Episodes
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Armando Menocal was a civil rights lawyer and climber who helped found the Access Fund. It’s safe to say that without Armando’s silent but hugely significant contributions, climbing would look very different today. Sadly, Armando recently died at the age of 83 from cancer. Here today to help memorialize Armando is Armando’s friend and colleague Brady Robinson. Brady is the former Executive Director of the Access Fund. He is a veteran of numerous expeditions, with first ascents in Pakistan, Patagonia, and Peru. Today he works as the director of philanthropy at the Freja Foundation and is working on conservation projects in South America.
But first, your hosts listen to another climbing podcast, get redpilled, freak out, and launch into a conspiracy of our own about Jimmy Chin and Sandy Irvine. Something’s afoot on Everest …
For today’s final bit, climber / musician Jessica Roki Kilroy is back with Right Here Remix. Roki is a climber and musician from Montana, whose experimental, brooding, emotional folk music incorporates the sounds of the natural world, including those that she captured while on El Cap.
Show Notes
“Remembering Armando Menocal” on Climbing
Cuba Climbing
Armando Fund on Access Fund
Freyja Foundation
The Nugget’s Instagram
Remains of Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine believed to have been found on Everest
Rokifolk.com
Follow Jessica Roki Kilroy on Instagram
Jessica Roki Kilroy Bandcamp
Jessica Roki Kilroy on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Last year, Becca Steinbrecher broke a foothold while climbing in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and took a 30-foot fall onto a ledge. It was only a couple of months later that Becca woke up and learned what had happened to her that day, including the heroic and miraculous search and rescue operation that navigated a thorny web of very tough decisions in order to get her out of the Black Canyon and to a hospital. Becca recounts the events of that fateful as they were told to her, and shares what her experience has been like living with a traumatic brain injury, and ultimately returning back to the sport she loves.
But first, some lighter fare as your curmudgeonly podcast hosts go back for round two of ‘Mudgeon Mania. We roll up our sociologist sleeves and build a taxonomy of different curmudgeons in the climbing world, including: the Hermudgeon, the Newmudgeon, and the Sportmudgeon (all now TM properties of The RunOut podcast but available for a Creative Commons license as long as you support our podcast on Patreon.)
Today’s final bit is from Moab-based rock climber Sam Newman, who created spooky, silly climbing-themed spoof of Edgar Allen Poe’s seminal poem, The Raven.
Show Notes
Climbing.com: Major Accident and Dramatic Rescue in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
YouTube: The Great White Wall: Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Friends of the Black Canyon Search and Rescue Team
Love Your Brain
SOAR
Adaptive Adventures
High Fives Foundation
Craig Hospital
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
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Fitz Cahall is the founder of the Dirtbag Diaries, a podcast that’s been downloaded over 18 million times. His new book is “States of Adventure: 30 outdoor adventure stories about finding yourself by getting lost.”
But first, childless cat ladies may be a topic for some politicians, but we look at the childless climbers bringing their cats to the crags. Suffice to say, crag dogs are not happy, but at least we have figured out what animal is the best crag companion of all.
Today’s final bit comes from Dan Cauthorn’s Seattle-based band Dragontail Peak. Dan climbed Cerro Torre in 1992, which was a major influence on his life, including the inspiration for this song, also called Cerro Torre. Check out Dragontail Peak — links are in Show Notes.
Show Notes
“States of Adventure: 30 outdoor adventure stories about finding yourself by getting lost”
Follow Fitz Cahall on social media
Listen to The Dirtbag Diaries
Dragontail Peak: Bandcamp // Facebook
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Hobbs Kessler is a 21-year-old professional runner who ran a 3:34 in the 1500m in his senior year of high school. He has also climbed as hard as 5.14c with an ascent of Southern Smoke in the Red River Gorge. Hobbs just returned from the Paris Olympics, where he competed in both the 800 and 1500m races.
But first, your curmudgeonly hosts roll their eyes at one of climbing’s most bitter personas: the climbing curmudgeon. It’s like we’re looking in the mirror!
Today’s final bit is a mother-daughter violin performance of the Appalachian Waltz. The musicians behind this composition are my good friend Kate McGinnis, a nurse from Atlanta who is one of the most talented and strong climbers I’ve ever met, and her 13 year old daughter Annie, who is crushing rock climbs just like her mom.
Show Notes
Follow Hobbs on Instagram
“Hobbs Kessler Climbs 5.14+ and Runs a Sub 4-Minute Mile. And He's Just 17.”
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Amity Warme is a professional rock climber and dietician, who has not only free climbed El Capitan five times, but has done so each time in true ground-up style. This ground-up style is captured in an awesome new film that tells the story Amity and Brent Barghahn’s ground-up free ascent of El Niño via the Pineapple Express Variation on El Capitan. Our conversation ranges from big-wall style and ethics, to her philosophy and approach to nutrition.
But first we dive into what the American Alpine Club is calling the greatest access issue in climbing: expensive day passes to climbing gyms.
Last, Gunky and Professor Wayne Burleson brings us his livingroom version of the Dead's Franklin's Tower.
Show Notes
Amity Warme on Instagram
Amity Warme website
Amity Warme and Brent Barghahn free climb El Niño.
Watch Amity climb Book of Hate
“Can Climbing Outrun Its Own Elitism With Inclusive Gym Pricing?” on Climbing.com
Pay What You Can Toolkit on the AAC -
Out #131: Drew Ruana Climbs Hard and Thinks Ahead
Drew Ruana started climbing on the slabs of Smith Rock, and has since become one of America’s most prolific boulderers, with over 100 V14 and harder problems ticked. He’s currently a student at the Colorado School of Mines, and thinking ahead of what kind of career he wants in life, and how climbing fits into it all.
But first, yr friendly podcast hosts debrief on their Olympic fever, and talk about where Paris soared, and where it fell short.
Today’s final bit is from the all-girl punk band Fire Party, who was part of the DC punk scene in the late 1980s. In true punk fashion, the members of Fire Party — including the lead singer, badass climber and friend of the pod Amy Pickering — rejected the label of being an all-girl band.
Show Notes
Watch Drew Ruana climb the Ice Knife
Follow Drew on Instagram
Follow Amy Pickering on Instagram -
Thomas Huber is our favorite Huber brother—no offense to Alex. He needs little introduction, and is one of the most prolific climbers of the last 30 years thanks to a resume that includes establishing some of the best free climbs on El Capitan and across Europe, to winning the Piolet d’Or for his bold alpine ascents, to being a member of the beloved Stone Monkeys. His new book Freiheit, In the Mountains There is Freedom, is now available in English from DiAngelo.
But first, yer hosts consider the question of giving and receiving encouragement while climbing. Why do we feel the need to yell, “You got it!” at people who clearly Do. Not. Have. It.? And is a little peace and silence too much to ask around here?
Last but never least, our final bit is another awkward collision between climbing and mainstream media, as the news tries to capture the heroism of a dramatic, life-saving rescue.
Show Notes
Buy Thomas Huber’s book
Follow Thomas Huber on Instagram
Read an excerpt from Huber’s book on Evening Sends
Follow Jordan Cannon
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Allyson Gunsallus is a climber and lawyer who serves on the board of the American Alpine Club. She is also the producer and director of Hand Holds, a new film interview series providing resources for climbing parents. Our conversation explores how climbing parents navigate the risks inherent to our sport with the demands of their new identity, not to mention the little person in their lives.
But first, we’ve got a tepid Olympic fever and the only cure is more speed climbing. We give the run-down on who to look for in the Olympics, and why it’s only Sam Watson.
Last but never least, the great Steph Davis onsights an off-the-couch piano performance of the soundtrack of Interstellar.
Show Notes
Hand Holds is six free-to-watch episodes featuring interviews with well-known climbers, including Beth Rodden, Majka Burhardt, Eddie and Anna Taylor, Jon and Jess Glassberg, Kris Hampton, and Chris Kalous. Visit handholdsfilm.com for more information.
Follow Allyson Gunsallus / Hand Holds on Instagram
Follow Steph Davis on Instagram
Who is in the Olympics?
Watch Sam Watson set the world record
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Miranda Oakley is an AMGA certified rock climbing guide, who set the record for being the first woman to rope solo the Nose in a day. As a Palestinian-American, she recently made headlines by hanging a political banner on the side of El Cap. We discuss this unlikely nexus between climbing and activism, and imagine how it can go right or wrong.
But first, fresh off a week of climbing in America’s new favorite sport crag, Kalous has some observations he wants to share.
For our final bit, we’re stoked to share the Salt Lake City progressive rock climber band Better in Color with their track “The Imprisoned One.”
Show Notes
Follow Miranda Oakley on Instagram
Climbers Hang “Stop the Genocide” Banner from El Capitan
Movement Lessons from Climbers With Palestine’s Yosemite Banner Hang
Better in Color
Follow Better in Color on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Today’s guest is climbing coach Justen Sjong. Justen is known for his first free ascents of Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a) and The PreMuir (VI 5.13c/d) on El Capitan, and redpoints of 5.14 sport climbs. His approach to improvement in climbing is far more cerebral than most standard training fare, and his intuitions and sensibilities as a coach have helped numerous climbers mine their untapped potential by clearly mental barriers and finding the present.
But first, your egotistical hosts talk about the infamous climbing ego: the ways it can hold us back, and how it might be embraced so as to fully excel.
Our final bit comes from a late evening in a dusty desert hill, as the campfire embers cooled and all the little boys and girls had already turned in to their sleeping bags. One of our favorite climbers and musicians, Lisa Hathaway, plays us a tune with Chris Kalous on the ukulele.
Show Notes
Climbing Sensei — Book a coaching session with Justen
Follow Justen Sjong on Instagram
Training with Justen, Part 2 — Evening Sends
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Today we have a double-header. Two guests, same great show.
First up is Rajiv Ayyangar—an entrepreneur, CEO, and host of The China Beach podcast, a show about his obsession with arguably the best sport climb on earth (at least according to him!). Rajiv might have the most niche podcast on earth, and we dive into where his obsession with this one route comes from.
Next is OG Stonemaster Rick Accomazzo, who has just completed a new book on Tobin Sorenson. In the 1970s, Tobin completed some of the most audacious climbs, bringing a a kind of fearless courage that both left his partners in awe and shaking with fear. His 1977 season in Chamonix might just be one of the best seasons any climber has had in that range, ever. Tobin perished in the mountains at the young age of 25, but his legacy is now being told for the first time in a way that lives up to his achievements, skill, and vision.
Our final bit is a poignant recording from our archive with the late, great Paul Nelson.
Show Notes
Follow Rajiv Ayyangar and the China Beach Podcast
China Beach Podcast
Watch Nina Williams climb China Beach
Stonemaster Books
Pre-order Tobin, The Stonemasters, and Me 1970-1980 by Rick Accomazzo
Read “The Day I Sent Colorblind” by Paul Nelson
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
After Rock and Ice and Climbing magazines stopped printing issues, a hole was left in the climbing media landscape. Enter Michael Levy, a writer based in New York City and a former editor at Rock and Ice. He has recently revived Summit Journal, and reimagined it as a heavy stock climbing magazine for climbers today. We talk about climbing media and the viability of print, and what it takes to make it in today’s digital world.
But first, yr crooked-helmet wearing hosts talk about Gumbies. What are they? Who are they? Why are they? And why does Alex Honnold think Gumby is such a joyous term. Strap in for the definitive lesson in how to not be such a Gumby—even though you’ll never not be one.
Last, we’re psyched to share the music of climber / producer Smith Curry, a session player and producer for Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift, Maren Morris, Dolly Parton, Pharrell Williams, Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and 200+ more.
Show Notes
Summit Journal
Follow Summit Journal on Instagram
Follow Michael Levy on Instagram
Follow Smith Curry on Instagram
Smith Curry
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Last fall, Jesse Grupper took home the gold medal at the Pan Am games, securing his spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Now just a few months out from the Games, we caught up with Jesse to hear about how he is preparing and getting psyched to represent our country in lead and bouldering at the Olympics—all while balancing life as a mechanical engineer pushing the limits of soft robotics to improve people’s lives.
But first, yr sticky, sweet podcast hosts get into a debate about glue and when it’s appropriate to use it to fix boulder problems that break. This discussion comes after one of Colorado’s oldest and most historic boulder problems broke, and locals put the question to the community for a vote.
Buster Jesik, IFMGA / AMGA mountain guides, lays down a sick drum track for today’s final bit.
Show Notes
Jesse Grupper Wins PanAM
Follow Jesse Grupper on Instagram
Mental Standard Has Broken — Instagram
Mental Standard — Mountain Project
Mountain Project Thread
Follow Buster Jesik on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Our guest today is #71 for the New York Jets: Wes Schweitzer, an offensive guard whose injuries sent him down a curious path of recovery: rock climbing. Since discovering the sport, Wes has fallen in love with climbing and uses it as a tool to improve his performance on and off the field. At 6’4” 330-pounds, Wes is considered one of the strongest lineman in the game, putting up 765-pound deadlifts well over twice his body weight. As a true professional athlete, Wes delivers some fascinating insights into how both football and climbing training mentalities could benefit from each other.
But first, yr favorite climbing podcasters play a game of Fuck, Marry, Kill with climbing gear.
Our final bit is a track from Harris Freif called “Tortillas and Peanut Butter” off his album Guitar 2.
Show Notes
Follow Wes Schweitzer on Instagram and Twitter
“Meet the 330-pound NFL Lineman Addicted to Rock Climbing”
Check out Harris Freif on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Will Moss is a comp climber turned traddie from New York City, who has been quietly ticking some of the hardest gear-protected routes in the country over the past couple of years. His most recent notable ascent is the FA of the Gunks hardest: The Best Things in Life Are Free (5.14d R).
But first, we wind our way into a discussion about the elusive “undercover crusher,” and whether this mythical beast actually climbed the thing before everyone else, or if this is just what some bro is saying in order to take you down a peg or two.
Last, we’re honored to feature the atmospheric music of climber and musician Jessica Kilroy, with her track “It’s Infinite.”
Show Notes
Follow Will Moss on Instagram
William Moss, 18, Establishes 5.14d R Trad in the Gunks via Climbing Magazine
R-Rated: 5.14 Climbing on Marginal Gear on YouTube
About James Litz
Nacho Sanchez on Instagram
Follow Jessica Kilroy on Instagram
Jessica Kilroy Bandcamp
Jessica Kilroy on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Today’s guest is a climbing icon and legend: the great Beth Rodden. Beth was a youth national comp champ who went on to become one of the greatest female climbers of her time, with important first free ascents of El Cap and single-pitch trad test pieces such as Meltdown, a 5.14c crack that many say is harder and took a decade before it was repeated. Her new book is called A Light Through the Cracks.
But first we talk about the elusive “all-around” climber, with Bronwyn Hodgins at the top of mind. What does it take to be considered a great all-around climber? And is that the future for what we demand of our top-end climbers?
Today’s final bit comes courtesy of the extremely talented Beezer (aka Mason Earle) with the track Loggersports.
Show Notes
Follow Beth Rodden on Instagram
Pre-order A Light Through the Cracks from an independent book store or big one
Follow Bronwyn Hodgins on Instagram
News / post about Bronwyn’s latest redpoint
Watch Bronwyn and Jacob Cook free climb a big wall
Follow Mason Earle on Instagram
Check out Beezer on YouTube
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Josh Wharton is one of America’s top alpine climbers, with light and fast ascents of iconic peaks from Patagonia to Alaska to the Himalaya. His latest first free ascent with Vince Anderson, is called Suerte (5.13a, WI6, M7, 3,500 feet) and it’s located on Jirishanca (20,100 feet) in Peru. This ascent, which took years to “alpine redpoint,” is featured in a new film headlining Reel Rock 18.
But first, yer friendly RunOut hosts discuss Kalous’ recent trip out to his namesake dance party at the Michigan Ice Fest, where there was more festing than icing.
Our final bit comes courtesy of Evan Philips, fellow podcaster at The Firn Line, with his song Close to Me.
Show Notes
Josh Wharton and Vince Anderson send Suerte on Climbing.com
Reel Rock 18 Spotlight: Jirishanca
Michigan Ice Fest
Chris Kalous Dance Party
The Firn Line podcast
Close to Me on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Dean Fidelman is a legendary climbing photographer, whose body of work and portraitures have come as close to capturing the elusive soul of our sport as any photographer ever has. He’s perhaps best known for his Stone Nudes series of fine-art black-and-white bouldering photographs, but his career first began as a 16 year old kid with a camera, documenting the Stone Masters era of Yosemite and all the legendary characters associated with it. His latest book is “Fidelman: A Body of Work,” an ambitious retrospective that chronicles the career of climbing’s perhaps most ambitious and iconic artist.
But first, yr friendly podcasting hosts wonder whether everyone is making climbing, and training for climbing, way, way, way too complicated.
Our final bit shares an intimate moment between a father and son, resolving a typical schoolyard conflict with a bit of jamming.
Show Notes
“Fidelman: A Body of Work” is available from DiAngelo Publications.
Follow Dean Fidelman on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Two amazing guests today. Two important conversations related to community and development.
First, we speak to Sam Lightner Jr. about the latest threats to climbing access in America. Sam is a prolific route developer, who is perhaps best known for developing the climbing in Southern Thailand and helping turn Railey and Tonsai beaches into the destinations they are. But he’s also established many routes in the American west, and done the heroic work of replacing hundreds of anchor bolts under the American Safe Climbing Association. He was also one of the first board members on the Access Fund, and has continued to advocate for climbing access in America. We break down the latest attempt from extremist “wilderness” advocacy groups to cynically use the language of the Wilderness Act to prevent climbers from legally climbing in wilderness areas located in National Parks and Forest Service lands.
Our main guest is Genevieve Walker, a professional climber and climbing guide who is working to promote greater access and representation for underrepresented groups in the outdoors. Her recent expedition to Malawi worked to develop and empower the local climbing community. Her trip reframes how we traditionally think of a “climbing expeditions,” centering a community-oriented approach to empowerment over sick sends.
Last but not least, our final bit comes from Colorado climber Kyle Ward with his latest EP and the eponymous song Get Goin’.
Show Notes
Access Fund: Action Alert: Stop the Bolt Prohibition
Submit a comment to the NPS
Submit a comment to the USFS
Follow Sam Lightner Jr. on Instagram
Read: “Breaking the Wilderness Bell Jar” on Evening Sends
Follow Genevieve Walker on Instagram
Follow Climb Malawi on Instagram
Follow The Global Climbing Initiative on Instagram
Is Rock Climbing the Future of Tourism in Malawi?
Follow Kyle Ward on Instagram
Listen to Get Goin’ on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] -
Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal are both 26 years old, from Sheffield, England, and have been competing on plastic since they were 12. But once slapping plastic lost its allure, these two climbers found themselves dreaming of adventure. And adventure they found, as they spent a month fumbling their way into the world of big-wall climbing during a month long trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this year. And the unlikely duo emerged from their trip with one of the greatest prizes in climbing: a free ascent of the Nose. We caught up with the lads and talked about how they pulled it off.
But first, your increasingly trivia-oriented show hosts look back on 2023 and try to recall what the hell happened.
Last, damn good Buddy Spray from RunOut RopeGun Cooper Houston.
Show Notes
Two Retired Comp Climbers Pull Off a Rare Free Ascent of the Nose on Climbing.com
Follow Alex Waterhouse on Instagram
Follow Billy Ridal on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected] - Show more
