EP 290: Chris Schulte
January 12, 2025
Photo by Truc Nguyen
Chris Schulte is an elite boulderer known for bold first ascents, compression mastery, and a thoughtful approach that prioritizes style over grades. We talked about his evolution as a climber, developing his own style, how Fred Nicole inspired him, redefining progress with age, tips for compression problems and wide cracks, and the state of elite bouldering and cutting-edge grades.
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Show Notes:
Related Episodes:
Chris’s Links:
Nuggets:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:01:13 — Being an introvert
00:13:49 – Becoming a boulderer
00:24:56 – First ascents vs. repeating
00:37:09 – Climbing in Yosemite
00:47:00 – How Chris developed his climbing style
00:51:28 – Fred Nichol's inspiration
01:11:25 – Putting brakes on grades
01:33:02 – What drives Chris & what progress looks like
01:40:20 – How climbing has changed with age
01:50:37 – The Big Island
01:51:56 – Pairing projects
01:55:31 – Compression climbs
01:59:16 – Elbow tendonitis
02:03:08 – What makes for a beautiful line
02:08:51 – Best V10+ compression in the Front Range
02:14:28 – Tips on wide cracks
02:18:43 – Where Chris would like to climb next