The RunOut Podcast

Tag: speed climbing

  • The RunOut #151: Linking it up with Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill 

    The RunOut #151: Linking it up with Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill 

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    Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill are two of the best speed climbers in Yosemite today. They currently hold the record for the historic Yosemite Triple Crown with a time of 17 hours and 55 minutes, and they’re also the only climbers to also add in a fourth big wall on top of that feat—a linkup they dubbed the Quad. 

    We spoke to Tanner and Michael about their partnership, the allure of linkups, the dangers of speed climbing and competition, and the real joy beyond what you see on social media of clocking big walls for breakfast.

    But first, bolts be pulling out, yo. What’s the best way to address aging crags? Your fixed podcast anchors weigh in.

    Last, the infamous Tall Jonathan, of the podcast formerly known as TAPS call-in fame, AKA Jonathan Sides, delivers Something More.

    Show Notes

    Forget the Yosemite Triple… These Guys Just Did the Quad

    How Two Lesser-Known Rock Climbers Smashed a Fabled Yosemite Record

    Follow Tanner Wanish

    Follow Michael Vaill

    Listen to “Something More” by Jonathan Sides on Spotify

    Follow Jonathan Sides on Instagram

    Enormocast 302: Last Rites 

    Increase your RunOut runtime. Become a RunOut Rope Gun!  Bonus episodes, AMA, and more are available on Patreon. This is the best way to support the show! Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast

  • RunOut #129: Olympic Fever; Plus: When Climbers Become Parents with Allyson Gunsallus

    RunOut #129: Olympic Fever; Plus: When Climbers Become Parents with Allyson Gunsallus

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    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. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

  • RunOut #107: Speed Climbing is OK

    RunOut #107: Speed Climbing is OK

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    Our guest today is Albert Ok, a YouTuber and speed-climbing coach. Albert goes by the handle Professor Ok, and creates content that breaks down movement. He tries to break climbing down into its most fundamental parts in order to best understand it. He’s also a talented speed climber, boulderer, and all-around athlete.

    But first, Andrew reports on a little local controversy from Chamonix regarding one of the most decorated alpine climbers of his generation who was prosecuted by an authoritarian politician, and what all of this means for the big thorny question of fixed gear in the mountains.

    Our final bit features the heavy psychedelic grooves of the band Pontiak.

    Show Notes

    Follow Albert OK on Instagram

    Subscribe to Albert Ok on YouTube

    Christophe Profit Found Guilty of Removing Safety Gear From Mont Blanc

    Follow Pontiak on Instagram and Spotify

  • RunOut #6: Olympic Dreaming

    RunOut #6: Olympic Dreaming

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    The old adage “sport climbing is neither” is now a sad relic of atavistic time in climbing—a time before there were gyms, before there were World Cups, and before there were climbers capable of onsighting 9a+ but who instead choose to spend 30 hours a week training indoors, six to eight months a year, all in preparation for a single event when they are finally released by their coaches onto a competition stage, like animals out of a cage.

    It was a time that most climbers today will not even remember.

    Climbing is making its big debut in the 2020 Olympics. When this news was jointly announced by the International Federation of Sport Climbing and the International Olympic Committee two years ago, no one, it seemed, was very happy about it. Grizzled old chuckleheads read the news as yet another omen that climbing had been utterly yuppified, while the most hardcore competition climbers were seemingly united in their disappointment with the proposed format of combing lead, bouldering, and speed.

    This September, during the biennial World Championships, the IFSC got its first chance to show the climbing world not only why this combined format would be great, fair and just and even exciting to watch—but also that this format would translate to a successful event in the forthcoming Olympics.

    So, did the IFSC win over the naysayers? Was the World Championships everything world-class comp climbers had hoped for and deserve? And what does this all mean for our sport, the outdoor industry, and the future of climbing?

    Since neither Chris nor I know squat about comp climbing, we invited our mutual friend and colleague Chris Parker to be our guest for this episode. Chris is a former editor at Rock and Ice magazine and now he works as a content creator for Black Diamond. He got to travel to Innsbruck to witness and report on the entire World Championships. You can check out Black Diamond’s website for his report. It explains the format, what works, and where some serious and legitimate concerns remain.

    One quick show note. I referenced an Iranian speed climber, whose name I didn’t know at the time. His name is Reza Alipour, and he is a total major beast.