Competitors

Seneida Biendarra is the 2023 US National Champion in the women’s B2 (severely blind) category. We talked about losing her vision as a teenager, her current visual experience, creating mental maps of the world, finding freedom in risk, designing outdoor gear, the world of paraclimbing and the adaptive community, sight guiding, the empathy gun, embracing chapters in life, and much more.

Justin Salas is a legally blind climber who is a 6x National Champion and the 2018 World Champion. He’s also climbed up to V11 outside. We talked about what his visual experience is like, the psychology of an invisible disability, assistive technology, how he climbs, sight guides, projecting tactics, building out a van, the Olympics and paraclimbing competitions, visualization, being a changemaker, and much more.

Allison Vest joins me to talk about the Paris Olympics! We talked about our biggest surprises from the men’s and women’s combined semifinals, our thoughts on the route setting, what defines an “electric” boulder, why speed was so great to watch, heartbreaking results, men’s and women’s combined finals, who we are most excited to see bring their Olympic fitness to the rocks, and much more!

Natalia Grossman is a World Champion and 3x overall World Cup winner and will compete for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. We talked about spending time in Mexico as a kid, her breakout year in 2021, dealing with public criticism, working on her mindset, how to win without being the strongest person competing, hard outdoor sends and goals, her happiest moments, her top training advice, and much more.

Colin Duffy is a 2x Olympian, 3x World Cup winner, and V16 boulderer from Colorado. We talked about puzzles, studying applied math, early competitions, joining Team ABC, getting 70th in his first open event, learning how to lose gracefully, qualifying and competing in Tokyo, how the Olympic scoring has changed, his strategy for Paris, future outdoor rock climbing goals, and much more.

Emma Hunt is the US speed climbing record holder and will compete in the Paris Olympics. We talked about her intro to speed climbing, how strong you have to be for speed climbing, speed training, how speed shoes compare to other climbing shoes, her mental game and strategy in comps, prejudice against speed in the climbing world, whether the speed route will ever change, why speed is cool, and much more!

Shauna Coxsey is the most successful competition climber in the UK and the first British woman to climb V12, V13, and V14. We talked about becoming a mom, sitting in and sharing our emotions, human nature and the joy of climbing, inspiration vs. aspiration, motivation vs. commitment, competing in Tokyo, retiring from comps, sending Hazel Grace V14 in terrible conditions, pushing for her V15 goal as a mom, and much more!

Alannah Yip is a professional climber from Canada who competed at the Tokyo Olympics. We talked about getting diagnosed with alopecia and the emotional journey of losing her hair, taking back her power, preparing for the Olympic Qualifying Series, lessons from Tokyo, mantras for slab boulders, her involvement with IFSC policies to prevent eating disorders and RED-S, her eating disorder as a teenager, why she plans to retire from comps, rock climbing goals, and much more!

Stefano Ghisolfi is an Italian professional climber and one of the most accomplished sport climbers in the world. We talked about racing bikes growing up, discovering climbing, using humor in his YouTube videos, how having fun helps him send, why he loves projecting limit routes, chasing the impossible, trying ‘Silence’ 9c, sending ‘Excalibur’ 9b+, two drills for legendary endurance, supporting his girlfriend Sara through hard times with her health, and much more!

Jesse Grupper is a 27-year-old American who will be competing at the 2024 Olympics. We talked about his nomad lifestyle, the idea of “training trips”, climbing as an art form, the concept of optimistic training, thinking of ourselves as bodies of water, how he turned around his bouldering after placing last in his first World Cup, balancing Olympic prep with his job, soft robotics, and more!

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!

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!

Melina Costanza swept the US National Championships in October, making one hell of a comeback after her competition break. She returns to the podcast to talk about why Nationals was the hardest competition she has ever done, how to use nerves to focus and thrive, training for Nationals, praising effort, her fueling strategy, gaining weight to be more powerful, Alex Johnson’s hype shirt, balancing training with fueling and mental health, choosing good over perfect, upcoming goals, and much more!

Melina Costanza is a competition powerhouse and the 2021 US Boulder National Champion. She opened up recently about her struggles with an eating disorder and decided to step away from competitions. We talked about her foot injury and surgery, why patent law is similar to climbing, how sports glamorize suffering, getting stronger during recovery, how gratitude can impact your training, and fun facts about Melina from ketchup to baby teeth necklaces.

Lea Volpe is a paraclimber for Great Britain and a 2x medalist at the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships. Lea holds down a 9-5 job working in health policy, coaches junior athletes, and is essentially a professional climber on the side. We talked about paraclimbing competitions, being diagnosed with Ataxia, how we perceive wheelchairs, empathy in coaching, and much more.

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.

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.

Allison Vest is a 3x Canadian National Champion in bouldering. We talked about her mindset after a recent competition, moving to SLC and training with her roommate Kyra Condie, goals and confidence, the downward spiral of failure, her training schedule, the secrets to one-arm hangs and campusing, having fun, Instagram challenges, and learning how to topout boulders.

Megan Mascarenas is a multiple-time World Cup gold medalist and the 2016 Open National Champion in bouldering. She is currently 23 years old. We talked about her fascination with puzzles, why she retired from competing in 2017, discovering a new self-identity outside of climbing, pole dancing, getting back to climbing, her goal to climb V14, and current training.

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.

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.

Maya Madere is a 21-year-old comp kid from Austin, TX. We talked about attending school at Stanford and studying computer science, the endurance training program that helped her transition from bouldering to sport climbing, gunning for the 2024 Olympics, competition strategies, outdoor goals, intuitive training and eating, power screams, and windsurfing.