The Duffel Shuffle Podcast

*Editor's note: This episode was recorded on September 18, before an avalanche at Camp 3 on Manaslu killed two climbers. Our thoughts are with their families, their friends, and everyone involved in the rescue.* In Episode 64, Sam and Adrian open with quick hits on The Gear Project, a new online consignment shop for used outdoor gear, and a wave of climbing and ski films landing on major streamers this fall, before turning to the autumn Himalaya season. Adrian opens the episode with why...

Episode 63 opens with Adrian and Sam's conversation on the devastating Nepal-China border flood at Gyirong Port, and a nod to Laura Rogora's blazing six-day ascent of Bibliographie, before settling into a wide-ranging interview with viral Minecraft-YouTuber-turned-mountaineer Ryan Mitchell. Ryan built a following of millions making Minecraft videos before walking away to chase Mount Everest — a goal he set purely because he thought it would make a good video title. With no outdoor backg...

Episode 62 opens with quick hits on T-Mobile's satellite phone service and a run of Alps headlines — climbers requesting paid rescue after ignoring a Mont Blanc closure, a family of 36 rescued in the Austrian high country, and Kilian Jornet's viral post on the range's fast-changing climate — before Sam and Adrian sit down with Cody Townsend and Tommy Caldwell to talk through their spring traverse of Norman's 13. Norman's 13 links the Sierra's thirteen 14,000-foot peaks from Mt. Langley to Nor...

Episode 61 opens with a somber update on the Broad Peak avalanche in Pakistan that killed all ten climbers, including members of Nims Purja's team, on their July 30th summit push. Following the update, Sam and Adrian dig into the episode's real focus: rope fixing, the process that makes the world's biggest mountains climbable. Adrian breaks down the difference between alpine style — climbing a mountain in one unsupported push — and siege style, where teams fix rope from camp to camp so climbe...

More than two years and sixty straight episodes for the Duffel Shuffle! Adrian calls in from a Nicaragua surf trip, and before getting into it, he and Sam touch on a rough week of accidents on classic trade routes (Mont Blanc, Huascarán, Rainier) and the FAA's new approval of drones for avalanche mitigation. The real focus of the episode is a full roadmap for getting into climbing and mountaineering — for total beginners and for rock climbers eyeing high-altitude objectives alike. Adrian trac...