EP 46: Chris Kalous
November 30, 2020
Photo by Becca Skinner
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. You can learn more about Chris at enormocast.com
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts
Patreon:
Follow-Ups:
thenuggetclimbing.com/follow-ups
Videos:
'Vertical Limit' opening scene
Other Nugget Podcasts Mentioned:
EP 02: Chis Wright (story about Steve Swenson)
Recommended Enormocast EPs:
EP 06: Hayden Kennedy (part 1)
EP 07: Hayden Kennedy (part 2)
Recommended Runout EPs:
EP 51: Emily Harrington (most recent as of this interview w/ Chris)
Enormocast References:
EP 45: Aaron Mulkey (feat. Chris’s story about passing out while ice climbing)
EP 199: Training with Kris Hampton (Odub)
Chris’s Guest Wish List:
Alain Robert ("he was Honnold before Honnold", climbs buidlings)
Aid Climbing:
Wiki page (aid climbing grades breakdown)
Books:
Climb!: The History of Rock Climbing in Colorado
Other Stuff:
Chris’s writeup on the FA of ‘Premonition’
Routes Mentioned:
‘Finger of Fate’ A2+, The Titan, Fisher Towers, UT
‘Kor-Ingalls’ 5.9, Casteton Tower, UT
‘Mount Cook’ Southern Alps, NZ
‘Mount Aspiring’ Southern Alps, NZ
‘Lost in America’ A4, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘World’s End’ A5, Titan, Fisher Towers
‘Zodiac’ A2 , El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Aquarian Wall’ A3, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Mescalito’ A3, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Zenyatta Mondatta’ A4, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Shortest Straw’ A4, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Tangerine Trip’ A2, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Lost in My Pants’ A4?, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA (Chris’s “new route”)
‘Sea of Dreams’ A4, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA (‘Hook or Book’ pitch)
‘Reticent Wall’ A5, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Gulf Stream’ A5, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Freerider’ 5.13a, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA
‘Learning to Fly’ 5.13, Indian Creek, UT
‘Cantina Boy’ 5.13b, Rifle, CO,
‘Hand Me the Canteen Boy’ 5.12d, Rifle, CO
‘Ivory Tower’ 5.13b, Castleton Tower, UT
‘Premonition’ 5.12, Canadian Rockies, CAN
‘Dar al-Islam’ (Realm of Peace) 5.13a, Nassarani North, Wadi Rum
‘La Guerre Sainte’ (The Holy War) 5.12b, Nassarani North, Wadi Rum (Arnaud Petit’s route)
Chris’s Links:
Nuggets:
2:41 – Election hangover and my visit to Bonfire Coffee
5:14 – Growing up in the Midwest and reading about John Bachar in Outside Magazine
6:34 – Training for climbing in high school gym class
9:53 – First day of outdoor climbing at Horsetooth Reservoir, and the Outdoor Adventure Floor at CSU
12:15 – Guiding at Colorado Mountain School
15:07 – Chris’s first big international trip to Australia
20:06 – Becoming interested in climbing history, reading ‘Climb!’ cover-to-cover, and idolizing climbers from the 70s
22:29 – Aid climbing in the Fisher Towers
23:30 – Doing an exchange to NZ in ’91, moving to LA, moving away from ice climbing, and starting to climb in Yosemite
27:29 – Climbing A4 in the Fisher Towers, and early aid climbing on El Cap
30:43 – Solo aid climbing ‘Lost in America’ in winter, and aiding through a waterfall
38:33 – Getting down the east ledges in the snow, breaking “the rule”, and the aid climber’s mindset
41:33 – The ‘Aid Rant’, and a breakdown of aid climbing grades (A0 through A5)
47:07 – Aid climbing as an engineering and mental challenge
50:24 – Patron Question: What exactly might constitute the mythical grade of A6+?
51:28 – Patron Question: What is the best way to train for hard aid in a gym?
52:19 – Why Chris moved away from aid climbing
56:30 – How Chris thinks about introducing his son Miles to climbing
57:36 – The ‘Freerider’ chapter
1:06:01 – ‘Learning to Fly’, Didier Berthod, “The bolts don’t make the sport climbing”, and traddy tendencies
1:12:16 – Embracing Rifle, climbing ‘Cantina Boy’, and the mental game of sport climbing
1:16:49 – Back to ‘Learning to Fly’, the advice Chris got from Peewee Ouellet, and taping for finger cracks
1:20:40 – The Canadian Rockies chapter and the FA of ‘Premonition’
1:24:15 – Putting up a 10-pitch 13a in Wadi Rum
1:26:03 – Patron Question: How do you balance fatherhood and climbing? Any secret beta for a new father who would like to keep improving at climbing while being present in his daughter’s life?
1:29:22 – Navigating a relationship with kids, climbing with your partner, and date nights
1:34:08 – Training lessons from working with Kris Hampton (Odub)
1:36:53 – Training can be fun, and “you can do a lot less than you think and still see gains”
1:38:42 – A breadth of experiences, and how climbing harder opens up the world
1:41:11 – One wish about sponsorship and being a sponsored climber
1:43:24 – Hoping to go to Tagia in Morocco, getting shut down on ‘Golden Gate’, prioritizing friends and family in climbing
1:47:34 – The sale offer, and the future of the Enormocast
1:50:31 – The Runout podcast (Chris’s other podcast with Andrew Bisharat)
1:52:12 – Chris’s recommended Enormocast episodes
1:55:11 – Chris’s recommended Runout episodes
1:55:48 – Grateful for Carbondale, CO
1:57:35 – The gift of podcasting, and the guest wish list
2:02:14 – The Mobile Studio 2.0