Claim OwnershipThe Climbing Majority
Subscribed: 59Played: 1,659
Subscribe
© 2026 The Climbing Majority
Description
Most climbing media focuses on the edges of the sport—the most elite athletes and biggest achievements. But climbing has grown far beyond that. The Climbing Majority exists to give voice to everyone else: dirtbags, weekend warriors, route developers, living legends, and world-class climbers flying under the radar. This podcast explores what climbing actually means—the partnerships, the risks, the identity, and the pursuit of meaning beyond the grades.
117 Episodes
Reverse
Drew Brodhead is the Staff Advocacy Coordinator and Anchor Maintenance Coordinator for the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, one of the most respected local climbing organizations in the country. With 18+ years of climbing experience and SPRAT Level 3 certification, Drew leads a professional anchor maintenance program that rebolts routes across the Wasatch Range April through November. This episode explores what it actually means to professionally maintain climbing infrastructure, the ethics of re...
Paul Rogers is an active duty US Army Special Forces (Green Beret) officer who previously served as the commander of the Special Operations Mountain Warfare Training Center (SOMWTC), the specialized schoolhouse responsible for training all military mountaineers for US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). This episode explores what it actually takes to train elite operators for mountain warfare, why these skills matter in modern combat operations, and the staggering complexity of preparing so...
Jared Wicks has been a rock climber for over 30 years, he is a former SWAT officer, and one of seven full-time commissioned officers on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue team. Born and raised in Montana, Jared served in the military and spent his off-duty hours climbing at Red Rock—falling so in love with the area that he moved to Las Vegas in 2006 specifically to combine his passion for climbing with a career in law enforcement. After nearly two decades working p...
Justin Sackett, an AMGA guide who googled "hardest hike" in college and ended up on a 20,000-foot peak in Ecuador with zero mountaineering experience. That failure lit a fire that led him from complete beginner to professional guide to running his own guide company at 28—all while training single-mindedly for Everest without supplemental oxygen. This episode explores his rapid progression to being an alpine guide, the mentor who gave him the technical foundation most climbers take years to de...
David Baltz started climbing in 1974 when there were only eight climbers in all of Albuquerque. Over five decades, he's witnessed climbing's transformation from a fringe pursuit requiring pitons and commitment...to a commercialized sport with grid-bolted crags and documentaries glorifying free soloing. This episode explores the clean climbing revolution that defined David's early years, the bolting controversies that followed sport climbing's arrival in New Mexico, and what gets lost when saf...
Jason met a new climbing partner through a Facebook group, vetted him over a few conversations, and went to Eldorado Canyon for their first route together. Twenty feet up the Yellow Spur, his partner fell onto a ledge—rope behind the leg, face-first impact... broken wrist and severe facial trauma. This episode walks through the accident sequence, the rescue, and what Jason feels went wrong. Despite multiple outreaches, his injured partner stopped communicating with him after the accident and ...
After being literally run over by a school bus in Atlanta, climber Taylor Martin rebuilt her life through big mountain pursuits and solo aid climbing. This episode dives deep into Taylor's five new Yosemite first ascents established in a single season, including several big and technical aid routes in Yosemite. We explore her 70-hour Hardrock 100 ski traverse with only one hour of sleep, advanced aid climbing techniques like back-looping and daisy soloing, and the psychological toll of spendi...
22-year-old Zion crusher Connor Baty on first ascents, rope soloing the Triple Wall in 12 hours, and why he climbs without sponsors. Kora FA, Towers of the Virgin, and living the unsponsored dream. Today's guest is 22-year-old silent crusher from Zion, Connor Baty. Connor has been climbing since he was 8 years old, with key early development as a trad climber at Garden of the Gods in Colorado—a notoriously chossy area with soft, loose sandstone. Since then he quickly progressed through the g...
Vitaliy is one of the most prolific and respected alpinists of his generation and has a reputation as a master of long, complex alpine objectives—including becoming the first person to complete The Goliath Traverse in the Eastern Sierra…which might be the longest ridge traverse in the western hemisphere…if not the world.. He's established more first ascents in the Eastern Sierra than any other person, authored a three-volume guidebook series to the Eastern Sierra, and spent years developing n...
Way out in the Canadian wilderness — six hours from the nearest city, little to no cell reception, surrounded by mossy forests and granite — lies a world-class bouldering destination. Secluded, quiet, and breathtakingly beautiful, The Nooks has quickly become one of the most talked-about new climbing areas in North America. With incredible rock quality and a massive spread of problems from V0 to V13, it’s the kind of place that feels unreal the first time you see it. The Nooks was first disco...
Randy Leavitt. As a climber who grew up in Southern California, I’ve been hearing this name since the very beginning of my climbing career. Collaborative inventor of the wide-crack climbing technique so aptly named “Leavittation,” developer of thousands of routes — with around a dozen graded 5.14 or harder, including Jumbo Love at Clark Mountain, the first 5.15 in the United States — and long-time athlete manager for Maxim Ropes… Randy’s name has carried serious weight and inspiration for dec...
Today I have the privilege to be sitting down with our previous guest Silas Rossi..Silas is an IFMGA Certified Mountain Guide and President of the AMGA organization. After Silas and I’s last conversation in April, I’ve been jotting down a list of questions and reflections in preparation for our inevitable next conversation. So simply put, this conversation is a culmination of that list. We dive into a wide variety of topics; including nuanced gear questions surrounding rappelling, anchor buil...
In his earlier years, Kevin dedicated his life to the craft of climbing. He lived in a van, chased adventure across the globe, and devoted every ounce of his energy to the pursuit of performance. During that chapter, he climbed up to 5.13b, established several major first ascents, and ticked over fifteen hundred routes. Climbing wasn’t just something Kevin did — it was who he was. His identity was built around his achievements, his grades, and his ever-growing tick list… until one day, everyt...
Justin Salas has a significant visual impairment. He lost his sight due to an undiagnosed optic neuropathy when he was 14. Imagine, you're a teenager fresh into highschool…you have ambitions to join the military, you already own a small business mowing lawns called J&J Lawn Care…everything seems within reach…and then in what seems like an instant…you lose your sight. While Justin is one of the most humble, capable humans I know…the impact this kind of loss has on the human mind cannot go ...
Red Rock Canyon is a National Conservation Area about 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. Its striking red and cream-colored sandstone walls hold thousands of climbs — from 20-foot sport routes to adventurous 20-pitch trad lines. Today, I’m sitting down with long-time local Andrew Fulton. Andrew has been climbing in Red Rocks since January of 1993 — back before the city even had climbing gyms, when pioneers like George and Joanne Urioste were putting up countless first ascents in the canyon. O...
Today we once again have the honor of sitting down with The Quad Fathers—Michael Vaill and Tanner Wanish. The last time I spoke with them, they had just wrapped up their legendary Yosemite Quad. But little did we know, on the descent from Half Dome they were already scheming their next big objective: The Goliath Traverse. To give you a sense of scale, let’s break this thing down. The Goliath Traverse is a south-to-north, ridge link-up of two of the biggest traverses in the Sierra Nevada...
My guest today is Michael Levy: recreational alpinist, rock climber, journalist and the owner and editor of The Summit Journal. Originally founded in 1955 by Jean Crenshaw and Helen Kilness, The Summit Journal was the first climbing-focused print publication in the U.S.—with Royal Robbins as its main editor. For decades it thrived, reaching over 10,000 subscribers, before being discontinued in 1996. After purchasing the rights to the name, Micheal has since revitalized it into a thriving, sub...
Today, we’re doing something a little different. For the first time ever, I’m releasing a TCM Legacy Episode—diving back into one of the show’s earliest conversations, this one with Joshua Reinig. It’s been over three years since this episode first aired, and a lot has changed since then. For some of you, you’ll hear a familiar voice—my previous co-host, Max Carrier. But the biggest changes are in Josh’s own life, and those changes are exactly why I’m bringing you this newly remastered versio...
We kick things off by diving into the nuances of Totems—what their limitations are, whether they’re as good as everyone says, and whether the mystical powers of the black Totem are fact or fiction. From there, we dig into climbing partnerships: what to look for, what to avoid, and how we can all be better partners. Tal shares two of his closest calls in the mountains and how they shaped his evolving relationship with risk. And then, we shift to Tal’s true passion: Wonderland. A 5 sqmi area so...
Today, I sit down with Tal Wanish—rock climber, mentor, prominent route developer in Colorado’s Front Range, and brother of our previous guest, Tanner Wanish. But Tal’s not just a rogue route developer. He’s a deeply involved member of his local climbing community—someone who chooses to play by the rules in order to help foster sustainable growth for future generations. He’s replaced over 600 bolts as an instructor with the Boulder Climbing Community, and today he puts most of his effort into...
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
He says like so much