A rerun of our conversation with Tommy Caldwell from 2022, recorded in his van in Estes Park, Colorado. Big thanks to Shaun Matusewicz for joining on the adventure and helping with the interview! Our sponsors for Season 7: Kilter: http://settercloset.com (email holds@kiltergrips.com for more information) Osprey: https://www.osprey.com/ Scarpa. Use this link to shop Scarpa products, and The…
Then, when all seemed like peace had been restored to my existence, 9/11 happened. I was out on a morning jog, something I’d added to my climbing training, and I was listening to the radio on my Walkman. The song on the radio was interrupted: the United States had been attacked, and the first World…
We rounded the bend and there were half a dozen people lining up at the base of the route. Rock climbing pioneers had valued the virtue of good clothing: well ironed shirts, collared and tucked. We paused momentarily—not because of the crowds but because of the publicity—before stripping down to our birthday suits and soaring…
The distinction between a “climber” and “someone who climbs” has always fascinated me; it’s a nuance I’ve observed throughout a decade of routesetting, teaching, and exploring anyplace I could find rock. These observations started small, with friends who found the sport around the same time I did. Gradually, one by one, they stopped telling people,…
“Keep dreamin’, stay hungry, and remember that there is no finish line.” This quote by Todd Skinner in the opening pages of the book Hangdog Days by Jeff Smoot gave me chills the first time I read it. In the pages that followed, I felt history come to life as I read tale after tale…
The dance of renewal, the dance that made the world, was always danced here at the edge of things… —Ursula K. Le Guin, Dancing at the Edge of The World My first sense of it is auditory. I am walking toward the rim, eyes straining to see over an edge I can’t yet…
“Oh you feel and you taste it and you want to go higher. So what do you do? And so you peak into the mountain where your desire goes. Spilt blood on this place it only echoes true all through the days. And so you peak into the mountain where your desire goes.” The Mountain…
On the ledge that night, I felt at home and at ease. We were on the rock of our dreams. And Dave was the perfect partner. He was better at figuring out the logistics of hauling and jugging. Dave was the ying to my yang. Plus, we’d struck a deal: I would lead the infamous…