Lady Crushers

Caroline Ciavaldini is a French professional climber specializing in sport, trad, and multi-pitch climbing. We talked about growing up in La Réunion, early climbing, her mother’s suicide, the magic and selfishness of competitions, eating disorders, becoming adventurous, trips with Yuji Hirayama, meeting her husband James Pearson, discussing hard things with your kids, the color yellow, naming emotions, gentle feminism, and much more.

April Davidson (yeahapril) is a rock climber and content creator. We talked about what it is like living with her blind fiance Justin Salas, growing up and moving to LA, losing her mom, opiate addiction, finding climbing, her Instagram career, health issues and adrenal fatigue, her experiment with the carnivore diet, responsible meat eating, chocolate cake, and much more.

Beth Rodden is one of the best female rock climbers of all time. We talked about her kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, facing backlash after her divorce, reflections on her climbing career, her history with Magic Line, disconnecting self-worth from achievement, the unwinnable game of climbing, personal evolution, why she loves human stories, and much more. Her new book, A Light Through the Cracks: A Climber’s Story is available now.

Girls Gone Hueco is an all-female bouldering film now available on Vimeo. In this episode, I sit down with V11 climber Midori Buechli and filmmaker Long Truong to discuss the making of the film, the power of climbing with a girl gang, hidden costs of making a film, trash can showers, pad-less sends, imposter syndrome, advice for aspiring filmmakers, and 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.

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!

Jana Švecová is a professional rock climber from the Czech Republic who has emerged as one of the top female boulderers in the world. We talked about her upbringing and her early success in competitions, her pivot to outdoor bouldering, her inspiration for choosing ‘Terranova’ 8C+/V16 as a project, making the first ascent of ‘Nova’ 8C/V15, using her finger injury as an opportunity, current training, 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!

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!

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!

Lily Kral is the owner of Boardworks in Bend, Oregon. We talked about her childhood and her mother’s struggle with addiction, being hospitalized for an eating disorder, exotic dancing her way through college, finding an identity as a strong climber, why she decided to build a board climbing gym, biggest challenges, burning the candle at both ends, being a work in progress, training for 5.14 at Smith Rock, and much more!

Stefanie Myr is the head route setter, manager, and team coach at Climb Tacoma in WA. We met up in Leavenworth and talked about our similar upbringings in Christianity, why we both moved away from religion, finding “church” in the climbing community, confidence and self-belief, unique challenges as a short climber, being less certain and more curious, Stef’s polyamorous relationship with her husband and partner, compersion, honest communication, doing what you can to make the world a little better, and much more!

Jenn DeBellis is an elite-level boulderer and software engineer. We sat down in Rocklands and talked about her biggest lessons from childhood gymnastics and collegiate athletics, trying V13s in Magic Wood and Rocklands, getting comfortable with failure, learning to embrace her style, her elaborate warmup routine, how she plans her 6-week training cycles, her role with KAYA, tips for sustaining a full-time job on the road, and much more!

Tiba Vroom is a Dutch professional climber and cofounder of Wildflower Climbing Gym. We talked about the pressure that comes with early success, her first trip to Magic Wood and sending Riverbed 8B, confronting fear of failure, separating self-worth from performance, being the 8, starting a non-profit gym in the Netherlands, taking responsibility for your life, dream climbs in Fontainebleau, and more!

Ady Wright is a climbing instructor and routesetter based in New York. We met up in Red Rock and recorded a nice long chat in the van, covering her introduction to climbing and routesetting, why she pivoted from veterinary science, being raised by a cautious father, analyzing risk, the benefits of meal prepping, losing her grandmother to cancer, the pressure that comes with opportunity, the rebellious act of existing, 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.

Jeannie Wall (aka “The Energizer Bunny”) is a world-class skier, life-long mountain athlete, and obsessed climber. She cofounded Broad Beta to cultivate a community for women and genderqueer folks to share their stories of outdoor adventures in the mountains. We talked about lessons from her upbringing, the importance of partnerships and mentorship in climbing, slowing down to go fast, engaging with the edge of our comfort zone, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and much more!

Anna Hazelnutt is a professional climber who specializes in difficult single-pitch trad and slab climbing. But don’t let her specialization fool you—she’s an all-around badass! We talked about two of her biggest climbing achievements to date, leaning into her superpowers, top training exercises for slabs, dealing with negative comments online, embracing empathy, comedy as a mechanism for change, and much more!

Katie Lamb is one of the top female boulderers in the world. We talked about her early climbing and falling in love with bouldering, climbing her first V14 and what led to her breakthrough in the last two years, projecting tips, superpowers, lifting weights, balancing training with outdoor climbing, what it will take for her to reach the next level, and working in climate data science.

Lynn Hill is a living legend. She is best known for being the first person to free El Capitan via The Nose in 1993. We talked about what it is like to be Lynn Hill in the modern climbing world, her upbringing, what sets her apart, the story of freeing The Nose, tips for shorter climbers, her mindset and affirmations, self-belief, how she makes a living these days, upcoming video projects, and much more.

Alice Hafer is a climber, writer, and coach who specializes in mind power training. We talked about climbing her first 5.14s, her experiences with depression and anxiety and how she changed her own mind through mental training, finding an identity outside of climbing, tips for staying motivated, focusing on effort over outcomes, and using box jumps to train for climbing power.

Karly Rager is a structural engineer turned climbing coach, and the founder of Project Direct Coaching. We talked about Karly’s background and what led her to start her own coaching business, being a female in two male-dominated industries, mental strategies for developing focus and overcoming fear, transitioning between climbing disciplines, using injuries as opportunities, cultivating longevity in our climbing, valuing coaches more highly, and much more.

Carol Simpson is a 77-year-old rock climber and yoga instructor from Lone Pine, CA. We talked about growing up in the South in the 1950s, identifying as a “tomboy”, feeling pressure to be feminine as a teenager, embracing athletics in her 30s, discovering climbing at age 42, sending her first 5.12a at age 53, yoga as the fountain of youth, and ageism in climbing.

*I loved this conversation. If you enjoy exploring different perspectives from your own, and hearing about others’ lived experiences, don’t skip this episode.

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.

Dr. Carrie Cooper is a former professional climber and a doctor of physical therapy. We talked about her background in gymnastics and dance, bouldering in the early 2000s, her path to physical therapy, referencing research in climbing, why climbers should think of themselves as athletes, and the most important things we are missing in our physical training.

Dr. Favia Dubyk is a pathologist, cancer survivor, Ninja Warrior, cat lover, and badass boulderer. We talked about the connective tissue disorder that led her to specialize in lowball roof climbing, what it was like to go through cancer and chemotherapy, how she became one of the strongest people in the world at pull-ups, learning how to dyno, and her current V13 lowball roof project.

Amity Warme is one of the most badass trad climbers you’ve never heard of. She also has a master’s in nutrition. We talked about her incredible season in Yosemite including ground-up free ascents of ‘Freerider’ and ‘Golden Gate’, the importance of logistics in big wall free climbing, what she learned growing up in gymnastics, training plans, and eating more to do more.

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.