photo Paul Higginson
Pure soul. Julian is one of the UK’s most extraordinary climbers, a stoic toejammer, a ramrod individualist, an aesthetic ascetic. Film star, prize-winning author, hermit. Get in!
Niall x
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
What a cackle as we sit down in Unit E with Zoe Peetermans. She’s reigning British Bouldering Champ and British Lead vice champ. She’s a star and a great cat. Hear the passion, intellegence and personality burn through in this chat.
In part one (ep 164) in introduce the show but mostly chat shit. As well as that there are some wonderful haikus from Anesu and Mike.
In part two (ep 165) it’s all about Zoe. Takes your picks
Niall x
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Tobin Sorenson was one of America's boldest and most gifted climbers of the 1970s. Tobin's friend Rick Accomazzo comes on the show to tell us about Tobin and why he chose to write a book about him.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
With her ascent of New Base Line, Siara Fabbri joined the world elite of women climbing 8B+. A huge achievement for someone who started climbing at 21 and who works full time in cutting edge science. Antimatter, anyone?
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
He’s back! We got Alex Huber back on the show to chat about pushing the limit of sport climbs into the 9a+ grade, El Cap free routes, Wolfgang Güllich, controversial opinions and lot more.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo: Vincent Kleine
Alex Huber rose to prominence in the early 1990s with ascents of what were the world's hardest sport climbs, consolidating the 9a grade and pushing on into 9a+. He brought his power to freeing the walls of El Cap and changed that mighty golden landscape forever adding the most popular and beautiful climbs on the great faces.
At the same time, he brought his power and skill to much more serious and remote objectives in the Himalaya, Karakoram, Patagonia and the Arctic. Groundbreaking ascents followed in the Dolomites as well as top level free solos.
His is one of the most significant climbers of recent times. Check it out.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
A brilliant two-parter for your ears.
In part 1 trad-monster James Pearson reflects on the early days of marching through the numbers to the top of grade-mountain and finding himself eventually on the edge of the cliff. Powerful stuff, lots of fun.
In part 2 we talk about big downgrades, the fallout, getting back up the E12 and his recent repeat of MacLeod’s mystical Echo Wall.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
French-born ex-comp best turned lover of British hard trad mega-classics Caro sits down and answers some of her own questions - is that a thing? Super crack.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Neil Gresham has been chomping hard at the climbing bit forover three decades, always pushing and changing his focus. In p1 we hear about Sheffield times in the 1990s.
In part 2 we talk Indian Face, Hard Grit, travelling and exploration, DWS, training and professionalism. Get in!
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Jim Pope reads End of a Climb by John Menlove Edwards, widely regarded as one of the finest bits of pre-war climbing writing.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Hello, World!
Photo: @esteban.ele.eme
Away from the spotlight, Yorkshire-born, Catalunyan-based Tom 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. Let’s hear his crack.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo Corey Rich
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 Light Through the Cracks.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo: Drew Smith
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.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
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.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Norweigan trad beast, crack shuffler and professional amateur Mari talks Troll Wall, local clubs, El Cap and always looking forward.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Comp climbing retirees Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal set the ridiculous goal of free climbing The Nose of El Cap, the greatest trad climb on earth. Hear their crazy story. The story comes in two parts.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
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.
Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Google Podcasts. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
photo Ray Wood
Your annual sermon from the disco pulpit where the Jesus of beats and the Devil of groove battle it out in an epic damce to the death. Hot dog! Love's a-winnin!
Mighty crack. Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or on . If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo Ray Wood
23-year-old Zoe was born into climbing in the hills and homes of North Wales where the slopes of Eryri turn their eyes towards the sea, This world was sketched in a recent film, Adra, which captured too her love for her home. Hear about it and her current career as a routesetter and a move to Sheffield. Many Cackles are had.
Mighty crack. Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or on . If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo: Dean Fidelman
In part 2 we hear about Leo’s attempt to push standards and adventure on El Cap, breathtaking stories of wingsuit flying, racing Jeremy Clarkson, then taking his skills to the arctic wilderness and finally bringing it closer to home.
Mighty crack. Support the podcast on Patreon here.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
