First Ascent Podcast

Lander local shop owner, author and prolific route developer Jake Dickerson joins me on the pod today! Jake's routes are beloved in the Lander area. With over 50 routes to his name (including routes at the hilariously named 'Jake's World'), he has some great thoughts about how to approach route development in the Lander area. He is also part owner of Wild Iris Mountain Sports, a fantastic shop that serves as an unofficial hub for the Lander Climbing community. After working there for ...

Tim DeRoehn is that underground climber that everyone knows. Climbing since the 90s, his history spans Rumney, Boulder, dirtbagging across the west and now residing in Chattanooga, TN. Today, Tim shares how the culture at Rumney has changed over the last 20+ years, and why he thinks the changes are for the better. He explains his long time love for soloing and details how he navigated the personal risks involved. Then, Jay and Tim debate whether or not new beta on a route changes the ...

Former X Games speed climbing gold medalist Aaron Shamy joins the podcast today for a deep conversation about how climbing affects our identities and can influence us to become better members of society. A longtime local of American Fork outside of Salt Lake City, Aaron is a member of the LDS church and also shares about how his faith forms his approach to life, and how his religion is seen within the (often non-spiritual) climbing community. Plus - What it was like to compete (and wi...

Longtime friend of the pod Ethan Edwards joins me today to chat about injuries, retrobolting, and the importance of public lands. Ethan will detail his surgery and recovery process from a skiing injury, and he’ll share how he’s approached training during this time so that he can be in the best shape possible once he’s completed convalescence. Then, he’ll tell us all about his retrobolting/rebolting project at Crow Hill in Massachusetts. We’ll discuss the delicate process of th...

Oh how the tables have turned! Jim Lawyer takes the interviewer’s mic and turns the spotlight onto Jay in an interview that will give you more insight into our host than ever before. You’ll learn about how Jay became obsessed with climbing, what brought him to New Hampshire, the first ascent he felt was worth ‘risking a friendship over’, the number one thing he’d like to change about climbing culture, and even his feelings about being a rare and shunned ‘gates in’ climber. Fir...