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 wo ...
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Explore true stories from rock climbing and bouldering's modern history with host James Howell as he introduces you to the people, events, and incredible places that shaped our sport.
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Niall Grimes on Moffatt, Revelations and What Jerry Means to Climbing
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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 w…
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Jerry Moffatt is the Best Climber in the World
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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 sta…
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Bill Ramsey on Alan Watts and Climbing at Smith Rock in the 80's
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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 Sm…
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Alan Watts Sets Off a Chain Reaction
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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 o…
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David Chambre on Edlinger, Tribout and French Sport Climbing History
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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…
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Jibé Tribout and Arnould T'Kint on Patrick Edlinger and Climbing in the 80's
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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 …
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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 s…
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Kurt Albert and the Birth of Sport Climbing
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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 impor…
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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 d…
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BONUS | Remus Knowles on the Climbers and Ascents We Missed in Season 1
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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 g…
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BONUS | Matt Samet on Climbing Mags from the 90s to Now
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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 prin…
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Climbing in the 90s: Cultural Shifts and Lessons Learned from Season One
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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. Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE. ---------------------------------- Thank you to our partner,…
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Eva Lopez on Women in Sports, Rivalries, and What Josune Means to Climbing History
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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 o…
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Josune Bereziartu Goes Honky Tonkin'
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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 …
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Chris Schulte on the Magic of Fontainebleau, Climbing Lifelist Boulders and Catherine Miquel
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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, a…
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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 ag…
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Josie McKee on Curiosity and the Mindset of Climbing Freerider
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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 ea…
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Chris Kalous on Freerider, Big Wall Climbing Rules, and How the Hubers Shifted History
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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 layin…
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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 Hube…
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How to Climb Cowboy Direct: Jordan Cannon on The Struggle Climbing Show
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Today, 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 rout…
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Mike Lilygren on Todd Skinner, Leadership, and Climbing Trango Tower
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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.” …
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Jordan Cannon on Cowboy Direct, Climbing History and the Importance of Storytelling
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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 a…
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Calling something "unclimable," will lead any self respecting climber to wonder whether that statement is accurate. In the 1800's, half dome was deemed unclimbable...and these days more than 50,000 people make it to the summit every year. Words are powerful. Put in front of the right audience, they get people to find ways to achieve the impossible.…
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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 alpini…
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Jonathan Siegrist on the Difficulty of Grading and Climbing for the Challenge
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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, wh…
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Seb Bouin on Akira, Grading DNA and French Climbing History
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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 fir…
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Fred Rouhling, Akira and the Biggest Climbing Controversy of the 1990s
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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 …
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BONUS: Nina Caprez on Attempting to Climb The Nose with Lynn Hill
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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…
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Lauren Delaunay Miller on Lynn Hill and The History of Women Climbing in Yosemite
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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 did…
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Chelsea Griffie on Leading the Way and Being the First Black Woman to Climb El Cap
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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 bein…
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Bobbi Bensman on Lynn Hill and 1990s Competition Climbing
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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…
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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 …
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10 Incredible "Women of Firsts" in Climbing
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It's fair to say that for the majority of the history of rock climbing, men have hogged the spotlight. Climbing has a particular "macho" bend to it, and women throughout the past hundreds of years have faced sexism and discrimination in almost every way possible while trying to participate on the rock. Despite this unfortunate truth, many women hav…
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BONUS: The French vs. The British | A Battle of Route Names
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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. Check out more here! Join the Secret …
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Alan Watts on Jibe Tribout, Just Do It and Climbing at Smith in the 90s
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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 vil…
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Adam Ondra on Just Do It and the Importance of Climbing History
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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…
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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…
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Bonus: Mike Call on Filming and Shaping 90’s Era Climbing
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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…
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Dorothea Karalus on Fred Nicole and Climbing La Danse des Balrogs
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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 …
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Bjorn Pohl on Fred Nicole and What Makes a Climbing Legend
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Bjorn Pohl is a climbing journalist and podcaster who has covered climbing since the late 90’s, and has seen the impact of Fred Nicole on bouldering for the past 20 plus years. In this episode, Kris and Bjorn discuss Fred’s contributions, how he was also a top sport climber, the importance of hard repeats and Fred’s continued legacy. We also hear F…
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Will Anglin on Fred Nicole and New Ways of Seeing Climbing
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Will Anglin spends a lot of time thinking hard about hard bouldering. And good bouldering. And of course, doing as much of both as possible. As founder of Tension Climbing, Will has made sure his company - and his climbing - follows the philosophy “mastery over success”. Much like Fred Nicole, he measures his words and movements carefully, and has …
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Fred Nicole was never simply an athlete. He was an artist. Coming into bouldering via a different direction than you might think, Fred Nicole did indeed create art. Really, really difficult art. First, La Danse des Balrogs, the worlds first V13. But that merely opened a door to new possibilities. Moving in his singular style, he sought out new chal…
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The early 80's was a time of immense change in the climbing world. Sport climbing and bolting on rappel had just started to spread from Europe to America, and the ethics that had ruled the previous decades started to be questioned. John Bachar - arguably the greatest climber in the world at the time - hated the idea of these new ethics changing the…
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BONUS: Hubble vs. Action Directe | The World’s First 9a (14d) featuring Alex Megos and Buster Martin
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Two of the legendary routes from the 90s are now at odds with each other. One of them was likely the first 9a in the world, but which was it? Hubble or Action Directe? In this bonus episode, we’re going to examine the circumstances, discuss where the debate began, and hear from the only two people in the world who have climbed both routes - Alex Me…
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Alex Megos on Wolfgang Gullich and Climbing Action Directe
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There’s no climber more qualified to discuss Action Directe than Alex Megos. He has the fastest ascent, the most ascents, and he is, in our estimation, the person who is carrying the torch that Wolfgang Gullich left behind. In this episode, we discuss the visionary line of Action Directe, what makes it different and so present in our consciousness …
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Ben Cossey on Wolfgang Gullich and What it Takes to Climb Action Directe
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One of Australia’s best and most colorful climbers, Ben Cossey is, in his words, a Wolfgang Gullich froth dog. Action Directe is a life goal that he’s come close on, and plans to return to. In this episode, Kris and Ben discuss the legacy of Action Directe, speculate on what might have been if Wolfgang had lived, and get very deep and nerdy on the …
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Wolfgang Gullich Takes Direct Action
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13d, 14a, 14b. (8b to 8c) Wolfgang Gullich was the first to climb them all. Now, with Action Directe, he was set to raise standards once again. In the Waldkopf region of the Frankenjura, Wolfgang left us his most enduring legacy: a 16-18 move masterpiece through single and two-finger pockets and powerful moves out an impossibly steep limestone bulg…
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Steve McClure on Ben Moon and Climbing Hubble
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In 2000, Steve McClure completed a project Ben Moon had spent 120 days on and left unfinished, calling it Northern Lights and giving it 9a. The torch was passed. A few years later, he climbed a route that completed his journey - Hubble - saying that it might be more important to him than his own first ascents. One of which was Mutation, a candidate…
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Buster Martin on Ben Moon and Hubble
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Buster Martin burst onto the UK climbing scene as a 16-year-old by climbing Bat Route, a famous 14b at Malham. And even though he took a break from climbing, he didn’t fizzle out entirely like many prodigies tend to do. Instead, he came back with a vengeance by climbing BOTH Hubble and Action Directe, becoming only the 2nd person to clip chains on …
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It’s hard to argue that any climber from the 90’s had a bigger impact than Ben Moon, and he did it from the launch of the decade. While he wasn’t looking for controversy, he also wasn’t afraid to make a statement. All punk rock and dreadlocks, he established the first two 14b’s in France, with names like missiles aimed directly at the French. He de…
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