All Things Climbing

Prior to John Sherman’s arrival on the climbing scene back in the time of the Stonemasters, bouldering wasn’t really taken seriously. There was no meaningful, open-ended grading system to compare problems, and Hueco Tanks was just some place in West Texas. John changed all that, and did so before bouldering pads existed.

In the years since casting his long shadow over the sport, John has dedicated himself to wildlife photography, with a particular focus on working to protect the California Condor. He filled me in on how photography and bouldering are linked, what has been lost in climbing since his heyday, and why he thinks there are more impressive feats than Alex Honnold’s free solo of El Cap.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• “Are you chopping lines in the background?” (1:52)
• Episode Introduction (2:05)
• What will you be remembered for most as a climber? (4:40)
• What are you most afraid of being remembered for? (6:30)
• How do you sandbag masterfully? (8:20)
• Do you resent crowding at the crags you developed? (11:05)
• What’s the biggest problem in the sport today? (14:05)
• Is there anything you wish remained with the sport from your heyday? (21:24)
• Does Honnold rehearsing his free solo of The Nose change the accomplishment? (27:15)
• When did you get into photography? (34:21)
• How does wildlife photography compare to bouldering? (36:45)
• Why Condors? (40:30)
• Does your irreverent bent carry over to the photography world? (51:15)
• Is “Old Man Lightning” still going forward? (59:40)
• How can people contribute to Condor recovery? (1:03:05)
• Outro (1:03:52)

Presented by Rhino Skin Solutions

Rhino Skin Solutions makes high-end skin care products for climbers, by climbers. No matter where you climb or how hard, sandstone, granite, limestone, and plastic are all brutal on your skin, and there’s no sense missing a day on the wall because of blisters or splits. And there’s no reason to grease off your project when there are better solutions out there then chalking up every 4 moves. On top of all that, Rhino Skin Founder Justin Brown sits on the board of the Smith Rock Group, which helps plan and fundraise for various maintenance projects at Smith Rock State Park.

We’re donating all our proceeds from the show, after production costs, to the American Safe Climbing Associate and the Access Fund. Rhino Skin is fully behind this effort and has offered to knock 10% off your order and kick an additional 10% over to the Access Fund when you use the promo code “Blister” at checkout.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The American Alpine Club is one of the oldest climbing institutions in the US. Yet despite its deep past, the AAC takes a forward-looking approach to improving the climbing experience for all on issues like safety, access, and education. This makes the AAC one of the modern climber’s biggest allies.

American Alpine Club CEO, Phil Powers, has climbed for decades all over the world, and has brought the lessons from his experiences to the helm of the AAC. In our conversation, he introduces the American Alpine Club to climbers who might not know why the AAC’s mission is so important. We also talk about his vision for the AAC’s role in shaping climbing as we move forward, as well as the decision to give their prestigious Underhill award to Alex Honnold for free soloing The Freerider, even as they work to encourage safe climbing practices.

This episode is presented by Rhino Skin Solutions, makers of high end skin care products for climbers. Climbing days are the best days, make sure your skin is healthy and ready so you can take full advantage. Check out their solutions to everything from blisters to splits to greasing off holds at www.rhinoskinsolutions.com

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Episode Intro (2:23)
• Phil’s personal favorite style of climbing (4:00)
• What was it like to summit K2? (5:00)
• How do you handle risky scenarios? (6:50)
• Phil’s role at the AAC, and the mission of the AAC (7:54)
• What is the AAC? 8:30
• Will the Olympics grow the sport, or is climbing experiencing a bubble? (10:45)
• What is the role of climbing organizations in welcoming new climbers? 12:43
• How does the AAC operate in conjunction with other climbing organizations? (18:45)
• Why is it so important that the AAC is a nonprofit? (26:00)
• How does the AAC's rescue benefit work? (29:10)
• If I get injured in Clear Creek, what do I do? 32:15
• What are the AAC's publications? 35:15
• Are there trends in climbing accidents? Can they be prevented? 39:50
• Dissonance in awarding Alex Honnold the Underhill Award? (44:00)
• Outro (47:10)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Anglin and Ben Spannuth, founders of Tension Climbing, are two of climbing’s most dedicated technicians. Not only have they spent years studying the physiological components of “training,” Will and Ben have also devoted themselves to scrutinizing climbing’s more nebulous aspects: movement, personal weaknesses, and so forth. They are famous for their belief that no detail is too small to be examined closely, and their skill on the rock is testament to the value of this approach. In this episode, we talk about the culture and discipline of setting routes, what sort of fine-tooth considerations go into shaping holds out of wood, and their thoughts on which Olympic sport should be brought back from the dead.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How Will got injured making a hold (1:00)
• Is route setting an art form? (5:15)
• What makes someone a great routesetter? (8:15)
• How do you handle criticism? (11:55)
• What olympic sport would you bring back? (16:58)
• Outtake (23:48)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Anglin and Ben Spannuth have spent a lot of time thinking about how climbing works — why this foot and not that one? What precisely makes this move hard? They are extremely accomplished climbers themselves, but seem to enjoy the tinkering with and dissecting of climbing’s finer points as much as they enjoy actually climbing. Tension Climbing, where Will and Ben design, shape, and manufacture wooden holds and training tools, is their effort to bring what they’ve learned to the rest of us. Recently they gave me and Luke a tour of their shop, then sat down with us to talk about some of the things they’ve learned about climbing mastery through years of training, coaching, and setting routes. Will and Ben had a lot of insightful stuff to say, so this episode is part 1 of 2.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• What is your production process? (2:03)
• Why do you use so many different types of wood? (3:59)
• How did you meet and decide to start Tension? (5:00)
• What is the Tension Board all about? (7:10)
• Why is wood better than plastic? (13:25)
• What Will and Ben learned from CATS gym in Boulder (18:30)
• What do you learn from route setting? (22:30)
• What is the most common mistake you see climbers making? (28:45)
• What would you be doing if you hadn’t found climbing? (34:00)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Photographer Jim Herrington's new photo book "The Climbers" is an undeniably compelling portrait collection of many of the most influential climbers of the 20th century, including Fred Beckey, Yvon Chouinard, John Gill, Cesare Maestri, John Long, Jeff Lowe, and many more. Grand Prize Winner at the Banff Book Awards, "The Climbers" serves as an important tribute to those who paved the way for the sport as we know it today. Dave and Luke take a close look at the pictures and review clips from Luke’s interview with Jim.

TheClimbersBook.com

JimHerrington.com

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Dave and Luke discussing the style in the photographs (1:20)
• Luke's interviewing incompetence (3:51)
• The origin of "The Climbers" (4:50)
• The Fred Beckey portrait (7:05)
• Are these photos about decay? (9:30)
• Jim's response to theme of morbidity (10:00)
• Dave's response to theme of morbidity (12:15)
• Luke's response to theme of morbidity (14:50)
• The role of the book in the climbing community (17:05)
• Outro (19:00)
• Outtake (19:36)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve climbed in the mountains of North America, there’s a good chance you’ve climbed one of Fred Beckey’s routes. Beckey, known for his tremendous number of classic first ascents and his eccentric personality, continued climbing well into his nineties before passing away late last year. DIRTBAG: THE LEGEND OF FRED BECKEY is Dave O'Leske's documentary of one of the most influential climbers of all time. O'Leske followed Fred for a decade toward the end of Fred's life, and that story — combined with volumes of archival materials — makes for a universally compelling film. O'Leske shares with us what it was like to tell the story of such a complex and controversial figure, as well as some of the material that was ultimately left out of the film. DIRTBAG is still on tour — check out the dates at dirtbagmovie.com/tour.html.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How did the project start? (3:20)
• How Fred reacted to the idea of a having a documentary made about him. (6:60)
• Fred's extensive personal archives. (7:30)
• How Fred, despite being famously untidy, was actually sharply organized. (9:30)
• What motivated Fred? (15:50)
• Fred's struggle to find climbing partners later in life. (19:40)
• Making a 'climbing' documentary that appeals to a general audience (26:00)
• Dave O'Leske's favorite scenes that were cut from the final film. (28:00)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How safe are the bolts we encounter in the wild? Can we really trust them? Who maintains them? And what makes a bolt fail, anyway? Greg Barnes, the Director of the American Safe Climbing Association, answers all our questions about bolts and more. The ASCA is a small non-profit with a not-so-small mission: to replace old and dangerous bolts across the country. Greg has personally installed and replaced thousands of bolts, and now spearheads the effort to get new hardware into the hands of local climbing coalitions so we can all stay safe. We talked about how exactly the ASCA (with its limited resources) decides what hardware needs to be replaced; how bolts fail and what the warning signs might be; and what climbers should know before the leave the safety of the gym.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How do outdoor bolts get damaged? (1:00)
• How did Greg start rebolting? (5:50)
• Tour of the "warehouse." (6:35)
• What's the difference between mechanical and adhesive bolts? (7:50)
• ...and drilled angles? (14:40)
• How did Greg become the director of the ASCA? (16:55)
• Who is doing the actual rebolting? And how do we know they're qualified? (18:45)
• Which crags are in the greatest need of replacement hardware? (19:15)
• Is there any oversight to ensure bolts are installed correctly? (21:25)
• Are lower-off anchors coddling climbers? (26:15)
• When should climbers repel instead of lower-off? (28:05)
• Greg's vision for the ASCA (30:15)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re picking up where we left off with Jonathan Siegrist, who’s been at the top of American rock climbing for over a decade. Over that time, he has watched the sport change and grow dramatically, and he’s spent a lot of time reflecting on those changes and his own relationship with the sport. In this episode, we get a little deeper into his thoughts on the up-and-coming generation; his time on the Dawn Wall with Tommy Caldwell; what role “adventure” plays in climbing; and how we can shape the future of the sport in a positive way.

Topics:

• Changes in the new generation of climbers (1:00)
• Climbing and adventurism (6:00)
• Why Jonathan is primarily known as a sport climber (10:40)
• Jonathan’s time with Tommy Caldwell on the Dawn Wall (13:00)
• Adam Ondra’s fast repeat of the Dawn Wall (16:20)
• What separates Adam from other climbers (21:00)
• How the climbing community can improve (25:30)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first half of our conversation with professional rock climber Jonathan Siegrist. Jonathan is one of America's most psyched climbers. After years spent climbing full time, he has an impressive resume of hard ticks, both on bolts and gear. He also has a deep enthusiasm for the sport, its history, and his fellow climbers. We covered a lot of ground, so we broke the conversation into two parts.

Topics:

• Jonathan's entrance into the climbing (6:45)
• Origin of his nickname JSTAR (8:50)
• Life in Vegas (12:50)
• Red Rocks, Smith Rock, The Gunks and other crags (25:10)
• How Jonathan’s goals have changed over time (29:50)
• Why Jonathan was obsessed with climbing “old” routes (32:05)
• Impact of gyms and technology on climbing (39:50)
• Differences in the new generation of hard climbers (45:07)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave and Luke Alie headed to Outdoor Retailer's first trade show in Denver to get the details on the biggest news in and updates to rock shoes for 2018. We talk to Black Diamond product designer, Kasey Jarvis, about all the decisions and details that went into their brand new line of climbing shoes. Then we have an in-depth discussion about shoe technology and how it’s being put to use in SCARPA’s newest shoes with Mark Busby, the climbing manager for SCARPA North America.

Topics and Times:

Black Diamond

• Why get into the climbing shoe game? (1:25)
• What was the internal conversation like at BD about a guiding philosophy for the shoe line? (4:50)
• What are each of these shoes about and what sort of design elements have they incorporated? (7:25)

SCARPA

• What does SCARPA have coming out in the second half of 2018? (10:45)
• Shaping and tensioning that distinguishes different families of shoes (15:12)
• How should we choose between SCARPA's most aggressive shoes? (17:05)
• What's the deal with the new Instinct VSR? Some notes on sticky rubber (20:44)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.