Episodes Feed
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.
EP 43: Emily Harrington
Emily Harrington is a professional climber whose accomplishments span the climbing spectrum. From winning National Championships, to summiting Mt. Everest, to free climbing El Capitan, Emily has done it all. We talked about projecting ‘Golden Gate’ in a day, partnering with Alex Honnold, embracing fear, eating to fuel your body, and cupcake batter ice cream.
EP 42: Hailey Franklin Fultz
Hailey Franklin Fultz is a former competitive dancer, and a nutrition coach. For the past five years, she has used nutrition to help Matt Fultz (her husband) become one of the top boulderers in the world. We geeked out about all things nutrition: meal timing, protein synthesis, the role of carbs, supplements for climbers, strategies for fat loss, foods to avoid, navigating holidays, and Hailey’s favorite “healthified” treats.
EP 41: Tonde Katiyo (Part 2)
This is part 2 of my conversation with Tonde Katiyo. We talked about RIC (Risk, Intensity, Complexity) as a tool for communicating about difficulty, about the appropriate responses to different types of bouldering challenges, about the value and importance of route setting in a growing industry, about The Lab, and keeping training in perspective.
EP 40: Tonde Katiyo (Part 1)
Tonde Katiyo is a professional route setter, a passionate climber, a father, and a coach. His mother is French and his father is Zimbabwean. We talked about the connection between route setting and coaching, about coaching Nathan Hadley, Sean Bailey, and Margo Hayes, about his discrimination and privilege resumés, about exposing his kids to risk, and about making better climbing to make a better world.
EP 39: Matt Fultz
Matt Fultz is a professional climber who is at the top of the bouldering game right now. We talked about sending ‘Hypnotized Minds’ V16, a typical day of projecting, deadlifting for finger strength, prioritizing strength before weight, practicing like you play, Mad Rock shoes, using your build as a gift, and starting OTG Strength with his wife Hailey.
EP 38: Solomon Barth
Solomon Barth is a Stanford University graduate and software engineer. We talked about Solomon’s impressive two-week trip to Smith Rock, working with Alex Bridgewater to improve his footwork and bulletproof his fingers, training endurance using up-down-ups, veganism, working in tech, his desire to help make positive change in the world, and gunning for 5.15.
EP 37: Simon Carter
Simon Carter is an Australian photographer, and has been described by the editor of Rock and Ice Magazine as “arguably the greatest climbing photographer of all time”. We talked about building his first darkroom at age 15, pursuing full-time climbing in the early ’90s, action vs. landscape, camera equipment, the Taipan/Grampian closure, and Simon’s top 10 climbing photography tips.
BONUS: Charlie Manganiello
Charlie Manganiello has been coaching with Climb Strong for seven years and now heads the Elemental Strength program in Lander, WY. We talked about focusing all of your energy on one thing, misconceptions about deadlifting, maintenance strength training, Charlie’s go-to hangboard protocol, why climbing is important, and keeping things in perspective.
BONUS: Alex Bridgewater
Alex Bridgewater is a high-level rock climber who moved to Lander, WY in 2016, to train at Elemental as part of the Climb Strong Program. Alex now works for Climb Strong as a coach. We talked about his transition into coaching, managing a chronic back injury, favorite barbell and bodyweight exercises, speed walking, and the importance of self-belief.
EP 36: Climb Strong Team
This is a mashup episode from the 2020 Climb Strong Training Camp. We talked about hangboard training, strength as a skill, climbing performance, takeaways from the training camp, and lessons learned from coaching athletes. Featuring: Chrissy Vadovszki, Jonathan Siegrist, Ken Klein, Carly Cain, Alex Bridgewater, Kathryn Perkinson, Charlie Manganiello, and Amanda Sempert.
EP 35: Steve Bechtel
Steve Bechtel is a strength coach and the founder of Climb Strong. We talked about the gift of changing your mind, lessons from studying sprinting and how to apply them to climbing, developing aerobic capacity, why Jonathan Siegrist and BJ Tilden are such successful climbers, the “real secret” to success, creating better habits, and Logical Progression 2.
EP 34: Roger Volkmann
Roger Volkmann is a retired Orthopedic Surgeon and a lifelong climber. Roger suffered a severe stroke in 2010 at age 55 and was not expected to walk again. Through sheer grit and determination, he managed not only to walk again but to climb. We talked about his stroke, his five principles of life, climbing in the Midwest as a kid, and his three attempts to summit Devils Tower after the stroke.