feed
EP 251: Eric Jerome
Eric Jerome is a V15 climber and prolific bouldering developer. We talked about getting hit by a drunk driver, how his injury led to a paradigm shift, why he is actively caring less about climbing, seeking the minimal effective dose, developing new boulders in the Flaming Gorge and The New, buying a house, his career with KAYA, the gamification of climbing, and much more.
EP 224: Jana Švecová
Jana Švecová is a professional rock climber from the Czech Republic who has emerged as one of the top female boulderers in the world. We talked about her upbringing and her early success in competitions, her pivot to outdoor bouldering, her inspiration for choosing ‘Terranova’ 8C+/V16 as a project, making the first ascent of ‘Nova’ 8C/V15, using her finger injury as an opportunity, current training, and much more!
EP 223: Aidan Roberts Returns
Aidan Roberts returns to the podcast! Aidan is at the cutting edge of bouldering and is one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of talking to. We talk about professional climbing and today’s media landscape, and he brings us up to speed on the last year and a half of his climbing and shares the full stories of ‘Spots of Time’ and ‘Arrival of the Birds’, two new boulders proposed 9A/V17.
We recorded this a couple of days after my chat with him and Sam on their podcast. I was honored to join them and I loved the conversation. Check it out for some reflections amongst the three of us about our podcasting and climbing.
EP 221: Keenan Takahashi
Keenan Takahashi is one of the top boulders in the world. We talked about the origin story of his clothing company ANTIGRAV, the importance of carving out space for creativity, establishing his latest V15 FA ‘The Gold Standard’, watching Sean Bailey send ‘Devilution’, unclimbed king lines in Bishop, shifting his focus to meaningful hard climbs, his stubbornness, why trying limit moves makes him a better climber, learning the macro from the micro, accessing try hard, why he started training, upcoming goals, and much more! I’ve wanted to talk to Keenan since the very beginning of the podcast, and this turned out to be one of my all-time favorite interviews.
EP 219: Fitz Cahall
Fitz Cahall is the cofounder of Duct Tape Then Beer, and the creator of The Dirtbag Diaries and Climbing Gold with Alex Honnold. We talked about the early days of the internet, what podcasting was like in 2007, being on the fringe, storytelling, virtual reality, spending your time on the right things, the unglamorous parts of our work, results vs. success, his new book States of Adventure, and much more!
EP 215: Nathan Williams
Nathan Williams is obsessed with ‘Return of the Sleepwalker’ 9A/V17, and estimates he has spent 100+ days trying it. We talked about getting mentored by Jimmy Webb and Kasia Pietras and sending his first V10 within one year of climbing, why he took a year off, falling in love with ROTS, how to stay psyched after bad days, friction control, climbing with a purpose, gaining legendary finger strength in a few minutes per week, static feats of strength, and much more!
EP 213: Simon Lorenzi
Simon Lorenzi is a world-class climber from Belgium and the first person to climb three boulders graded 9A/V17. We talked about lessons from his three hardest boulders, tactics for trying ‘Burden of Dreams’ in -13°C, the projecting bubble, the goal of struggling, dealing with bad weather on ‘Alphane’, facing frustration with optimism, using a book under his kneepad on the FA of ‘Soudain Seul’, dream V18 projects, and much more!
EP 206: Charlie Schreiber Returns
Charlie Schreiber returns to the podcast! Charlie joins me from Fontainebleau to talk about the epiphany he had in Rocklands, leaving his job to focus on Paradigm Climbing, teaming up with Alex Johnson, getting obsessed with ‘The Big Island’ 8C/V15, building a perfect replica of the boulder, how to train on your limit projects, the concept of the “ideal circuit”, and much more!
EP 203: Jakob Schubert
Jakob Schubert is one of the greatest competition climbers ever. In 2023 he won the World Championships in both lead and combined, secured his ticket to the Paris Olympics, sent his first 9c with his FA of ‘B.I.G.’, and sent his hardest boulder with ‘Alphane’ 9A. We talked about his incredible year, learning from Adam Ondra’s risky and efficient climbing style, what he learned from failing on ‘Sleepwalker’ V16, plans for more 9c’s, and much more!
EP 200: Brooke Raboutou
Brooke Raboutou is an Olympian and a V15 boulderer from Colorado. We talked about growing up in a family of world-class climbers, balancing college with training for the Olympics, her mindset for competitions, why she meditates every day, her favorite hype music, working on her confidence, using pressure as fuel, focusing on the bigger picture, competing to win while supporting friends and teammates, how she balances competitions with sending hard boulders, and much more!
EP 199: Will Anglin & Matt Jones
Will Anglin returns and is joined by coach and trainer Matt Jones. This is one of the most valuable episodes I’ve ever recorded. It’s a GOLD MINE for anyone who wants to progress their climbing. Will and Matt provide clear and in-depth guidance for beginner, intermediate, and advanced climbers in this three-hour masterclass. If you feel stuck at a plateau or simply want to progress to the next level, don’t skip this episode!
EP 194: Will Anglin
Will Anglin is an expert boulderer and the founder of Tension Climbing. I love the way this guy thinks, and there are many nuggets in this episode. We talked about the key principles of climbing hard, the most common confusion points about training for climbing, why we should treat climbing like baseball, the number one thing all climbers should do, the evolution of Tension, why it took 10+ years to develop the Tension Board 2 (TB2), why every detail matters when building a new product, and much more!
EP 192: Alex Biale
Alex Biale is an elite boulderer based in CO. We talked about his family legacy of bootlegging wine in Napa Valley, how he got into climbing, his legendary training with Jon Glassberg, pushing himself to the breaking point to send V14, seriously injuring his knee, working with Ollie Torr to overhaul his style and become stronger than ever, the keys to a balanced and happy life, and much more!
EP 191: Jesse Firestone Returns
Jesse Firestone is back on the podcast! We talked about his injury this spring and finding silver linings, why he focused more on weight training than climbing this summer, shifting his priorities to spending more time on projects, biggest lessons from the past three years of coaching, Adam Ondra’s hip flexibility, how to become more flexible through climbing, why visualization is an excellent use of your time, and much more!
EP 185: Mattias Braach-Maksvytis
Mattias Braach-Maksvytis is an expert boulderer and a doctor of PhysioTherapy from Australia. This episode is all about dynos! Ethan Pringle joins us for another fireside chat as we talk about how Mattias became “the dyno guy” in Rocklands, categories of difficulty and how to grade dynos, how training his legs made him a better all-around boulderer, the key to having the best trip of your life, changing his mindset and enjoying his climbing more than ever, and much more!
EP 184: Nic Rummel
Nic Rummel is an applied mathematician and expert boulderer. Ethan Pringle joins as co-host for another fun episode from Rocklands. We talked about embracing his nickname “Thick Nic”, lessons from working with Matt Fultz, sending V13 crimp boulders at 185 lbs, epic math projects, taking ballet to practice movement, the keys to a good spray wall, go-to hangboard protocols for epic finger strength, how lifting weights led to his best trip ever, finding mentorship in an 80-year-old climbing legend, and much more!
EP 183: Jenn DeBellis
Jenn DeBellis is an elite-level boulderer and software engineer. We sat down in Rocklands and talked about her biggest lessons from childhood gymnastics and collegiate athletics, trying V13s in Magic Wood and Rocklands, getting comfortable with failure, learning to embrace her style, her elaborate warmup routine, how she plans her 6-week training cycles, her role with KAYA, tips for sustaining a full-time job on the road, and much more!
EP 182: Carlos Tkacz & Steph Letourneau
Carlos Tkacz returns and is joined by his partner Steph Letourneau for a sitdown here in Rocklands. We talked about their diet habits, lessons from their 7 trips to Rocklands, learning to try harder, comparison games, respecting the difficulty of climbing, being good at being consistent, balancing your carbon footprint, making the most of a climbing trip to South Africa, writing novels, and much more!
EP 181: Charlie Schreiber, Adam Shahar, Noah & Benn Wheeler
It’s another Northeast takeover in Rocklands! Charlie Schreiber returns to the podcast and is joined by Adam Shahar, and brothers Noah and Benn Wheeler. Ethan Pringle joins us and keeps the fire stoked for this unhinged six-person podcast. The lads gave us the tick list from their first ten days in Rocklands, and we geeked out about board training, favorite FAs, and ultimate dream boulders and routes. Tune in for a dose of fun and inspiration with these young crushers!
EP 180: Troy Fauteux, Austin Hoyt, & Bryce Viola
It’s a Northeast takeover here in Rocklands! Austin Hoyt returns to the podcast and is joined by Troy Fauteux and Bryce Viola. The boys sat down with me and Ethan Pringle for a fireside chat at our cabin. These guys are all total crushers and most importantly, they have a lot of fun. Join us for a crackling good time!