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Written in Stone: Climbing History
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Description
Written in Stone tells the (mostly) true stories of the most groundbreaking ascents in rock climbing history, one decade at a time. Hosted by Kris Hampton, you’ll hear the narrated, sound designed stories about what led to new levels in climbing, alternated with conversations with today’s top climbers about what inspired them about what went down way back then.
Season Two is focused on the 1980’s. The birth of sport climbing as we know it, the struggles with changing rules and ethics, the women who paved the way for the superstars of the 90s and 00s. Patrick Edlinger, Jerry Moffatt, Wolfgang Gullich, Catherine Destivelle, Lynn Hill, and more.
Like Todd Skinner always said, ”never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
Season Two is focused on the 1980’s. The birth of sport climbing as we know it, the struggles with changing rules and ethics, the women who paved the way for the superstars of the 90s and 00s. Patrick Edlinger, Jerry Moffatt, Wolfgang Gullich, Catherine Destivelle, Lynn Hill, and more.
Like Todd Skinner always said, ”never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
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We're taking a short break because we want to make sure that we don't miss the important contributions from the women climbers of the 80's who were pushing things forward. We'll be back soon!
In the meantime, there are a bunch of free bonus episodes in our Patreon, The Secret Stoners Club!
Because this season is focused on the 1980’s, and we are talking about the two best free soloists of their generations, Peter Croft and John Bachar, there is a Venn Diagram that puts today’s guest squarely in the center: Jeff Smoot.
In Jeff’s book Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change and the Race for 5.14, he tells the tale of the beginnings of sport climbing in the U.S. - of Alan Watts and Todd Skinner - tales that John Bachar often plays the antagonist for. His most recent book, All and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing, takes a look at, among others, Bachar and Croft.
And Jeff was there for much of it. As I’ve been doing research, his name has come up over and over again as the author of key articles. I had to talk to him. No brainer.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Does Alex Honnold need an introduction? No, of course he doesn’t. But he was particularly suited for this conversation about Bachar and Croft for several reasons:
#1, Alex is a student of history. He cares about this stuff. If you haven’t listened to his Climbing Gold podcast, you should. I highly recommend the Dope Lake series - it’s a 5 part series about the 1976 plane crash in the Yosemite high country - a plane that was carrying 4 million dollars worth of marijuana. Go listen.
#2, he’s the obvious torch bearer for what these guys did - the soloing, yes, but also the pushing of Valley standards and the furthering of the conversation.
And #3, because as much as I want these stories to be larger than life, I also wanted them to be rooted in a realistic look at what we can learn. And if there’s anyone who can just be logical, it’s Alex Honnold.
In this episode we get into an interesting progression that Alex didn’t even realize he was part of, meeting your heroes, mythologizing, big link ups, soloing, and what John Bachar and Peter Croft mean for climbing and for Alex personally.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
Enter to win a Ladies Weekend Out Scholarship from Rab!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Cover photo of Alex by Christopher Michel
It was 1986, over halfway through a decade that had brought turbulent change to climbing, and it was clear to John Bachar that even in Yosemite - hallowed ground as far as he was concerned - ethics were shifting. Sure, people still traveled here to do the big walls and to climb some of the classics, but the world knew that Yosemite and the once mighty best climbers in the world who called Camp 4 home, were now WAY behind.
But John Bachar had an idea of how he could get this train back on track. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to do this, and he knew exactly who he’d ask for help.
This is the story of the John and the Bachar-Yerian, Peter Croft and the University Wall, and the first one day link-up ascent of El Cap and Half Dome.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
Enter to win a Ladies Weekend Out Scholarship from Rab!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Shortly after my own trip to the Grampians and Araps, where I played briefly on Punks in the Gym, just to give it, as Ben Cossey would say, a tummy rub, I went back to the Blue Mountains where I met a bunch of Australian mega-crushers. One of those crushers was Andrea Hah. And because she was the first Australian woman to climb Punks in the Gym, and Arapiles had a big impact on her life, I really wanted to have her on the show.
Andrea is not only a mega-crusher and one of the most accomplished climbers in Australia. She’s also a physio at Move Clinic, which she runs with her partner, Lee Cossey - also a mega-crusher. And she’s a mom to a little BMX shredder. Basically, an all around badass.
So we talk Araps and Punks as well as other Australian history like her send of Ozymandias which was the first ground up in a day ascent of the route and her arch-nemesis climb, Lord of the Rings in Araps.
Andrea on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreahah/
Save Arapiles Climbing Petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-natimuk-stop-the-rock-climbing-ban-at-the-famous-mt-arapiles
Save Arapiles Climbing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bYfeWq_Nw
Our friends at Rab are excited to sponsor both full and partial scholarships to Ladies Weekend Out's events, making their educational programs more accessible than ever and helping to empower women in the outdoors.”
Learn more here: https://www.ladiesweekendout.com/rab-equipment-scholarships
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
As I was researching Wolfgang, I would regularly come across candid photos taken inside the house he shared with Kurt Albert, and of course I read every story about Wolfgang I could find. In those photos and those stories, I often came across an American name - Jesse Guthrie. I had to try to find him and get him on the show.
He was one of the people on the leading edge of sport climbing when it was first coming into existence, and established the first 5.13s in Alabama and one of the first 5.14’s in the country with Tour de Jour at Yellow Bluff. Jesse is now living in the Czech Republic with his wife and children, teaches English, writes books, plays music and yes, still climbs.
In this episode we get into both Wolfgang and Kurt, what it was like traveling with them, how the ethics were evolving, Jesse’s time as a rodeo cowboy, and more.
Jesse’s Website: http://www.jesseguthrie.com/domains/jesseguthrie.com/
Our friends at Rab are excited to sponsor both full and partial scholarships to Ladies Weekend Out's events, making their educational programs more accessible than ever and helping to empower women in the outdoors.”
Learn more here: https://www.ladiesweekendout.com/rab-equipment-scholarships
Save Arapiles Climbing Petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-natimuk-stop-the-rock-climbing-ban-at-the-famous-mt-arapiles
Save Arapiles Climbing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bYfeWq_Nw
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
----------------------------------
Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Because the history of the Frankenjura can’t be told without Kurt Albert and Wolfgang Gullich, both of whom we lost too soon, I wanted to talk to someone rooted in that community to try and get an understanding of how their legacy looks. For me, the obvious choice was Hannes Huch. He’s a photographer and artist who balances a modern aesthetic with a love for history, and that’s evident in his work with Cafe Kraft and the Gimme Kraft books as well as Jerry Moffat’s Mastermind book, and many other projects.
In this episode we talk Kurt, Wolfgang, and Jerry, legacy, the importance of connecting with community, and how climbing is the perfect sport if you should ever need to escape from prison.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
There’s really no debate. In the pantheon of Wolfgang Gullich frothers, there is no person who is as much a frother as Australian superstar Ben Cossey. In May of 2024, Ben made the first ascent of a long-standing project at Mt. Arapiles in Australia, Lightweight Baby, finally finishing what became the hardest pitch in the area - and within sight of Wolfgang’s route, Punks in the Gym.
In this episode we get into what makes Arapiles special, the history of Punks and the Birdbath, a wiggle sneak to Wallstreet, and then we come back to Araps to discuss Lightweight Baby.
Save Arapiles Climbing Petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-natimuk-stop-the-rock-climbing-ban-at-the-famous-mt-arapiles
Save Arapiles Climbing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bYfeWq_Nw
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
From the early to mid 1980's, Wolfgang Gullich was steadily discovering his own power. Spurred on by American and British climbers coming to the Frankenjura and establishing the hardest routes, he tapped into a part of himself that he rarely showed. With that competetive side on display, he went to America to do the hardest routes there, returned home to establish himself the best, and to Australia to establish the world's first 8b+, or 14a, Punks in the Gym.
Save Arapiles Climbing Petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-natimuk-stop-the-rock-climbing-ban-at-the-famous-mt-arapiles
Save Arapiles Climbing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bYfeWq_Nw
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
While we're working hard on the next episode, an update on some changes to the remainder of the season.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Andy Salo and Whitney Boland are modern day Gunks legends. Andy has FA’d some of the hardest routes in the area and co-written the brilliant guidebooks to the area. Whitney moved to the area and gained near instant local status, eventually writing the Flashback series about Gunks legends, which you can find both in Andy’s guidebooks and on the Rock and Snow website.
In this episode, we discuss the scene and history at The Gunks, what factors contributed to the Gunks being such a powerhouse in the 80’s, and what it’s like to be a short woman in climbing.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Russ Clune is a Legend. I once introduced him as climbing's Forrest Gump, because since the 1980's he's been there for many of climbing's most impactful moments. A Gunks local who has traveled widely to climb on every type of rock, in every style imaginable, he's a living thread from before sport climbing to now, and if you're ever lucky enough to meet him, will eagerly regale you with those stories.
In this episode, we discuss:
Lynn Hill’s arrival on the Gunks climbing scene.
Working on Vandals with Lynn.
When Lynn became THE Lynn Hill.
The pros and cons of the yoyo tactic.
Clune's new book, The Lifer: Rock Climbing Adventures in the Gunks and Beyond
This week our patrons, The Secret Stoners Club, get's a bonus conversation with Russ discussing Jerry Moffatt, Wolfgang Gullich, Patrick Edlinger and more. Join for free and be entered to win a free copy of The Lifer!
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
In 1983, after years of climbing on Yosemite's granite cracks with John Long and the Stonemasters, Lynn Hill went on a roadtrip. First to Arizona, then to Colorado and finally Red Rock, outside of Las Vegas. While on the road, she and Long established some of the most classic routes in the country. After a brief foray into Hollywood stunts, Lynn traveled to the Gunks to climb for a magazine article and photoshoot.
What happened next is history.
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes and giveaways!
Check out Climbing Free by Lynn Hill
Check out The Lifer by Russ Clune
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Many climbers put Jerry Moffatt’s book, Revelations, on the top of their list. This is in no small part due to the work of Niall Grimes, who co-wrote the Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize Winner. Niall is an Irish climbing legend who lives in Sheffield, and the host of the hilarious, story filled Jam Crack Climbing Podcast.
In this episode we discuss what Jerry Moffatt’s name meant in the early days, why Niall’s first meeting with Jerry resulted in Jerry naked and tied to a pipe, and the influence that Jerry has and continues to have over Sheffield climbing.
Revelations by Jerry Moffatt and Niall Grimes
Jam Crack Climbing Podcast
Niall’s article My Map of the World
Niall’s article King of the Crag
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
In 1983, one climber was more dominant than any other: Jerry Moffatt. Filled with confidence, he traveled the world not only to quickly repeat the hardest routes, but to put up his own routes - often the hardest in the country. A trip to the US let the world know that he had arrived, but it was a trip to Germany with one of the brightest German stars that really cemented his place as the best. And this wouldn't be the last we hear of Jerry Moffatt.
Check out Revelations by Jerry Moffatt and Niall Grimes
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
There’s nobody better than Bill Ramsey to discuss the impact that Alan Watts had on climbing. Not only is he a philosophy professor, but he was born in the same hospital as Alan, just a few hours later. Their fathers climbed together at Smith Rock, their mothers shared a recovery room, and together they found a love of climbing that helped bring Smith Rock into the future.
We discuss:
Bill and Alan’s early climbing.
What contributed to changing ethics at Smith Rock.
What Alan saw in Smith Rock that Bill didn’t.
Alan’s forward thinking and selflessness.
What Alan Watts means to climbing history.
Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
In early 1983, in a small backwater area in Oregon with less than stellar rock, Smith Rock, sport climbing history was quietly being made. Alan Watts had all but climbed out the cracks in the area and had turned his attention to the blank faces and lasercut aretes. He would have to bend the rules to get it done, but with nobody around to tell him otherwise, he got to work. The result would be not only the climb recognized as the first sport climb in the country, Watt’s Tots, but a short, steep, gymnastic arete that would set off a chain reaction that changed American – and world – climbing culture forever.
Check out our website for resources and more!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
This episode is supported by our research partner, NOLS: The National Outdoor Leadership School.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Kris chats with French legend David Chambre, the author of one of the best and most beautiful reference books out there for 90’s climbing history, The 9th Grade. David’s previous book, co-written with Jibe Tribout, The 8th Grade, is a treasure trove of French climbing history of the late 1970’s and early to mid 1980’s. They discuss the influence of Patrick Edlinger on both French and world climbing history.
Discussed in the episode:
The difference between the two Patricks.
The rivalry between the Parisians and Edlinger.
Edlinger’s influence on climbing culture.
The effect of fame on Edlinger.
Tribout’s ability to provoke.
French climbing history.
Check out more here!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE.
Get David's Book The 9th Grade
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Kris sits down in Wyoming with two absolute legends from the 80’s, Jibé Tribout and Arnould T’Kint, to talk about Patrick Edlinger and the birth of sport climbing as we know it.
Belgian climbing legend Arnould T’Kint did the third 8a in the world, and the first outside of the US, as well as reportedly being the first to onsight 8a.
Jibé Tribout is a french and world climbing legend who, through the 80’s and 90’s, was always at the leading edge of difficulty, from 13a to 14c.
They discuss:
Pushing grades in the 80's.
The origins of free-climbing as a pursuit.
The rivalry between Tribout and Patrick Edlinger.
The scene at Buoux and Verdon in the 80's.
The benefits of friendly competition at the crag.
The first actual comps.
Tribout playing the villain.
Check out more here!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
There is no icon of 1980's climbing with the starpower of Patrick Edlinger. Known as Le Blonde, it's estimated that by the mid 1990's, Edlinger was responsible for inspiring 80% of France's climbers to join the sport. Not only was he one of the first to embrace sport climbing, he defined the style and movement of the era.
But the life of the rock star is often one of tragedy. The higher the rise, the further the fall. How would Edlinger deal with being at the top of the mountain?
Check out more here!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
As the end of the 1970’s neared, climbers, more and more, the world over, were wondering the same thing. “How hard can we climb?
In this setup episode we look at the factors that coalesced right there at the end of the 70's and beginning of the 80's to help pave the way for what we now call sport climbing.
New equipment, new tactics, and most important, ushered in by a German giant named Kurt Albert, were new rules.
Check out more here!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Climbing, in the 1990’s, as you’ve already heard, was all punk rock and new wave, rising standards and superstar climbers pushing each other forward through friendly – and not so friendly – rivalries. And it was huge.
But all of that bravado started somewhere. It wasn’t some Big Bang event. Instead, January 1st, 1990 was a product of the previous decade. A continuation of the countercultural need to rail against the conservatism, materialism and, well, traditionalism of the cultural norm. What had been counterculture in the 60s and 70s had become, in fact, climbing culture, and there was a new class of climbers unwilling to be subservient to what came before. They wanted something entirely new. Entirely theirs. Something that bucked against the tired old ways their fathers and mothers and grandparents had climbed.
They were louder. They were stronger. They were better. By miles. And they knew it.
Season 2, The 1980's, coming soon.
Remus Knowles runs https://climbing-history.org/ , and since he's a fan of the show, I asked him to come on and tell me which climbers and ascents we missed in Season 1. He showed up with a great list of climbers including Leo Houlding, Klem Loskot and more. I do my best to defend my choices, but Remus makes some great points.
Become a Patron and get this full episode for free at: https://www.patreon.com/secretstonersclub
Links to things we discuss:
Steve McClure and Mutation: https://climbing-history.org/climb/392/mutation
Klem Loskot profile and videos: https://climbing-history.org/climber/941/klem-loskot
Beat Kammerlander free soloing Mordillo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iyaCK-xf10&t=2s
Alain Robert's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alainrobertofficial
The Alpine Trilogy: https://climbing-history.org/list/11/the-alpine-trilogy
Jam Crack Podcast with Leo Houlding Part 1: https://www.niallgrimes.com/jam-crack-climbing-podcast/2023/12/5/jcpc-142-leo-houlding-part-1
Jam Crack Podcast with Leo Houlding Part 2: https://www.niallgrimes.com/jam-crack-climbing-podcast/2023/12/5/jcpc-142-leo-houlding-part-2
Matt Samet is a legend of the climbing magazine world, having worked for Climbing, Rock & Ice and Alpinist as an editor, writer and general voice of credibility. Not everyone in the industry is core to the climbing lifestyle, but Matt definitely is. He loves this.
In this episode we discuss the role of the magazines then and now, the demise of print, my and others criticism of the magazines and the short comings of the media, even in it's heyday.
Become a Patron and get this full episode for free at https://www.patreon.com/secretstonersclub
Sometimes you need time away to realize what you were in the midst of.
In this episode Kris reflects on the season, where the true cultural shifts in climbing came, and the lessons that climbers can take away from examining climbing history this way.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Eva Lopez is one of the top Spanish climbers in history. While she is largely known as one of the world’s foremost researchers on training for climbing, she’s also a crusher. She was the 5th woman to to climb 8c and in 2013, at 42 years old, climbed her first 8c+, a route she bolted called Potemkin.
In this episode, Eva and Kris discuss the state of Spanish climbing in the 1990’s and what it was like watching Josune Bereziartu come into her own during those years. They also dig into the woman vs. woman rivalries that are often played up by the media and why it’s less common to see that happen today, and what Josune and her incredible accomplishments mean to climbing history.
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Basque superstar Josune Bereziartu first tied in as the 80’s were changing into the 90’s, after seeing a documentary showing two women climbing in the Verdon. Within those first few months of Josune learning to climb, Lynn Hill did the first 14a ever climbed by a woman.
By the middle of the 90’s Josune became the 5th woman to equal the feat, which had yet to be surpassed. Her friends suggested she could be the first to climb harder, so she started training to make it a reality. Before the decade would change again, with the performance gap in climbing widening, Josune would push through the pressure and become the first woman to climb 8c, or 5.14b.
And she wouldn’t stop there.
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Chris Schulte is a boulderer who is obsessed with the lines and shapes of climbing. He fell in love with Fontainebleau many years ago based on a photo of Fred Nicole climbing Karma and has cultivated a relationship with the forest and climbed many life-list boulders there.
In this episode, Kris asks Chris to describe the forest in his poetic way, and to tell stories of his best memories of Bleau and the special connection he has to some of the boulders, specifically Karma and Duel. They try to unpack why Catherine Miquel isn’t as well known in the US despite her incredible accomplishments, and discuss traverse grades, eliminates, and how to be a good steward of climbing and the places we climb.
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Throughout the 90s, Catherine Miquel was the undisputed queen of bouldering. Surprised you haven’t heard her name? I was too, but we aren’t alone. Not many of the people I’ve talked to know of her or her incredible resume.
Climbing in Fontainebleau, she entered the decade as the only woman to climb V8, and then it was off to the races. Again and again, she pushed the limits, culminating in an ascent of one of the most famous slabs in the world. Duel.
Check out more here!
Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Josie McKee is a climbing guide, former YOSAR member, all-around big wall super badass and a climbing coach through her company Mind Athlete. She’s climbed El Cap over 20 times, set several speed records, has free climbed damn near every Valley classic, and her Yosemite resume rivals just about anyone’s.
In this episode, Josie walks Kris through each pitch of Freerider and what it takes to climb the route - most importantly the changing mindsets required throughout, shifting from dread to curiosity, and finding joy where most think only of fear.
Check out more here!
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Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
If you were following Chris Kalous and The Enormocast in the early days, then you are well aware that he’s climbed Freerider. And if you follow his new show, The Runout, you know how interested he is in the history of one specific pitch of The Free Salathe - Pitch 19 - the pitch that Alex Huber subverted by climbing the Monster Offwidth, thus laying the foundation for Freerider.
In this episode, Kris and Chris go deep into the history of pitch 19, the ethical rules of big wall aid and freeclimbing, and discuss how one pitch of Freerider changed the course of big wall freeclimbing history.
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Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
In 1998, Alex and Thomas Huber climbed the first ascent of Freerider on El Capitan in just over 15 hours. Their climb ushered in a new era of big wall free climbing, and there’s no question it was a hugely important moment in climbing history.
But the way we credit it, most often simply to Alex Huber, ignores the rich history of the route.
The Huber’s pioneered about 1/30th of the climbing. The vast majority of the route was established over many years by a who’s who of Yosemite and free climbing history. Robbins, Frost, Pratt, Long, Bachar, Hudon, Jones, Glowacz, Skinner, Piana, Schneider, and MORE.
Put simply, Freerider is a linkup. A brilliant linkup, but a linkup nonetheless. And we just can’t talk about it without going back. Way back. Back into time.
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Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
1Today, we're featuring a great conversation between our friend Ryan Devlin, host and creator of the Struggle Climbing Show and member of the Plug Tone Collective, and Jordan Cannon.
In this bonus episode, Jordan takes us on the unbelievable adventure of tackling one of the toughest high-altitude big wall ascents in the world, the Cowboy Direct route of Trango (Nameless) Tower.
Check out all of the episodes of the Struggle Climbing Show here.
Check out more info on this episode here!
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In his book, Beyond the Summit, Todd Skinner wrote, “Mike Lilygren had a schoolboy face and Dennis the Menace hair, an irritatingly endless sense of humor, and a tinkerer’s mind for detail. He would turn into “the closer” on the expedition, the one who kept getting stronger as the burden increased, the keystone that bridged the way to the summit.”
Mike climbed Trango Tower with Todd, and like so many other people, Todd changed his life.
In this episode, Kris and Mike sit down at Mike’s company, Maven Optics, to discuss Todd Skinner, leadership, being the voice of reason, and that expedition to Pakistan.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
In 2023, Yosemite big wall free climbing ace Jordan Cannon joined Matt Segal and Jesse Huey on a trip to Pakistan to test their mettle against Trango Tower. Specifically, they were looking at the unrepeated Cowboy Direct, established in 1995 by Todd Skinner, Mike Lilygren, Bobby Model and Jeff Bechtel.
In this episode, Kris and Jordan discuss the allure of big walls and taking his skills from Yosemite to the Karakoram, making repeats on an expedition, the importance of climbing history and storytelling, and the value of relationships in climbing.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
In 1995, Todd Skinner began assembling a team for an audacious ascent in the Himalayan Karakoram. He’d been shown photos of a golden, rocket-ship-shaped tower that looked like it could be sitting in Yosemite, except it sat at 19,000 feet and was surrounded by some of the greatest mountains on earth. But he didn’t gather a team of experienced alpinists. Instead he put together a team of young Wyoming cowboys, including one who knew almost nothing about climbing. And they trained for the trip on sport climbs and boulders.
Nobody could believe it.
Once in Pakistan, illness, government regulations and weather conspired with the difficulty of climbing hard at nearly 20,000 feet to pull the climbers off the wall. Their doubts grew, but so did their resolve. Every other team in the range had either bailed or died in a week long storm, but the inexperienced cowboys persisted.
After 59 days on the wall, the weather had cleared and the team could see the summit, but one hard pitch still stood in their way, and their best chance at freeing it had just ripped his finger open. Maybe it wasn’t possible after all.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Jonathan Siegrist isn’t just one of America’s best and most prolific sport climbers, having climbed over 25 5.15’s. He’s also someone who thinks deeply about what climbing offers us, and works to make sure we stay on track.
In this episode, Kris and Jonathan discuss one of the most controversial topics in climbing, grades. How grades come about, what that means for outliers, how hard it is to quantify the experience of climbing, and how we can have a better relationship with these numbers that we all care about but pretend not to.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Seb Bouin is one of only three climbers who have climbed 5.15d (9c). Following in the footsteps of leading French climbers, he established his testpiece, DNA, in 2023 in the Verdon Gorge. It may not be a coincidence that this came shortly after his Vintage Rock Tour, in which he climbed all of the firsts in France from 7c+ to 9a+, including the first three 9as from Fred Rouhling, Hugh, L’autre Côté du Ciel, and the most famous and most controversial of the trio, Akira.
In this episode, Seb and Kris discuss collaboration versus competition, taking grades personally, DNA, and where Akira and Fred Rouhling fit into French climbing history.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Fred Rouhling was a good climber, but 5.15b? At a time when 14d was the hardest grade, Fred suggested that his half boulder/half route hybrid, Akira, was much harder than any other climb on the planet. Not many people believed the quiet, usually reserved French climber. Many of the top pros at the time; Ben Moon, Jibe Tribout and Alex Huber, would speak out about the suggestion.
Rumors about the ascent were rampant. Some said he never climbed it. Some said he filled in the holds after he did it. Some said he chipped it specifically to fit his freakish proportions. The media turned Fred Rouhling into a pariah. A warning about suggesting big grades. He was ostracized and disappeared.
But Fred Rouhling might just have been ahead of his time.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Nina Caprez is a weapon. Known as the ‘Swiss Machine’, and easily one of the most accomplished big wall free climbers on the planet, she had her eyes on freeing The Nose, and she had partnered up with none other than Lynn Hill. What could possibly stand in her way?
The same thing that nearly stopped Lynn. Changing Corners.
In this episode, Kris and Nina discuss her history with The Nose, the big lesson learned from it and the friendship that came out of the experience.
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A few more resources here.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Lauren Delaunay Miller is a climber, former YOSAR member, and award winning author of Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing. From her first moments in Yosemite Valley, hearing the stories of the inspiring women who not only climbed hard things but built the community, she knew that a book was necessary. She just didn’t know at the time that she would be the one to write it.
In this episode Lauren and Kris discuss how the book came about, the challenges of the anthology style, what the culture of women in Yosemite and on YOSAR was like for Lauren and where Lynn Hill fits into the pantheon of badass women - and people in general - in the most famous climbing area on earth.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
In 2001, Chelsea Griffie topped out on Lurking Fear on the far left side of El Capitan and became the first black woman to climb the world famous formation. But she didn’t realize that until years later. She was just looking for things to challenge her.
In this episode, Kris and Chelsea discuss the path of her climbing that led to El Cap, what being the first feels like, and the importance of representation in the outdoors.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Bobbi Bensman was one of the most dominant competition climbers of the 1990s, winning the Phoenix Bouldering Contest 13 years in a row and 20 National Championships. She’s still going strong, adding every year to a 5.13 ticklist that’s now over 250 routes long.
In this episode, Kris and Bobbi discuss her years as a competition climber, her greatest rivalry, when she realized that Lynn Hill, who she’s known since 16, was on another level, and how their friendship has grown over the years.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Lynn Hill was looking for a different kind of progression. By the mid-1990’s climbing grades had skyrocketed, and Lynn was climbing harder and harder. But the difficulty wasn’t what drove her. She wanted adventure. Partnership. To push into the unknown. Something BIG. And there was one prize that had been talked about for decades with the air of a fairy tale: Freeing The Nose of El Capitan.
Many people had tried, and most of the easier climbing had been done. Variations had been figured out. But still, two of the pitches seemed futuristic. The scale was daunting. And the route would demand a skill set that nobody on the planet could match.
Nobody that is, except for Lynn Hill.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Starting in the 80s, and extending well into the 90s, it seemed to be the French vs. The British for sport climbing supremacy. At the middle of this war of words and routes were Ben Moon and Jibe Tribout, and the greatest battles would play out at Buoux and Raven Tor, two of the most legendary crags of the era.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Alan Watts might have bolted the best routes of the 1980’s and 90s. Chain Reaction, To Bolt or Not To Be, Just Do It. He didn’t have a front row seat to the action - he was on the stage alongside Tribout and every other superstar who came to Smith Rock to try his routes.
In this episode, Alan and Kris discuss Jibe Tribout and whether he was the villain he seemed to be, as well as the true story of America’s first 14c, Just Do It.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
In November of 2018, at Smith Rock, Oregon, Adam Ondra made one of the most impressive onsights in the history of climbing. The first 14c in the US, Just Do It.
1990’s era technical testpieces don’t make for easy redpoints, more or less onsights, but Adam has made a point of trying to do just that as often as possible. And there’s no climber in the world who is better at it.
In this episode, Kris and Adam discuss the importance of history, how Just Do It checks all of the boxes for a classic, the value of competition, and the impeccable vision of Alan Watts in bringing Smith Rock into the new age.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Brash and bold, Jibe Tribout had a futuristic vision, and he was willing to Just Do It. Even if that meant flying around the world to try a route he’d been asked to stay off of.
He wasn’t the most talented of the French superstar climbers. That title belonged to Patrick Edlinger or one of the Le Menestrel brothers. But he worked the hardest. He put in the hours and the effort, and he got the results. He didn’t take no for an answer, even if he maybe should have. That attitude made him sometimes a target, often a villain, but always a dedicated, hardcore climber who loved it all.
So when he went to Oregon and sent Just Do It to create the second 14c in the world, the locals didn’t hate on it. They threw him a party.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Merry Christmas! As a gift for listening and sharing the show, we’ve not only put together a massive list of climbing films from the 1990’s that you can watch right now for free, but we also decided to chat with Mike Call - one of the key figures in 1990’s hold shaping, innovation, and filmmaking.
We hear about the shaping of The Boss and the early days of Pusher, what it was like filming and editing back then, and MANY of the best stories about filming with Boone Speed, Chris Sharma and more superstars from that era, including the landmark first ascent that Mike accidentally recorded over.
Learn more at our website.
90's Climbing films that are free to stream
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
Dorothea Karalus drove over 400 miles, repeatedly, over several years to repeat Fred Nicole’s classic V13 La Danse des Balrogs in Branson, Switzerland. Through the process, she discovered that happiness wasn’t sending - it was a separate thing - and maybe, just maybe, this is what allowed her passage on the boulder.
In this episode, Kris asks Doro to set the scene in Branson and describe the boulder field, the view, the atmosphere, and the boulder itself. They discuss passion reignited and the mental battle of a long-term, long-distance project.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
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