Introducing our first ever mixtape from The Climbing Zine. The Microdose Mixtape pairs Luke Mehall’s spoken word poetry, with the music of Devin Dabney. Enjoy. Merch is available here: https://shop.climbingzine.com/ Tapes and vinyl will be available shortly… SourceBy Luke Mehall

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 f…

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 help…

A conversation with Taylor Luneau. Taylor discovered climbing after an injury derailed his ice hockey career. Taylor and Luke have a wide ranging conversation from local climbing organizations to the relationship of climate change and ice climbing, and much more. Plus in the outro is the premiere of the poem 5.6+ from the upcoming Microdose Mixtape…

Shara Zaia reads her essay published in Volume 24 of The Climbing Zine. Plus a bonus tune from James Parr, inspired by Greg Petliski’s essay, Scotch on The Rocks, also published in Volume 24. Zine links: Support our podcast on Patreon KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE + Subscribe Our sponsors for Season 5: Kilter: http://settercloset.com (email holds@kiltergrips…

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 rou…

Jim Pope reads End of a Climb by John Menlove Edwards, widely regarded as one of the finest bits of pre-war climbing writing.By Niall Grimes

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…

Away from the spotlight, Yorkshire-born Tom Bolger has quietly been redpointing and creating sport climbs of the highest calibre and is one of the few British climbers who are solidly climbing into the ninth grade. We caught up with Tom in his home in the global heart of sport climbing, Catalunya, to see what makes him tick.…

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 mec…

Climbing royalty. Beth Rodden’s impact on climbing from the late 90s to the late 00s was huge. She pushed forward female standards in sport and trad, did early free ascents on El cap, and established a crack testpiece where ascents still make the news. Injuries led to a stepping back, motherhood followed and she has now written her autobiography, A…

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 l…

Luke Mehall reads his piece, “Climbs Fall Apart” which is published in Volume 24 of The Climbing Zine; the episode ends with his poem “A Climber Who Cries” from the upcoming Microdose Mixtape. Zine links: Support our podcast on Patreon KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE + Subscribe Score 15% off anything in our online store Our sponsors for Season 5: Kilter: http…

A conversation with Felipe Garcia. Felipe and Luke have a conversation about climbing in Guatemala, first ascents, living, working, and training on a boat for two months, and much more at the outdoor studio in El Potrero Chico, Mexico. Zine links: Support our podcast on Patreon KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE + Subscribe Score 15% off anything in our online st…

Me and Remus talk crap about climbing.By niall grimes

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 “…

A preseason conversation with our digital editor and producer Chad Reich. Plus a poem from our upcoming Microdose Mixtape. Support our podcast on Patreon KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE + Subscribe Score 15% off anything in our online store… SourceBy Luke Mehall

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…

Writer and podcaster Andrew Bisharat looks back on a life in journalism, creativity, climbing, being mbbed and his involvement in the Palestine-based film, Resistance Climbing.By Niall Grimes

On the 15th anniversary of Jerry Moffatt Revelations, for which I was ghost writer, I read some sections, remember the creation and listen to some recordings.By niall grimes

Norweigan trad beast, crack shuffler and professional amateur Mari talks Troll Wall, local clubs, El Cap and always looking forward.By Niall Grimes

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 featu…

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, docu…

Part 2 of the amazing tale of Billy Ridal and Alex Waterhouse's epic free ascent of The Nose on El Cap.By Niall Grimes

Having recently retired from a life of indoor comps, two plastic-hardened heroes declare to the world that they are off to free climb The Nose of El Cap, the world's greatest trad route. Get outta town. Part 2 follows tomorrow.By Niall Grimes

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 desti…

Al Lee’s films have documented UK trad climbing and climbers for over a decade. Movies such as On Sight, Climbing Blind, Blocheads and The Prophet have made the screen shine. This week let’s hear Al’s crack.By Niall Grimes

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 m…