The Thundercling Podcast

Betcha didn't expect this! Jamie joins the boys once again for an in-depth chat on the state of Mt. Evans bouldering just after his beautiful new guidebook hit the shelves. If you're psyched on the alpine and want to know all the issues bubbling around access and best practices, you won't want to skip this one. Thanks for the listens, gang. Life is busy, trips are many, and this bonkers little podcast project just couldn't make the cut. Fidi switched careers, bought a house, and got engaged! I also switched careers, got a new dog that may or may not be the spawn of Mephistopheles himself, and started running triathlons (I am objectively the worst triathlete in Colorado's long and storied athletic history...seriously). Maybe we'll find time again. Maybe we won't. Whatever happens, we both want to extend a sincere thank you for listening along with our warbling and honking. We love ya, we appreciate ya, and we'll see ya on the sharp end.

It's funny where we end up, this random world kind of chucking us around like socks in the laundry. Existential mysteries aside, watching the folks around us land where they were meant to be is one of the great joys of being a human. After leaving Delaware for the mountains of Colorado, Cameron Maier joined a trail crew in Rocky Mountain National Park, already infatuated with climbing and hoping to put to use a college degree. When he was furloughed in 2010 as the season drew to a close, Cam used his government cheese to buy his first camera. And he met Dave Graham. The rest is...well, you know. Whether by chance or fate, Cam found himself running in a ridiculously elite crew, with Dave Graham at the height of his powers and Daniel Woods, Isabelle Faus, Jon Cardwell, and a host of others crushing rigs and raising their standards on a seemingly weekly basis. Cam had his cameras at the ready. In the years since those halcyon days, Cameron grew the fledgling Bearcam Media into one of the most recognizable entities in climbing film and photography. From those early stoke films came a sharpened eye and growing ambition, resulting in award-winning films like "Craig's Reaction" and festival standards like "Concepcion" and "Sonnie Trotter Vs. The Totem Pole." He messed around hilariously in "Bierstadt - Bierstadt" and dove deep into symbolism and iconography in my personal favorite, "Stone-Spirit." Hell, he just dropped two episodes of his work covering a tour with the DJ/producer/songwriter, Diplo. God forgive what I'm about to write...but there's no hibernation in Bearcam's future and we're here for it. That you just had to read that sentence brings me unspeakable joy. I imagine this episode - especially the outro - is going to demand some conversation. Drop us a line with pitches, concerns, gripes, or gifts and treasures at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Insta @thethundercling. As always, thanks to Ryne Doughty for the delicious musical stylings! Happy New Year, Thunder Friends. I'm raising my glass to a bit of hope and equanimity in the...LOLOLOLOL... Eh, let's just survive.

Photo: Tory Powers Listening to her speak while reclined in bed, locked into a stabilizing back brace after a trad fall that saw her fracture two vertebrae, I couldn't help but think, Molly Mitchell makes sound and brave decisions. Weird, huh? While making a name for herself after crushing 5.14 sport and authoring bold and dangerous traditional first ascents, Molly kicked down the door when she became the 7th woman to climb 5.14 trad with her ascent of China Doll in Upper Dream Canyon, Boulder, CO. From the outside, you felt like you were watching the next crusher waltzing onto the scene, prepped and psyched to make mincemeat of trad standards across the globe. Photo: Scott Crady Behind the scenes, however, Molly wages another battle, where clipping the ephemeral chains demands much more than weighted hangs and native talent. Diagnosed in her early 20s, Molly recently shared her struggles with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Trichotillomania in Climbing Magazine (Winter 2020 issue). In an extraordinary essay, Molly ushers us through a restless landscape of doubt, anxiety, and a struggle for self-worth, a Virgil to our Dante in a year where disquiet and dread define the zeitgeist of a nation in turmoil. She's a worthy and careful guide. Photo: Tory Powers Now, back to that back brace and those decisions. After tackling China Doll and taming her screaming doubts, Molly launched herself into her next objective: a trad ascent of Boulder Canyon's notoriously flared and slippery Crank It (5.13c/d). After sussing the line on bolts (good decision) and diluting each gear placement down to the millimeter (good decision), Molly launched up the route on lead. About 10 feet above where Brad Gobright spit off the same line in the film Safety Third, breaking his back and ankle, Molly caught air, ripping four pieces of gear out of their shallow placements and decking from 30 feet, right onto her keister. Two spinal compression fractures later, Molly found herself braced up and forced away from the rock and suddenly intimate with a mind she has worked so hard to make an ally. Photo: Tory Powers Molly Mitchell is exactly the person we need in 2020's apocalyptic landscape of trauma and anxiety, an extraordinary athlete whose accomplishments on the rock are only superseded by her advocacy for mental health in a sometimes toxic public forum. Her bravery in the act of disclosure and candor without apology is a reminder to all of us, that behind the curtain of our achievements each of us must wrestle with the coiling serpents of our own burdens. It's a call to empathy in a time of isolation and we couldn't hope for a more humane messenger. Have a question or a pitch or perhaps a gift of one million American dollars? Find us on Instagram @thethundercling or shoot us a missive at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks as always to Ryne Doughty for the svelte musical stylings. Take care of each other, gang, and travel responsibly over the holiday season!

Albert Ok showed up to my house with a package of raw ghost peppers. They remain on my porch table because I'm terrified of them. He began that day in Clear Creek Canyon, taking down "Moulin Rouge," a V10 rapidly gaining classic status on the Front Range. Then he joined Fidi for a session at Movement Baker. And after our chat he literally jogged off the porch because he was late for this third climbing session of the day, at the Denver Bouldering Club. The question is...is Albert Ok powered by ghost peppers? Where does he get this relentless energy? From Jersey to Texas to Colorado and now back to the Lone Star State, Albert has been feeding himself not only ghost peppers, but a steady regimen of new experiences and challenges. Chess, parkour and tricking, beatboxing, climbing, and finally video content creation. After falling down the abyss of climbing addiction, he took note of a vacuum of steady and reliable climbing content on YouTube. Specifically, content that informed, taught, and entertained, outside the standard rock porn. Photo by Levi Harrell In earnest, he launched his inaugural video on his sparkling new YouTube page 8 months ago, an investigation of Japanese powerhouse Akiyo Noguchi breaking the beta during an international competition. This format would grow into the popular and massively viewed series "Beta Break," while the page remains focused on the world of comp climbing, although Albert's horizons are constantly expanding. As of today, his page has wrangled over 30,000 subscribers. His content has been viewed well over 4 million times. In eight months! For almost no money! All created on an $80 broke-ass laptop! Albert's future, with his manic energy and relentless curiosity, will be a joy to document. He's invested in building a co-op, community owned gym in his home town of Trenton, NJ, catering to urban and underserved youth. His video content, seemingly polished and professional out of the gate, remains in its infancy. Most importantly, his drive to climb everything and everywhere...who knows where all this ambition and curiosity and passion will take him? Photo by Levi Harrell Listen, Albert Ok is a good person. He's kind, curious, relentlessly energetic, and one of those guys that constantly uncovers his own talents through dogged investigation and experimentation. Check out his YouTube page. Follow his journey. This manic ghost pepper of a human is just getting started. Got a question, comment, pitch, or dire concern for our well-being? Drop us a line at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or check us out on Instagram @thethundercling. As always, thanks to Ryne Doughty for the lovely musical stylings. Check out his many albums on iTunes or wherever you shop for new tunes! Be well, gang. Stay safe and diligent. Check in with your friends and family and show all that love you have beating in your hearts. And for the love of all that is holy and good, VOTE!

When Drew Ruana (21) was nine years old, already deep into infatuation, he dreamed of becoming the greatest climber on the planet. Heady stuff for a kid who still slept with a night light. And yet, 12 years later, he's well on his way to making that starry-eyed little tyke proud. Drew is in the midst of one of the most head-spinning runs in bouldering history. After missing the cut for the US Olympic team by the slimmest of margins, which we discuss at length, Drew stepped away from the frustrations and fickle beat downs of competition climbing for the boulderfields of the American West. With only one V14 on his ledger, he began his rampage in earnest in Utah's Joe's Valley, documented in the film "Three Days in Joe's," where he crushed 18 of Joe's hardest in a single long weekend. From there, it was off to the races. At the time of release, Drew has also ticked three V16s and numerous V15s -- in well under a year! Drew ushers us from his early years in Washington to an adolescence spent jetting around the world for national and international competitions. Disillusioned after failing to land an Olympic spot, he explains his motivations for charging forward outdoors and his future plans, which are...bonkers. As a climber with a growing platform and the will to elevate his voice, Drew also explains why he has engaged with the social issues and racial inequalities ravaging the nation right now. He knows he's young. He knows he's ridiculously privileged. He knows he doesn't know what he doesn't know. But he's dedicated to informing himself and staring racism in the face, even if only through social media. With a legion of young, engaged, and advocacy-minded climbers breaking onto the scene, Drew hopes their voices can highlight the ways in which climbing can dismantle barriers and become a more inclusive culture. Got a question, pitch, gripe, or a briefcase of non-sequential bills you want to shoot our way? Get ahold of us at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or hunt us down @thethundercling on Instagram. Thanks as always to the indelible Ryne Doughty for the tight tunes.

About an hour into our chat with Mac Gaugh, climber and owner of fledgling climbing apparel brand Creag, a dry microburst exploded and for a few minutes the wind did all the talking. At this point in 2020, you just kinda nod and acquiesce... Mac is certainly no stranger to microbursts unsheathing chaos and struggle. For the majority of his life he's fluctuated wildly between a cyclical loop of achievement and sabotage. Addiction crept into his life early, along with rock climbing. When sober he found himself crushing V12 boulder problems in the early 2000s, a time when that grade raised eyebrows. When surrendered to the chaos and alcohol and gambling, he bounced between homelessness and the liquidation of his aspirations. Eventually, through the hard work of rehabilitation and determination and the support of his family, Mac found himself sober and itching to do something of import. A total neophyte, he decided to launch a climbing apparel brand, from scratch. He had no idea what he was doing. With a mentor guiding him and some seed money in the coffer, Mac dove into the process of designing, sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing a technical clothing line, maneuvering along a ridiculous learning curve. He decided to make his products here at home, adding ironic complications to the entire process. Eventually, however, Creag coalesced into a tight collection of functional, technical, good-looking clothing built for his tribe, climbers and outdoor athletes. Finally, after years of work, Creag was ready to launch...in March 2020. The global coronavirus pandemic dropped like an albatross just as Mac was taking his product to market, all on notoriously competitive terrain where giants like Patagonia and Arc'teryx devour competitors. For months he navigated government assistance programs, rejected on various technicalities, although he represented an independent brand manufactured entirely in the United States while staffed almost entirely by climbers, from photographers to designers. Creag, vulnerable as all new things are, fluttered on the edge of oblivion. Admirably clean and sober in a time of extraordinary tribulation and entirely dedicated to saving his company, Mac is in the midst of a re-launch. He frames it as Creag's final push, against remarkable odds and historic calamities. Mac's story is a modern fable, a story of despair and determination and entrepreneurship in the midst of a grim history being written in real time. And like any fable's hero, he's charging into the maw, clear-eyed and with everything on the line. Got a question or pitch or good joke for the apocalypse? Get ahold of us on Instagram @thethundercling or shoot us a missive at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks as always to Ryne Doughty for the svelte musical stylings.

It stands to reason many of you have never heard of Aman Anderson. He doesn't putz around on social media. His name, as far as I can tell, appears only once on his company's website. When his name is attached to work, it's generally citing his cutting edge data and analytics research, with titles such as, "Optimizing Muscular Strength-to-Weight Ratios in Rock Climbing." As a rule, spray does not equal import. Behind the scenes, for complicated reasons he elucidates in our conversation, Aman has become one of the most important thinkers, researchers, and pioneers in our sport. Hailing originally from Florida, Aman discovered climbing as he was diving into a career as a user experience and interface designer, building on a history of health sciences and nutritional data. Finally landing in Colorado, Aman launched into new and scary territory, leaving his career behind to launch his company, Beast Fingers Climbing. Beast Fingers is many things. Aman has designed some of the most thoughtful, research-driven training tools ever to hit the climbing market. And that research, peer-reviewed and widely respected, has changed the way we in which we interact with performance, recovery, training, and the data underlying it all. Most importantly, Aman endeavored to build an ethos and culture for his company. As one of the very few black entrepreneurs in the climbing world, he wanted to construct a Beast Fingers climbing team on a foundation of diversity, inclusivity, and, let's face it, bad ass climbers. His team includes advocates and crushers like Melise Edwards, founder of MUSE Mentorship, whose "mission is to provide representation across STEM fields and to demystify pathways to higher education for underrepresented students in STEM." World champion and advocate Maureen Beck has been a part of the team from the beginning. French National Team member Mickael Mawem calls Beast Fingers home, as does Maggie Yeung and Hunter Damiani. Advocates, athletes, engineers, classical pianists, artists, leaders. As outdoor industry titans scramble to rethink their messaging and inclusivity and team diversity, they need look no further than Aman's ethos as both paragon and guiding light. In this wonderful conversation we follow Aman from Florida to Colorado, from leaving his lucrative career to working at King Soopers so he could find time to foster his burgeoning company. He educated us on the challenges and barriers a black climber and entrepreneur face in the white-dominated world of rock climbing, tribulations that previously roiled in the shadows of a sport lacking diversity and inclusivity, a sport struggling with intersectionality. We also follow him as he kicks ass across the board, from cutting-edge data research to building one of the finest teams in the land to founding a company making a difference for athletes of all levels. Shoot us your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @thethundercling. Thanks to Ryne Doughty, once again, for the tunes. His newest album is now available on all platforms! The second half of 2020 is here. We're all responsible. Let's flip the script and make the next six months a referendum on a culture we can no longer abide. It's long past time to fight.

Our hearts and minds, like the rest of the sane nation, are focused on the Black Lives Matter movement. Frankly, along with the implications of Covid-19 and a looming election, it dominates our thoughts and conversations. With confederate iconography tumbling, once-silent voices rising, and police reform seemingly inevitable, it's no time to lose focus. It's really all we're thinking about, reflecting on, and sending our meager efforts towards. 2020 has beaten us down, collectively. If you're not angry, frustrated, anxious, or famished for change and systemic reform, then you're not paying attention. But it is exhausting. For every single one of us it's exhausting, and yet we see you on the streets protesting, on the front lines working double shifts, and fighting for a better America in myriad ways. It's a marvel and an inspiration to see. Before this chat with Jamie, we felt guilty talking about a privileged, historically white, and mostly frivolous activity like rock climbing. But as the conversation rolled on, each one of us shed our anxiety and rage for a couple hours. It was almost a physical sensation, like a deflation. It was the first time in a month any of us had just dug in to the ephemera of something so silly while so many others were fighting, at that exact moment, for a better future for the rest of us. If you feel like taking a break, join us for a couple hours. If you feel like chatting about climbing is anathema to meaningful dialogue right now, we understand that, too, and mostly agree. Jamie Emerson, through relentless energy and boundless curiosity, has cemented his place in the pantheon of western rock climbers. He's had a hand in developing some of the most iconic areas in the Rocky Mountain region, from Mt. Evans to Roy to Rocky Mountain National Park to the vast boulderfields of Wyoming. He penned the seminal guide to Evans and RMNP and is working on a second addition right now. He's a World Cup routesetter, an advocate for sustainable land management, and an outspoken voice when climbing delves into tricky waters. He was the perfect person to sit down with, to find some reprieve from a brutal news cycle, to give ourselves the gift of two hours of fellowship around something so silly but so meaningful to so many of us. If you need to take a deep breath, have a listen. You can get ahold of us on Instagram @thethundercling or via email at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks to Ryne Doughty for the tunes, as always. We're with you all the way. We want to be a part of the change. If you have any suggestions or criticisms or voices you'd like to hear from, please get ahold of us. We're with you.

Chris Kalman wants you to know that he doesn't want to be famous anymore, not for writing and not for climbing. There was a time when he sought out heavy-hitting publishers and an agent to whisk him to climbing writing fame. This paradigm does not exist. There was a time when he was willing to give his life to the mountains, if that meant glory on the sharp end. This barter, also, doesn't really exist. Chris, after a life of honing his voice and etching his craft, has cemented his status as one of the foremost writers in the outdoor adventure realm. He's diversified his portfolio by chance, risk, and following the muse when it strikes. Kalman has penned pieces for almost every major outdoor publication in the country. He writes for the American Alpine Club and hosts it's "The Cutting Edge Podcast." He wrote a guidebook for Index, WA. After tragedy and loss flooded his life, he hunkered down and wrote his first novella, "As Above, So Below," a spare and stunning rumination on what climbing and risk cost in a world given meaning by human relationships. Chris has etched out first ascents, mostly adventure-style, all over the world. He's been awarded grants and partnered with some of the finest climbers in the business. But where he's found his true place in our tribe is with his voice, whether notching another byline, publishing a rare and esteemed book of climbing fiction, doing spoken-word shorts for "Dirtbag Diaries," or slogging through a guidebook for Sharp End Publishing. In episode 34 we follow along as Chris relays his long journey from a little kid's wonder with the written word, to his discovery of climbing and his evolution to alpine first ascents, to the dirty work of finding his way in the tiny, competitive, and often pauper's world of outdoor adventure writing. Finally, we take a deep dive into the inspiration that drove him to pen "As Above, So Below," a book I believe will find it's place in the pantheon of classic mountain literature. It's a hell of a ride. Chris was kind enough to offer Thundercling listeners a tidy discount on the novella. Listen to the pod and then head over to www.chriskalman.com and pick up "As Above, So Below" for a heavy discount by typing in the code THUNDER. I can't vigorously enough recommend this book. It's a three hour read that will vibrate in your soul for weeks after closing the cover. It's an inspired piece of writing. It's going to be a classic. Have a question, a pitch, some feedback, a trunk of golden Spanish doubloons? Drop us a line at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @thethundercling. Thanks as always to Ryne Doughty for the anthems. He's throwing down another live "Work from Home" show on Facebook this Thursday night. Don't miss it!

Nobody is struggling more in the climbing industry than independent business owners, from gear shops to guiding services to climbing gyms. They've been forced to close their doors, furlough dedicated employees, navigate hazy government support programs, and figure out what the future looks like when the cloud of Coronavirus lifts and, hopefully, dissipates. Thomas Betterton is the majority owner of the Denver Bouldering Club (DBC), two gyms and a third in the making. It is the core gym in Denver, a community of climbers dedicated to improvement over chit-chatting and picking up the next Friday night date. Don Bushey founded Wilderness Exchange in 2000, a gear shop for core climbers, backcountry skiers, and backpackers. Through atrophy and the rise of the internet, Wilderness Exchange is the last independent gear shop standing in Denver, one of the premier outdoor hubs in the country. Its Wildy and REI and, well, that's all we got. Thomas and Don share their experiences helming their respective ships through the choppy and unknown seas of the Covid-19 pandemic. They've lived a waking nightmare of cutting employees adrift, seeing their income drop to basically zero, studying subsidy programs, and building a foundation for an eventual re-opening to the public. Without any sensible federal plan or logical national leadership, they are forced to make it up as they go, all the while wondering how their businesses will survive in a post-pandemic world. The positivity and alacrity with which they're facing this scary and humbling reality drips through this conversation in shocking ways. It's not what Fidi and I expected, but boy...it was wildly refreshing. I'm really, really excited to share this episode because we need, more than anything else, some stories about people weaving through this tribulation with confidence, steadfast determination, and hope. It's a tribute to the sport we all love so much, and the people who build businesses to support our passion. Have a story about how you're dealing with the "shelter in place" regulations and time away from stone? Drop us a message at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or shoot us a note on Instagram @thethundercling. We'd love to hear and maybe share your story. Thanks to Ryne Doughty, who has been putting on some rad live social media shows, for the tunes. Stay safe, be smart, and remember that your actions not only define you, but your neighbors' well-being. The rocks will be there when this god-forsaken fever dream dissolves into a past we will, hopefully, extract meaningful lessons from.

Juliet Hammer wants to work. After compiling certificates and gaining her Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) accreditation, she spent almost two years building a clientele, filling her schedule with 35 sessions a week. And then, the coronavirus pandemic struck...and here we are, stuck in our houses, banished from the crags, and wondering how to stay fit in a time of high anxiety and restless quarantine. After initially losing the lion's share of her weekly sessions, Juliet scrambled to promote her hybrid program, which allows remote training for climbers and general population folks, at home and using whatever they can muster, even if that is just a couple of 12 lb dumbbells. It worked. She's gained enough new and retained enough old clients to stay afloat in this time of flux, but she's looking for more. A world class climber, a competition vet, and a passionate and whip-smart advocate for health and fitness joins us today on the show. It's a rough time for all of us, that's for sure, but Juliet provides us a moment to forget about the quarantine and remember that we're still housed in bodies that crave activity and challenge. Even if it that means doing dips on kitchen chairs and jumping rope in the driveway... Apologies for the Zoom-enabled pod. Not ideal, but we're working with what we got. If you'd like to drop us an email, pitch, or a good "stay in place" training story, get a hold of us on Instagram @thethundercling or by email at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com. Cheers to Ryne Doughty for the great music, as always. Time for another free show online! Take care, you guys. Be good to yourselves and your community.

You guys, listeners and friends, have been with us for almost two years. We dearly love creating this podcast, but sometimes life and death and love and sorrow happen. The next podcast is going to be a couple weeks late, and we think you deserve to know why. Last Friday, on March 6th, my friends Nolan Smythe and Aaron Livingston were blasting up Logical Progression (5.13), a free route on the 2,800-foot El Gigante wall in Basaseachic Falls National Park, Chihuahua, Mexico. Nolan, leading up pitch 14, copped a rest on a comfy ledge. The ledge crumbled beneath him, severed his rope, and this world lost one of it's finest. You can read about the horrific, freak accident here. After the accident, thank god, Aaron mustered his formidable climbing and guiding skills to rope solo to safety, where he was rescued some 30 hours later by local climbers. I can't express the feelings...I can't even say how relieved so, so many of us were to hear of Aaron's rescue. But we lost Nolan. Aaron, much more than his best friend, lost Nolan. Here's the thing about Nolan. There are people you lose in life, or you hear of others losing, and the bromides float around, like, "He was the nicest guy you can imagine." "He never had a negative thing to say about anybody." "He was the most loving person." The thing is, those platitudes and cliches are born of some magical truth, sometimes. They exist because these people exist. Nolan was one of the finest, kindest, most openly loving people I've ever met. I poked fun at him for it. He said "I love you" often and hugged like it was a habit he couldn't shake. In the six years I knew him and climbed with him and worked alongside him and sat around campfires with him, I never heard him disparage another person. He was fascinated by life and driven like a child in a toy factory. He loved climbing and BASE jumping so much you simply couldn't believe it, how this dude could just go and go and go. Choss, big walls, butt-dragging boulders...it didn't matter. As long as he was with his vast group of friends and partners, his psyche was enough to fuel an entire adventure. Nolan made you feel like you were the most special, most important person. But the truth is there is an enormous community grieving right now because he made everyone feel this way. My heart and my love goes out to them. My chest aches for Aaron Livingston and I can't wait to give him a hug Nolan would be proud of. For his family and Savannah Cummins and the Moab crew and our Bishop family and Jackie and Audrey and so many others. So, we're going to delay our next podcast about 10 days because I don't feel like talking about climbing and joking around right now. Because we were going to record this notification, I also reached out to some climbing doctors to give us all a bit of info and guidance vis a vis the Coronavirus. Michael Pang and Radhika (Rad) Ratnabalasuriar were kind enough to write up some climbing specific precautions and we speak about that a bit at the end of this abbreviated pod. We'll be back around the 25th or so. We'll be psyched. For now, we're going to lay low and think about and support our friends. It's a good time to tell your buddies that you love them. Apropos of nothing at all. Nothing is guaranteed in this life except what we choose to do in this exact moment. Let's fill that moment with love. -DM Please consider donating here to help assuage the costs of bringing Nolan back home, and to allow his loved ones the time to grieve. It would mean the world to so many of us who cared so deeply for Nolan. Photo: Nolan going up Jedi Mind Tricks in Bishop, CA. Aaron coming down. The best climbing partnership I've witnessed in 21 years of climbing...

Three decades ago, a skinny climber, a kid, walked into the Straight Up climbing hold warehouse in Boulder, CO, pestering the owner for a job as a shaper. He kept haunting the joint until the owner gave him a job and stuck him in a dusty corner of the warehouse. All these years later, that kid has built the legacy of the greatest hold shaper to ever take sandpaper to foam. Ian Powell began climbing in Waco, TX, eventually moving to Boulder to be closer to the mecca. Once in the door with Straight Up, Ian would spend the next thirty years redefining what being a shaper means. He started e-Grips with Ty Foose, revolutionized the industry by shaping urethane holds, became the first to weave artistic renditions of stone texture onto the holds. His Kilter board features the first glowing holds on a training board. Texture kept him awake at night. He was obsessed. Ian stepped away from shaping and setting in the early 2000s, eager to delve back into fine art. After a bit of hustling, his sculptures began bringing in tens of thousands of dollars, with one piece selling for over $300,000. He was in an entirely different reality. Along with the money, the first of his life, came a cocaine habit. Within ten years he'd find himself living on the streets of Denver, homeless and freezing, a monster habit drilling him into the ground like a screw. He'd end up in prison for credit card fraud, the least violent and most impersonal way to fund the drugs that were entirely dismantling his life. He shot out of prison focused. He'd been sober since the moment his ass hit the bunk. Working behind the walls of the Spot Gym in Boulder, Ian began assembling what would soon become Kilter Grips. Today, after continued innovation and steady growth, Kilter is one the largest and most well-respected hold companies on the planet. I'd be remiss if I didn't gird Ian's story with a couple features and interviews. First off, Caroline Treadway's magnificent feature of Ian in Rock and Ice blew my mind. It is the most definitive piece on Ian out there. Next, ClimbTalk did an interview with Ian and Clark Shelk (you know, the inventor of the crash pad, Cordless, yadda yadda), which really delves into some of Ian's thoughts about climbing, the industry, and addiction. Have a story or essay you’d like to share on Thundercling? Comments, questions, relationship advice? Shoot us an email at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us @thethundercling on the Gram. Perpetually thankful to Ryne Doughty for the tunes.

It's not every day that you meet a climber who can effortlessly breathe authenticity into rock climbing. A climber of eye-popping ability who doesn't care about Instagram followers, doesn't care about grades, who really doesn't give a simple shit what anyone thinks. Hunter Damiani is one of those guys. Here in Colorado, Hunter is a known quantity. He's the artist behind the Spot gym's crazy Psychedelia Competition, random logo and commissioned work, and even Access Fund clothing. He is also one of the most passionate first ascent boulderers in the state. He's put up scores of problems up to V13, both hidden in the backcountry and right out in the open. Hunter's journey through climbing, however, is the real trip. After discovering the sport in Florida around 2000 he mentored under rowdy southern climber, Chris Sierzant. Along the way he won comps, blew up his face with homemade explosives, and honed a passion for the sport well outside the bounds of grades and corporate dogma. And then he left the sport. Moved into a cabin in the woods with no money, no internet, no car. Six years he spent away from the sport. When he came back he was a new man, centered after years of partying and letting it rip and graduating from college. Years in a cabin with books and wilderness and a library card had allowed him to find himself, hone his beliefs, and set the stage for a new era in his climbing career. Climbing harder than ever and with a gaggle of sponsors, today Hunter splits his time between routesetting, climbing, writing a new Front Range bouldering guidebook, and refining his artwork. And, might I add, telling some wild stories on this very podcast. Have a story or essay you'd like to share on Thundercling? Wanna chat? Come on, we're lonely. Drop us an email at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us @thethundercling on the Gram. We'll get back to you...like I said...we're so lonely. Cheers as always to the effervescent Ryne Doughty for the rad tunes.

So, get this. Chelsea Rude, at the urging of her father, walked into a climbing gym for the first time at age 11. Two weeks later she entered a competition, having never really competed in any sporting event before. She took first place. That, obviously, is an auspicious start to a career in climbing. Chelsea began racking up victories so quickly and steadily that she dove into the JCCA (Junior Competition Climbing Association, formerly the American Sport Climber's Federation, and which shortly became USA Climbing). Soon, she was a full-fledged member of the USA Climbing Team, a distinction she held for an astonishing 13 years. Chelsea paid her dues outdoors, as well, with multiple ascents of 5.14b and V11. She summited the Nose at age 15, sunk axes into ice and glacier, and plugged gear all around the American West. Perhaps the most appealing facet of Chelsea's career, however, is the patience and thoughtfulness she's taken in investigating her chosen path. As age, injury, and tenacity saw Chelsea bow out of comp climbing, she had some big decisions to make. What to choose as a career? How would climbing fit into her adult life? Who is Chelsea Rude, former World Cup competitor and still sponsored Adidas/Five Ten athlete? How could she give back to the sport which has given so much to her? The answer to that is the forthcoming She Sends Collective, Chelsea's brainchild and passion project. The Collective, which kicks into motion this March, will focus on empowering women through coaching (Chelsea has coached the USAC youth team and still holds coaching clinics around the country), as well as an emphasis on nutrition (she suffered through an eating disorder in her competition days) and mental health/therapy. It's an ambitious undertaking. Have a question, pitch, criticism, or bad and unsolicited advice? You can drop us a line at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram @thethundercling. Thanks as always to Ryne Doughty for the rad tunes!

Happy holidays, ya grungy cabal of crushers! We're ringing in the New Year with a Sauce Night, which was far overdue. The hot pink Christmas tree is glowing. The conversation is chippy. The Hungarian liqueur is flowing from a mysterious goblet. Slurring, like the flowing sands of time, eventually overtakes another Sauce Night... The regular crew of Travis and Lynn join Fidi and I, tackling another lap around the sun in the climbing-verse. We each present the stories, movies, events, and achievements that most spoke to us over the course of 2019. After the dust settles, we present our favorite holiday movies...although, unfortunately, no fist fights erupt. Crack a tasty beverage and listen along as we chuff our way through a wide-ranging conversation, from the Lander chipping n' chopping controversy to Wolfgang Gullich's, um...formidable...physique. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday celebration and here's a clink of the glasses to a healthy, safe, and chain-clipping New Year! We'll be back in 2020 with a long lists of guests we can't wait to chat up. Have questions, pitches, criticisms, or an expensive present to send? You can drop us a line at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram. Is Facebook still a thing? We might be there, as well. Thanks as always to Ryne Doughty for the svelte musical stylings!

Certain people exist in our little world, people who push the buttons and massage the infrastructure and leave fingerprints in every nook. These revolutionaries will never receive recognition from the wider climbing galaxy, let alone the average climber clipping bolts at the local crag. They are the people behind the scenes; providing jobs, building the gyms in which we train, constructing the ballast upon which the sport relies. So, let's talk about Kynan Waggoner. In one of my favorite climbing conversations, podcast or otherwise, Kynan takes us through his history in the sport, dropping our jaws as we begin to understand the reach of the branches he has extended into climbing history. Kynan hung his first shingle in '98, opening X-Treme, a "version 1.0" gym in Florida (out of which sprung such crushers as Matt Segal, Megan Martin, and former guest Cesar Valencia). Who should walk through the doors shortly after opening but a representative from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Fresh off opening a gym he didn't know how to open, Kynan launched a company building climbing walls for cruise lines that he didn't yet know how to build. He eventually made his way to Boulder, yearning for proximity to outdoor climbing. He became a Level 5 routesetter, imagining routes for 10 World Cups. He slid into a USA Climbing coaching position. Eventually, 15 years of industry experience percolating, he took over as CEO of USA Climbing. After righting the ship, he left the organization to take over as COO of Movement Climbing and Fitness. Finally, eager to get back on the front lines, Kynan departed Movement to open his own climbing gym, Gripstone Climbing & Fitness in Colorado Springs. Kynan has built an unparalleled resume in climbing. In this freewheeling and wide-ranging conversation, we touch upon Tony Yaniro's mentorship as a setter, opening an early gym in an aviation hanger in Florida, and the behind the scenes machinations of USA Climbing, from the deal with ESPN to the sport's eventual entrance into the Olympic Games. Sit back and enjoy, my friends. And especially you climbing nerds...this one is for you (us)! Have a question, feedback, suggestion, or pitch? Launch a missive at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or DM us at @thethundercling on Instagram. We read and respond to every note. And cheers to Ryne Doughty for the groovy noodles. Happy Holidays, gang!

You may not know who Peter Mortimer is, and that's fine by him. You're almost certainly intimate with is filmography, however, an ever-evolving array of groundbreaking films three decades in the making. Peter and his partners Josh Lowell and Nick Rosen (among many others) have collaborated to define the climbing film medium. They have literally delivered more climbing psych than any other humans on the planet. Peter, and his newly minted company Sender Films, launched his career with quirky turn-of-the-century features such as "Scary Faces," "Front Range Freaks," and "Return 2 Sender." Although the films sold out theaters, "King Lines," "Progression," and the "First Ascent" series truly put Sender on the map. Noting the insatiable hunger for new footage and a theater experience, Peter and Josh joined forces to launch the Reel Rock Film Tour. The crew booked around 50 shows that first year. Reel Rock 14 will log 600+ in 2019, spanning the globe. Somehow, amidst the chaos of building a global film tour, Peter found time to direct, produce, and occasionally helm the camera for "Valley Uprising" and "Dawn Wall," films years in the making. His highly anticipated feature following the career of Marc-Andre Leclerc inches toward the finish line, currently in post-production. It's difficult to overstate the influence and impact Peter's films have had on the climbing world. Where we once devoured DVDs of straight climbing porn (I mean, we still do), Sender's movies have raised the bar in unimaginable ways, allowing global tours, Netflix features, and paving the way to mainstream success (and, you know, the random Oscar for his friend Jimmy Chin). We're so grateful we could sneak into Sender HQ for a quick chat. If you haven't seen Reel Rock 14 yet, grab tickets right now. The films are as strong as any lineup in the 14 year history of the tour. Have a question, feedback, suggestion, or pitch? Launch a missive at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or DM us at @thethundercling on Instagram. We read and respond to every note. And cheers to Ryne Doughty for the great tunes. Reel Rock in Denver actually booked him to perform before each of the four showings at the Oriental Theater! He put on a helluva show. Happy Turkey Day, you heathens!

Minko Nikolov, 31, had lived a pretty charmed life up to a couple months ago. Originally from Bulgaria, Minko discovered rock climbing through his local crags and a powerhouse gym located just minutes from his house. In the early 2000s, as the competition scene lay fairly dormant in the States, Minko launched himself into the Bulgarian circuit. He walked out of his first competition in second-to-last place. Less than a year later, he won the second comp he ever entered. That was just the beginning. Engrossed with competition, Minko steadily improved and regularly won comps all over his home country. In the mid-2000s he left Bulgaria to study in the States, plopping down in Arizona. The American climbing ethos soon washed over him and he was logging more days outside than on plastic. Shortly after graduating from university, Minko made the leap to Colorado, where he became one of the strongest "hobby climbers" (as he puts it) in the state, sending V13 way back in 2008. He found a community and settled into life as a passionate climber while sustaining a good job, a rare feat for a climber of Minko's raw talent. On August 17th, after incoming weather thwarted his solo session in Rocky Mountain National Park, Minko was on his way down the trail, somewhere between Lower Chaos and Emerald Lake. Already below tree line, the lone slice of lightning to hit the ground during the storm struck Minko on his shoulder, missing the crown of his head by inches. 100 million volts threw him to the ground, unconscious. Minko woke up dazed, thinking he may have been shot, smoke rising from his prostrate body. He couldn't move his arm or leg. His shoulder hung dislocated and his jaw was broken. The lightning had torn through his body, severely burning over 30 percent of it, and blew a hole out the side of his foot as it exited. Rain fell on his blood-streaked face as he tried to piece together what had happened, the sudden trauma masking the pain to come. Incredibly, a couple of hikers spotted Minko on the trail and shouted to him that he'd been struck by lightning. Equally miraculous, the hikers stood in a rare pocket of cell service. RMNP Search and Rescue was on the scene within minutes, hauling the now pain-riddled Minko off to a waiting helicopter, the hospital, and an uncertain future. Minko's is a story of survival, perseverance, and calm determination in the face of unthinkable trauma. His narrative, riddled with lessons both apparent and analogous, left us speechless. Have a question, feedback, suggestion, or pitch? Launch a missive at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or DM us at @thethundercling on Instagram. We read and respond to every note, unless you mention Fidi's Greek accent, in which case he will hunt you down. Cheers to Ryne Doughty for the tunes! He's back in the studio putting together his FIFTH (!) album. We can't wait. Happy Halloween, you Pagan horde!

Boone Speed. I was tempted to stop the intro right there... Boone Speed stands as one of the towering pillars in the climbing pantheon, a small town Utah kid who grew into an athletic and creative powerhouse, contributing more to the sport in half a life than most could in a couple. Let's spend just a moment dissecting his continuing legacy and then get down to business. Obviously, there's the climbing. Boone rocketed out of obscurity in the mid-80's, smack in the middle of the sport climbing revolution, to become the strongest American climber of his generation. He, along with a cadre of counter-culture contemporaries, put places like American Fork, Logan Canyon, Joe's Valley, Ibex, and a host of other areas on the map. He became the first American to climb 5.14b, one of the first ten people on the planet to clip the chains on a 5.14c. He bolted and developed like a madman. He sent like a machine. Let's stroll to a different wing of Boone's legacy. Boone, along with Mike Call and others, basically set the cultural tone for the bouldering wave that swept the nation in the late-90s/early-2000s with the establishment of Pusher, a climbing hold and soft-goods company. Relying on DIY ethics (think Fugazi and Dischord Records) and the imagery of Glen Friedman's and Craig Stecyk's work with the So-Cal skateboarding scene, Pusher's products and especially images came to define the era. Wearing a Pusher shirt was a signifier that you got it, you were in the know, that you were at least tangentially a part of an artistic, passionate, wild movement, whether you lived in the boroughs of New York City or the rolling hills of Wisconsin. Shall we visit the photography wing? As a former Black Diamond photo editor and after massaging Pusher's vibe into existence, Boone went on to travel the world as one of the most sought-after adventure photographers on the planet. He's won a lot of awards. He's captured images emblazoned on the sport's soul. I don't space to list the accolades. Check out the website. Now in his mid-50s, it seems like he's charging forward as hard as ever. The entrepreneurial flame still churning, Boone has set out to re-envision the way we attack training and movement on artificial surfaces by founding his new company, Grasshopper Industries. Involved in every aspect of the company, Grasshopper is shipping the finest adjustable wall systems in the world, allowing climbers to swap the angle of their Moon/Tension/Kilter/system/spray wall to suit their desires. 40 degrees was so yesterday... Listen, it's tough not to look up to Boone as a mentor, as a climber who has blazed his own trail on and off the rock. He's taken chances at every turn, constantly reinventing himself until the idea of Boone Speed is far more complicated than the man himself. In reality, he's just a guy with a furious drive and a deeply earned adoration for our sport. I mean...he's a legend. Have a question, comment, feedback, suggestion? Drop us a line at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks, in perpetuity, to Ryne Doughty for the tunes! Have a great fall season, gang. It's Rocktober, baby!