Episodes Feed
EP 204: Anak Verhoeven
Anak Verhoeven is a professional climber from Belgium and one of the most accomplished female sport climbers ever. We talked about growing up with her mom as coach and dad as trainer, why she quit competitions, dealing with a strange injury that plagued her for 3+ years, winning her first World Cup, building 9a+ endurance with mediocre training facilities, making up rules in the gym, her onsighting strategy, being public about her faith, and much more!
EP 170: Karly Rager & Casey Elliott
Karly Rager is back on the podcast and is joined by Casey Elliott to talk about the factors that affect climbing performance. We’ve got three engineers in one podcast, and we geek out on the data! Do things like weight, height, and ape index affect how hard you can climb? Is max finger strength more important than days spent climbing outside? Listen to find out!
EP 156: Fundamentals Part 3
Fundamentals (Part 3 of 6) — In part 3 of this series, Jesse and I discuss tips and pitfalls for going on a sport climbing trip. Whether you are a weekend warrior, planning your first-ever sport climbing trip, or a seasoned veteran, we hope this episode will help you send your dream routes and enjoy your climbing along the way.
EP 146: Todd Perkins
Todd Perkins is one of those local legends who you’ve probably never heard of. That is unless you’ve climbed on some of his routes around St George, Utah. We talked about growing up in the Mormon church, the mind-opening effects of cannabis, climbing his first 5.14 in the 90s and maintaining that level for 25 years, near-death experiences, the intelligence of the cosmos, aliens, and much more.
EP 140: Tommy Caldwell
Tommy Caldwell is the most accomplished big wall free climber alive. He is best known for having free climbed The Dawn Wall, the most difficult big wall free route in the world. We talked about his achilles injury, doing the FA of Flex Luthor, training for V12 boulder problems on The Dawn Wall, undone lines on El Cap, exploring the limits of human endurance, being vulnerable through writing a book, parenting, and much more.
EP 137: Drew Ruana & Cameron Hörst
Drew Ruana is back on the podcast and is joined by his friend Cameron Hörst, who is one of the best young sport climbers in the country. We talked about lessons they’ve each learned from recent sends, what it was like growing up as kid crushers, training for bouldering vs. sport climbing, how to stay strong while projecting, Drew’s thoughts on climbing V18, and Cam’s thoughts on climbing 5.15c.
EP 103: Mina Leslie-Wujastyk
Mina Leslie-Wujastyk is a professional climber from the UK. She is also a writer, speaker, and co-host of the Curious Climber Podcast along with Hazel Findlay. We talked about her early life, impermanence, flow state, learning to try really hard, how she made the switch from hard boulders to hard sport routes, what sets high-level climbers apart, and the decision to become a mom.
EP 102: Matty Hong
Matty Hong is a professional rock climber, photographer, and filmmaker. We talked about what it was like to grow up in a climbing family, about making the first repeat of ‘Flex Luthor’ 5.15b as well as a history of the route and his thoughts on the grade, training for sport climbing projects on his home wall, climbing waterfalls in Japan, and balancing photography and filmmaking with climbing.
EP 100: Ben Moon
Ben Moon is a famous rock climber from the UK. He was the first person to climb 5.14c (8c+) with his route ‘Hubble’. He is also the inventor of the MoonBoard. We talked about his early climbing experiences as a kid, his first road trip to Buoux in France in 1984, how training and sport climbing have changed, how Ben uses the MoonBoard, and much more.
EP 98: Kyra Condie
Kyra Condie is a 25-year-old professional climber based out of Salt Lake City, UT, and was one of four climbers to represent the US at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. We talked about whistling, dream broadway roles, training with a fused spine, pursuing the Olympic dream, separating self-worth from results, new tattoos, her cats, cleaning quirks, and thriving in organized chaos.
EP 94: Nathaniel Coleman
Nathaniel Coleman is the men’s silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympics. We talked about his preparation for the games, training in a climbing sauna, the Olympic experience and winning silver, favorite root beer, Kendama as focus training, chess, why Nathaniel still practices the basics of climbing, doing the FA of ‘The Grand Illusion’ V16, and sport climbing plans.
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 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 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.