74 | I Am Gravity Lab Part II w/ Brant Hysell

Welcome back to Part II of our conversation with Brant Hysell. Climber, olive mafia boss, and man behind The Gravity Lab YouTube channel. If you missed Part I, I highly recommend checking it out before continuing here.

Today, it’s story time with Brant as we dive into three of his most memorable climbs: Freestone, Lurking Fear, and his recent solo ascent of the Salathé. Most of us would spend months, if not years, meticulously planning and training for objectives like these. But for Brant, these climbs were more about stepping into the unknown and leaving room for the unexpected.

To me, this reveals two important things about Brant. First, he’s an incredibly strong climber with a solid foundation to fall back on. Second, Brant climbs for the adventure. For him, too much planning, research, and preparation take away from the magic that climbing offers. He’d rather pack the essentials, sans headlamps,  and figure the rest out in the moment. Brant’s approach to climbing is raw and real—creating the chaotic, often messy adventures that truly shape a climber.

His mindset challenges the belief that every climb needs to be meticulously planned and perfectly executed. This way of thinking doesn’t just apply to climbing—it’s a lesson in life.

Embrace the chaos, trust in your abilities, and honor the legacies that inspire you. In doing so, you’ll find that the most meaningful experiences are often the ones you least expect.

Finally we close the conversation with the details surrounding Brants recent solo speed record of the Salathe Wall, a record that stood undefeated for 10 years! While Brant was only able to hold the title briefly…. before Alex Honnold came to the valley and stole the record a few weeks later, he reflects on the experience with humility and pride. . As he puts it; he is proud to have his name up next to one of the greatest climbers in the world…to have your record taken from someone like Alex…honestly feels pretty good”.

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Don’t forget to check out our full video episodes on Youtube!

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We are always looking for new guests. If you or someone you know would be a great fit for the show please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can reach us on IG or email us directly @ theclimbingmajoritypodcast@gmail.com

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Resources

The Gravity Lab Youtube Channel

Brant's Instagram

Brant Hysell's Mt. Project Profile

Climbing Alone on El Cap - A Short Film

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:43 Freestone
• 16:02 Lurking Fear
• 25:00 Solo Salathe Speed Record
• 55:32 Free Soloing
• 1:05:36 Closing Words

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;28;05
Unknown
Have you ever felt that most climbing media only tell stories about what's happening at the pinnacle of the sport? Leaving the stories of everyday climbers untold. I'm Kyle and I'm Max, and we believe that there is a growing group of climbers that want representation, and we are here to give them a voice. Welcome to the Climbing Majority podcast, where we capture the stories, experiences and lessons of nonprofessional climbers, guides and athletes around the world.

00;00;28;12 - 00;00;32;12
Unknown
Come join us as we dive deep into a more relatable world of climbing.

00;00;34;24 - 00;00;43;02
Unknown
Welcome back to part two of our conversation with Brant. High cell climber, all of Mafia boss, and the man behind the Gravity Live YouTube channel.

00;00;43;02 - 00;00;58;14
Unknown
If you missed part one, I highly recommend checking it out before continuing here. Today, it's story time with Brant as we dive into three of his most memorable climbs free Stone, Lurking, Fear, and his recent solo ascent of the South.

00;00;58;16 - 00;01;22;02
Unknown
Most of us would spend months, if not years, meticulously planning and training for objectives like these. But for Brant, these climbs were more about just stepping into the unknown and leaving room for the unexpected. To me, this reveals two things about Brant. First, he's an incredibly strong climber with a solid foundation to fall back on. Secondly, Brant climbs for the adventure.

00;01;22;04 - 00;01;44;24
Unknown
For him, too much planning, research, and preparation take away from the magic that climbing offers. He'd rather pack the essentials and figure out the rest in the moment. Brands approach to climbing is raw and real, creating the chaotic, often messy adventures that truly shape a climber. His mindset challenges the belief that every climb needs to be meticulously planned and perfectly executed.

00;01;44;27 - 00;02;10;19
Unknown
This way of thinking doesn't just apply to climbing. It's a lesson for our lives. Embrace the chaos. Trust in your abilities and honor the legacies that inspire you. In doing so, you'll find that the most meaningful experiences are often the ones you least expect. Finally, we close the conversation with the details surrounding Brandt's recent solo speed record of the South Wall, a record that previously stood undefeated for ten years.

00;02;10;21 - 00;02;29;13
Unknown
While Brandt was only able to hold the title briefly before Alex Honnold came to the Valley and stole the record a few weeks later. He reflects on the experience with humility and pride. As he puts it, he's proud to have his name up next to one of the greatest climbers in the world. To have your record taken from someone like Alex.

00;02;29;16 - 00;02;31;11
Unknown
Honestly, feels pretty good.

00;02;44;18 - 00;03;10;10
Unknown
Nice. Man. I think, it's a perfect opportunity to transition more into some of these stories we kind of have in the holster here. you know, I think the big one here is the the solo speed record of the South. but before we jump right into that, I think, you know, we had briefly spoken about a couple stories before that, that kind of almost kind of lead us into, you know, who you are as a climber doing the South speed wall.

00;03;10;10 - 00;03;20;13
Unknown
So, I think the first one on the list here is, is freestone. you know, maybe just bring us through who you were as a climber back then and kind of what that story was like.

00;03;21;15 - 00;03;46;10
Unknown
So for instance, a classic example of measuring risk. Right. And trying to understand what the, what the ramifications are, but also at the same time trying to keep the mindset of the first essentialist in mind and not trying to get too much information and trying to just make it a wild adventure. because

00;03;46;10 - 00;03;49;24
Unknown
I think it's easy to read every single mountain project.

00;03;49;24 - 00;04;13;08
Unknown
Everyone's ever every comment they've ever written. Right. And you get the getting these like, arguments about like, oh, no, you know, that piece isn't that good, it's this good, blah blah, blah, blah. Oh, my friend didn't place any pieces. Deck. Oh, you know, like there's all these opinions, right? And those are valid. But I don't know, I just for me, I love just kind of going out there being like, okay, the route goes this direction.

00;04;13;10 - 00;04;23;03
Unknown
Apparently it's impossible to mess it up. Like here. You make sure we're going the right way. I'm just going to leave these pitches and we'll have a ride along the way. Make sure I bring the right gear. Let's have fun.

00;04;23;03 - 00;04;45;07
Unknown
and so my my girlfriend Brittany and I, she picked it out, and it was like a meh summer, almost summer day, a couple years ago, I was probably, I had done Astro man and the rostrum, and,

00;04;45;09 - 00;05;08;14
Unknown
What's it called? Oh, what is it? It's on the 50 buttress Voyager. so I've done all three of those, right? And it's supposedly the same grade. Right. I'll even see those three or not. They're all the same grade. Like, believe me, don't climb Voyager like me. And be like, oh, I answered the Voyager, I should answer, I answer, man, no, I mean, that's you float it and it feels like the easiest thing of all time.

00;05;08;16 - 00;05;28;05
Unknown
Astro man's harder, but you're ready for Astro man. Go get on it. just get ready to check the ego. But anyways, so I had done all three of those, clean by this point, and was feeling good, and she was psyched. And so I, we just went up there,

00;05;28;05 - 00;05;33;27
Unknown
and yeah, it is old school. Like, there's not vaulted blaze.

00;05;34;00 - 00;05;57;02
Unknown
It's thin, like there's multiple pitches where pretty much everything you're placing is brasses and just like these. But cracks and like, it's it's sweet positioning. It's just the radius. So many falls like it's incredible positioning. But you're just like on these tenuous moves, just placing these little like, these little rp's and like, oh, man, is that good?

00;05;57;02 - 00;06;04;13
Unknown
Okay, that's good enough. Whatever. And you get up to a belay and it's like equalize tap, right? And you're like, this sucks.

00;06;04;13 - 00;06;19;01
Unknown
and then we so we, we climb, we're climbing the route. And then one of my other buddies, actually ended up climbing it with, like, a very strong partner and starting, like, they got to the base right at the same time as us.

00;06;19;03 - 00;06;40;10
Unknown
So we're cruising, we get up to about halfway and then we're like, oh, let's hang out. Like they're they've been on our tails. Let's let them pass. We'll chill. There's going to be like this off with pitches coming up and classic me. I'm like, we don't need. It's like it's 511. See, we don't need all this big gear.

00;06;40;12 - 00;07;03;18
Unknown
Like let's bring a little bit less gear then it says to bring thing down. So, we didn't bring a five, which, like, I think a five is what you like, needed. and so, like, I have to run it out on fives, right? Like overhang fives. and it was just like, I just ended up taking a pretty good sized whipper, and then it's starting to get dark.

00;07;03;20 - 00;07;22;29
Unknown
but I get through it, unfortunately. Legitimate. I really think that if I had the five, I would have been able to control my heart rate better and I would have on side of the whole thing. But because I didn't, I was like thrashing and like hoping that this four would hold if I like, actually had to follow it.

00;07;23;01 - 00;07;38;19
Unknown
and then I did end up falling on it and it, it held, but like, I mean, it was like a wimpy fall because I was just walking it because you're supposed to. I think you're supposed to place. I think it was you're supposed to place a four and then have a five for higher and I just had the four.

00;07;38;19 - 00;07;55;03
Unknown
I just had whatever the size down you're supposed to carry is. And so I just had to walk it like, forever. And so by the time I got up there and it's like pure 11 C over hanging off with and you're just like, oh like just like hoping it's going to hold. And then by the end of it this is like a battle of attrition.

00;07;55;03 - 00;08;19;26
Unknown
And I just lost and just like, hey, I, I like sunk down on it and was like, I was like, do I lower? It's kind of getting dark. There's still like another 511 pitch left. And I also don't love headlamps. because I don't know, I like just the adventure. So like she was like, hey, we should both we should both bring headlamps, right?

00;08;19;26 - 00;08;41;13
Unknown
And I'm like, nah, like, we got this. We don't need headlamps. and also because it's extra weight, right. And I definitely someone quoted something awesome to me the other day and they said, it's my buddy Benj. And he's quoted, I think it was eventually. And he said, if you bring Bivvy gear, you will use it. And like that might not.

00;08;41;13 - 00;09;02;21
Unknown
I would like direct quote that, but it's something along those lines is what he quoted to me from Yvon Chouinard. is that familiar? Okay. Well, I think of that about that for like, a lot of things. Right? Because like, all of a sudden we could bring, you know, why not bring another jacket? Why not bring extra water?

00;09;02;21 - 00;09;20;20
Unknown
Why not bring more food? Why not bring another pair of climbing shoes? Why not? You know, and it's kind of a slippery slope. but, yeah, I think the headlamp thing is maybe a little. I don't know, I kind of just like the, the challenge of, like, we got to get down and this amount of time, worst case, we have our phones.

00;09;20;20 - 00;09;38;24
Unknown
Right. Well, I wanted to make a YouTube video, so of course I was recording on my phone a bunch sizes, killing my phone battery. And then I switched phones with my girlfriend. I was killing her phone battery, and then by the time we got to the top and topped out, yeah, it was dark. It was like pitch black, I don't know.

00;09;38;24 - 00;10;03;14
Unknown
We started hiking up at like, I think like four, eight, 4 or 5 a am. at this point it was, it was probably pushing like 10 p.m. and we were hiking or sorry, we were starting to wrap, except for you don't wrap the actual route because there's no bolted anchors. You wrap a different route, so you have to like, wrap into the route and then wrap down and then do all these crazy, like, wraps.

00;10;03;14 - 00;10;05;02
Unknown
And so I of course

00;10;05;02 - 00;10;26;24
Unknown
we had one headlamp, so she got the headlamp so that I'm lead wrapping, with just a phone on like 5%. And we have nine wraps to go. And so I'm just like wrapping to what seems like it would be a nice, like a place where someone might put a bolt and then like turning the flashlight on and like, kind of like going side to side to try to find it and like, I find it and I'm like, okay, flashlight off, boom.

00;10;26;24 - 00;10;38;24
Unknown
Clip in, turn on, make sure I'm all good. Okay. I'm good. Wrap. Right. She wrapped boom and check where the next one is, like, right. And then, by both of our phones and they were both at like four, 4% at that point. So like, we're good,

00;10;38;24 - 00;10;46;28
Unknown
right? final wrap, because, yeah, like, eventually we find our way down.

00;10;47;01 - 00;11;11;06
Unknown
but the last wrap I. Like, end up running side to side, side to side, eventually find it. Okay, great. find, like a place that we could just untie and then just kind of, like, lightly scramble down. and we do that. Except for the problem is, we couldn't see that there was, like, this huge bush up there.

00;11;11;08 - 00;11;35;06
Unknown
and so when we had to pull the rope, it just immediately got caught, like, it was just like it pulled through, and then the whole thing pulled through, and then it just, like, got caught, and it was just so obvious, and it was just not coming undone. So we started at like 5 a.m.. Then we got all the way down, like we just left the rope there, got all the way down back to the van at probably I think 1 a.m..

00;11;35;08 - 00;11;46;05
Unknown
And then I got up the next day at 9 a.m. and then hiked. It's a two hour hike up hiked two hours up, up there with a full rack and my harness.

00;11;46;05 - 00;12;01;11
Unknown
And I, like lead aid soloed just a knot climb. and then of course, the way. Because, like, we had enough rope down that I like, tied it off and was like lead rope soloing off of that.

00;12;01;14 - 00;12;11;27
Unknown
And I got to this point where, like, built a little nest and, like, pendulum off that over here and then was like, just like, I mean, just the worst climb anyone's ever done.

00;12;12;06 - 00;12;15;00
Unknown
Did you put it on Mountain Forge?

00;12;15;00 - 00;12;18;21
Unknown
No, no one would ever want to do this.

00;12;20;18 - 00;12;28;10
Unknown
yeah.

00;12;28;13 - 00;12;42;21
Unknown
yeah. And then, yeah, the. Yeah, the second part of, I guess the pitch to and that is untie scramble up five eight, undo the rope re tie in and then reverse your whole thing and go back down.

00;12;42;21 - 00;12;54;18
Unknown
Yeah. But you know, because I was going to get caught again and there were these like fire ants too that were just eating me alive.

00;12;54;20 - 00;13;23;19
Unknown
Yeah. but through all of that, you know, I learned a lot about self-reliance. I'm like, yeah, when I'm in shit, it's like I'm up there just, like, laughing to myself. Like, this is horrible. But this is so fun. Like, if someone else were here right now, they would be laughing at me. With me.

00;13;23;22 - 00;13;39;14
Unknown
I mean, like, if we're if it's like a a wall and we're going to go into the night, like, for sure, but like, if we're going to need them for sure. But if it's like if we move fast, we shouldn't need them, then maybe one.

00;13;39;14 - 00;13;47;04
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, I'm with you there. Like, if I go out and I climb in red rocks and I'm, you know, I'm planning on being back at the car before the sun goes down. I might not even bring one.

00;13;47;17 - 00;14;11;24
Unknown
Yeah. like I mean but I did get like, Lover's Leap is near the house here. And I started a, a three pitch lead rope solo at like 820 at night, without a headlamp. And my phone was dead. and so, like, you know, like, I probably haven't learned my lesson because, like, I got up there.

00;14;11;27 - 00;14;35;28
Unknown
Yeah. Like, I got to the top of, like, pitch to, like, in between, right? Because I'm, like, kind of just linking pitches randomly and then as I'm leading the second pitch. But it ended up being the, the second half of the second pitch and the third pitch. I'm getting up there and I'm building this anchor and like, the anchor is like I'm using the the moonlight and the reflection off the crack to be like, okay, here's where the cams should actually go.

00;14;35;28 - 00;15;02;25
Unknown
And I'm measuring them against my hand to be like, okay, this is okay, this is a four. Okay, cool. And then I'm like feeling how well there Camden there by like okay. Like this that feels engaged okay cool. And that's a little bit of a constriction. and to be fair, I built a six cam anchor at the top because I was like, I think these are all really good, but I don't know, because you have to, like, repel off that and then chug back.

00;15;02;25 - 00;15;21;10
Unknown
I was just micro tracking if like go back out off that anchor again. But the best part was trying to get down because you're like, there's a trail. But this the moon, like, went behind the clouds and I could not see anything and I did not have any sort of light. What. So I, I didn't have a lighter, I didn't have anything.

00;15;21;12 - 00;15;43;11
Unknown
And so I'm just like stumbling down this, this cliff and I get back and I've just got, like, pine needles in my socks, in my shoes and make sure, like for like two weeks, I was finding thorns and pine needles in my shoes. And I got back, my girlfriend's like, what were you doing? Like, it's it's 1030 on a Tuesday.

00;15;43;14 - 00;15;59;29
Unknown
And I was like, I honestly had a great time. And like, I got all the pitch. Like I hit my pitch goal for the day. So I don't know if I learned. Yeah, adventure is really priority number one.

00;15;59;29 - 00;16;02;25
Unknown
I think the next, The next one's lurking. Fear.

00;16;08;04 - 00;16;28;25
Unknown
Yeah. So yeah, I hadn't done a ton of, rope so long ropes long was always just like a fun thing to do when no one wanted to climb. Like for example, Lover's Leap. No, I wanted to climb. So I was like, okay, I'll just go do this by myself. and so I probably climbed on like 20 pitches total rope solo before Lurking Fear.

00;16;28;27 - 00;16;51;20
Unknown
And then we were planning on going. The real tough part is we were planning on going to, France last year for seven weeks in the summer, and I didn't really feel like I got a good like, we kind of just did like big wall repeats in the spring. And I didn't really have, like, you know, like an ass kicker.

00;16;51;24 - 00;17;23;07
Unknown
And I really wanted one before going to France and the Valley was not providing the temperatures that were requested. and it was just like, I mean, it was it was June and it was just like 98 degrees for like three weeks straight. And then finally four days before we were leaving, it dropped down to 94. And I was I was like, this is good enough.

00;17;23;07 - 00;17;48;04
Unknown
I'm just going to go do it. I'll start at 10 p.m. hopefully that's cool enough and I'll just do it. But the challenge was I hadn't led any of the opening pitches. so I didn't let any of the first nine because like, if you're judging, right? Which is like mostly how speed ball climbing goes, right? Like if, I go for the normal people, right?

00;17;48;04 - 00;18;07;02
Unknown
Like, if one person leads the first, you usually do it in blocks like the first ten pitches. The follower is literally just jogging that whole time. Like you've got approach shoes on unless you're flying, then you just got climbing shoes on. But like, you got approaches on you just jogging, you're not really paying attention to like, oh, they put this here, this there.

00;18;07;03 - 00;18;35;28
Unknown
You're just making sure you get it out as quickly as possible. You get to that belay as quickly as possible so you can put them on and be there. Support as much as you possibly can and make them feel like cushy and comfortable and psyched, because that's what you want when the thing when it flips over and you're the leader, you want them hurrying their ass off to get up there, to put you on belay so that you can just keep doing your thing in a good headspace.

00;18;36;01 - 00;19;03;00
Unknown
so I didn't let any of the pitches the first ten, which are the more challenging aid pitches, and it was pitch black, right? Since I started at 10 p.m. and there's no one in the valley because it was boiling lava hot. And, I'm not a great aid climber, so I definitely did, I definitely did, I think I even brought two and two sets of batteries.

00;19;03;03 - 00;19;37;02
Unknown
so I'm not stupid. I just like, I like, you know, a little bit of wiggle room in the adventure department. Not necessarily in, like, the extra headlamp department. but. Yeah, so I'm just not a great aid climber. And so it was it was challenging. And then like, I don't know, let's see if I started at ten, I think like the sun rose at like 8 a.m. and I was like, okay, well I guess I'm feeling okay.

00;19;37;04 - 00;19;57;08
Unknown
Like I don't, you know, or sunrise at 6 a.m., excuse me. And eight hours in and I'm like, I feel okay, not terrible. I guess I'll keep going. And then the sun kind of started creeping around and I was like, okay, I'm starting to feel weird and tired. And then I found, just like a sign from the gods, a bummer.

00;19;57;11 - 00;20;16;08
Unknown
Number one, just like in the crack. And I got up there and I'm like, I'm like, this seems like it would just pull out and I pull the triggers and just lift it out. And I was like, okay. So I put it back in, clipped it and did that pitch, and I went, whoa, okay. Well, like, maybe that's a sign from the gods.

00;20;16;10 - 00;20;39;19
Unknown
you know, I'm doing all right. Let's let's go a couple more. Like, I wasn't ready to bail, but I was like, I'm feeling pretty haggard and pretty bad, and it's really hot. Like, I brought, a t shirt, I think a sun shirt and a light jacket, because I just wasn't sure. You know, if it gets really windy, I don't want to die of hypothermia for some crazy reason.

00;20;39;21 - 00;21;00;25
Unknown
I was sure it was the entire time the entire ascent was shirtless. which I wouldn't recommend, because then you get, like, horrible, like burn, like not burn, but, like, you know, like, every climb has some sort of, like, leaning your shoulder against the wall, and you don't realize that until the next day when you're like, I have strawberries all over my arm.

00;21;00;27 - 00;21;24;02
Unknown
but yeah, it just, like I did that found that awesome piece. Then two pitches, led two crux pitches, and then on the like third upper crux pitch, like pitch 14 or something. just feeling horrible. And it's getting really hot and I find I like, see this, like, weird around the corner, this drawer just hanging there.

00;21;24;02 - 00;21;43;27
Unknown
And I'm like, is that a bolt there? What is that? And they reach around the corner and I like kind of feel I'm like, oh, it's a cam. And I pull on the trigger and it's like a brand new blue totem, like brand new with an alpine or with a just a regular quick draw on it. And I'm like, okay, the gods are dropping on my side.

00;21;43;28 - 00;22;06;03
Unknown
I'm psyched we're finishing this shit. Like I'm already at pitch 13.5 out of, I don't know, 17 or 18 like, this is going down and like, I just plugged it back in and clipped it and kept going and then cleaned them both on my way back up and was like, this is hype. and then finished it and was just like boiling alive on top because you top out.

00;22;06;06 - 00;22;30;13
Unknown
And while you might have been in the shade a little bit, the sun is just like bearing down on you, like, as much as humanly possible. And just like a dark slab for what feels like eternity. And you've got to carry all the rope and rack by yourself, and there's no water. and so I finished that and was like, wow, I am beat down.

00;22;30;16 - 00;22;37;23
Unknown
Let's go, sport five and France.

00;22;37;25 - 00;22;46;08
Unknown
Yeah.

00;22;46;10 - 00;23;11;02
Unknown
Yes. There's like a little something over here like that. Yeah. And I found, like I found like three water bottles up there and I was like, oh, And they were just one of them had a splash of water. One of them had no water, and one of them had just like the nastiest looking water of all time.

00;23;11;04 - 00;23;20;26
Unknown
And so I didn't drink. I drank the splash. and then the other two, I just put them, I empty didn't put in my pack, and I was like, these are poison water.

00;23;20;26 - 00;23;33;16
Unknown
Like, we can't touch these.

00;23;33;18 - 00;23;57;22
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. What was really eerie, though, as I got up in that same, quick draw, the same style. I'm not going to say the brand, but the same style when I got up two pitches higher on what's called Thanksgiving ledge, when, like, it's the climb is essentially over, you just have to do like one more 510 and one more five, seven pitch to get to the top.

00;23;57;24 - 00;24;26;06
Unknown
I found totally decent mantled the dog bone. So like it was, it had opened up. So like imagine like the two cans and the dog bone. Like just the the thread. There's a the bar tacking had come undone and I'm like, did someone take like a wild fall here somewhere and end up with both carabiners and not the dog bone?

00;24;26;06 - 00;24;47;14
Unknown
Or did they like, cut the the bar tacking? I couldn't figure it out, but I just ended up with a dog bone with like the bar tax on done on them. And I was just like, this is so weird. Like, I don't know what happened here. I don't see any blood anywhere. And like, I hope everyone's fine, but I don't know what happened.

00;24;47;17 - 00;24;55;19
Unknown
Like, it was very confusing.

00;24;55;21 - 00;24;59;25
Unknown
Yeah.

00;25;01;00 - 00;25;02;08
Unknown
Yeah.

00;25;19;03 - 00;25;25;16
Unknown
If you've been enjoying the climbing majority, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.

00;25;27;04 - 00;25;28;06
Unknown
Yeah. So I

00;25;28;06 - 00;25;47;24
Unknown
had never I mean, I was I had never thought I was like, rope solo climb stuff, I mean, I yeah, I, I started climbing as, like, a fun thing to do on the weekends instead of drinking in my mid 20s. Like, I started climbing in like 20 when I was like 25 or 26, 25 maybe.

00;25;47;24 - 00;26;12;28
Unknown
And yeah, I'm 32. Yeah. 32. maybe 24, I don't know. But I was not I certainly wasn't 21 because I was definitely doing other things when I was 21. but it was just something to do when I lived in Arkansas that wasn't drinking or like, hiking, because I'm not a big I don't really like hiking that much.

00;26;13;00 - 00;26;35;17
Unknown
and then so yeah, it's never really a thing until, honestly, my buddy, Aaron Livingston, who rip but he's just absolute legend and honestly loved a good adventure like he was. He was the man. I love listening to all his stories. And, you know, I'd tell a crazy one and he'd have, you know, two to tell me.

00;26;35;17 - 00;26;55;05
Unknown
And I was always like, man, this is like it was never a one offs man thing. It was just like, we got some crazy shit to share. Like I'm like, tell me, man, I want to hear about it. and he, he told me about how he did it, and it was he was like, dude, it was a crazy experience.

00;26;55;08 - 00;27;15;28
Unknown
It was. And he also did, Free rider in a day, him and his partner. And he's like, it was even crazier than free rider in a day because of just. You're up there by yourself and there's no one else around, and you got to climb either through the night or all day. You got to do it all.

00;27;15;29 - 00;27;36;19
Unknown
You got to, like, repeat your steps. And so it was never really a thing. He mentioned it and I was like, that sounds crazy. And then a year later, or maybe six months later, I did lurching fear because I was like, okay, that, you know, we'll see what that feels like. And then I did Lurking Fear. I was like, that was crazy.

00;27;36;19 - 00;27;55;13
Unknown
And then I was like, okay. And I kept talking, you know, I talked to him about a little bit more and then, unfortunately, he passed away within the last year. But it was one of the things that we had really talked about. And I was like, oh, man. Like, I at least got to try, right? I don't have to succeed.

00;27;55;15 - 00;28;18;01
Unknown
That's, you know, but I at least have to try because we had talked about it and it just sounded so, just so fun and so rowdy, and it just sounded something like a great way to kind of honor his memory in a just the rowdy way possible. Right? Like he wasn't someone that he would want someone to go, you know, to his tombstone and cry, right?

00;28;18;02 - 00;28;41;12
Unknown
Like that's not what he wants. He doesn't want you to go to an opera house and see that. Like he would want people like someone to, you know, honor him by doing that. The coolest thing possible. And for me, that was trying to follow in his footsteps of the Solo Salvaje. And, you know, I think only four people before me had done it.

00;28;41;15 - 00;29;06;11
Unknown
it was him and he had done it in like 22 hours and like Steve Schneider had done it, I think in like just under 24, like 23 hours or something. Poopy is his name. and then there's one more person who did it. But then Shane Lemp did it in 2010, and he did it in 20 hours and six minutes.

00;29;06;14 - 00;29;25;29
Unknown
And it was, I think it was 2010 or 2012 or something. and so knowing that no one had touched the record in ten years and I was like, sweet. Like, if I'm going to do it, I should do it under try to do it under 24 hours. And if I'm going to do that every 24 hours, I might as well try to do it under 20 hours.

00;29;25;29 - 00;30;05;15
Unknown
Right? Like, you know, what's the might as well because a lot of I'll keep records are just totally people have just dedicated their lives to them. And this is something that not many people have done. And, yeah, I figured if I could even do it, if I could do it at all, I would be psyched. If I could do it in 24 hours, I'd be even more psyched if I could somehow, you know, make a little, you know, notch in the, 70 history books in the meantime, all the better.

00;30;07;15 - 00;30;22;22
Unknown
involved in accomplishing something like this? Like, For someone that might not know exactly what, like a solo speed ascent might even entail. Like from the ground to the top. Like, what are you doing to achieve this route? And what is that route? Like? What kind of teeth, what kind of character this route

00;30;24;00 - 00;30;54;29
Unknown
Yeah. So the South is, I mean, really the longest route on El Cap? I would say parallels the nose in terms of the best rock climbing on Earth. I mean, it shares 80% or so of the pitches with free rider. So great free rider. Obviously people love free rider. the South is that except for instead of getting some easier pitches, you get harder pitches.

00;30;54;29 - 00;31;24;12
Unknown
So we're free rider kind of like wimps out a little bit in a couple spots. South is like, no, no, no, we're going instead of like up high. There's a roof on Free Rider that you you do a tough 12 minus traverse left and then a couple 511 pitches instead of those. You look at the roof and you go, no, I'm going to go straight up this 20ft roof and then to this overhanging headwall that's like 12 plus and 13 mid 513.

00;31;24;14 - 00;31;52;28
Unknown
obviously aided those. But like it's just it's wild. it's just takes like such a proud line up to Captain of Natural Cracks. and so, I mean, soloing, rope soloing is just, you know, the real thing is you just every you can't have outside help is the biggest thing, right? So, like, there's no one belaying you at all, ever.

00;31;53;00 - 00;32;18;27
Unknown
you build an anchor and then you start climbing, like, tie, and, you know, one of the rope is tied to the ground, and then you're just belaying yourself. as you go up and then kind of feeding the rope through your belay device. And if you fall, you're really just banking on the blade of ice, catching. You ought to have backup knots.

00;32;18;29 - 00;32;47;02
Unknown
you one really ought to have backup knots. and then. Yeah, as you go, you blow yourself up the pitch. You're kind of trying to link as many pitches as possible so you have less changeovers. but once you get up, then you you tie into that anchor and fix it, and then you've rappelled down, cleaning all your gear, and then you grab your bag with your water and your food and your approach shoes and everything.

00;32;47;04 - 00;33;20;17
Unknown
And then you jug back up and you've, you know, so you've covered this three times. and then so essentially like the first two pitches right of like free blast, you climb them building yourself, then you repel them. Then you grab your bag and you jug them, and the whole time wearing your climbing shoes. And so you can imagine after 20 some pitches of jogging, climbing, rappelling and jogging with your climbing shoes on your feet hit you, your feet are just like you.

00;33;20;17 - 00;33;52;05
Unknown
They don't. They disown you. They don't want to look at you. They don't want to talk to you. and, yeah, it's just like a real challenge in self-reliance and self-belief that that you can do it because it's really, it's a little disheartening when you have to, like, repel the pitch that you just like, because sometimes you're working hard, like to lead the pitches like they're not easy.

00;33;52;07 - 00;34;20;24
Unknown
it takes a lot of, like, I passed, I think 4 or 5 wall parties up there who were all experienced climbers. A couple of them were like climbing guides, and they were up there for anywhere from 3 to 5 days climbing itself. It like they were, they weren't doing it in in ten hours. They were doing, you know, it was like they're spending days and days up here and they're like good rock climbers.

00;34;20;24 - 00;34;43;23
Unknown
Like they're not people who you see at the gym who come and climb a couple pitches of 510 and say, man, I wish I could climb 512. Like there are people out there doing it. so it's pretty, pretty wild when you're, like, passing them through the night and you're just like, oh my gosh. can I actually do this?

00;34;43;25 - 00;35;06;00
Unknown
And then you, you do the pitch and you're tired and you're a pallet. You go, okay, now I'm flying down this rope. That's easy. And then you put your heavy ass bag on with, you know, a gallon and a half of water in there, and now you got a jug with a, you know, 18, 20 pound bag up this overhanging pitch that you just lead and get to the belay.

00;35;06;02 - 00;35;17;15
Unknown
And then guess what? Now you got to, you know, any of the rack that you had off, you got to put that back on, set your system up and then lead the next pitches. And then just keep going.

00;35;17;24 - 00;35;21;05
Unknown
So, in an effort of speed, I would imagine you try to free climb as

00;35;48;05 - 00;36;16;13
Unknown
That's a really, really good question. I would say the first if we broke up into thirds, maybe the best way to think about it, the first third I was, I was flying up 510. And then on mid 511 I would pull on like any will say, any 511 I would pull on gear. I wasn't eating at all really.

00;36;16;15 - 00;36;37;02
Unknown
just pull on stuff, you know, clip a bolt, pull on it or plug a piece in and pull on it quickly. And then five, nine and under, I was like just flying up at, and they're feeling really good. The middle third was still dark, I guess. I started again, it I think I started at 8 p.m..

00;36;37;04 - 00;37;09;26
Unknown
so just only I climb the first pitch in the sunset, and then after that it was pitch black, for the next 20 pitches. and so were the middle third, I would say I was probably ten C and under. I was feeling really good and flowing really nicely. and then anything above that going more into aid mode, like I think I aided.

00;37;09;29 - 00;37;37;09
Unknown
Yeah, there was an 11 C that I just like needed because I was just like, whatever, ten hours in and I just need to get up this or that whipping and the to go back to risk the whip potential is like kind of if you have a partner, it's fine. But when you're playing yourself, you kind of have to expect there's going to be an extra, I don't know, somewhere between 6 to 10ft of rope out.

00;37;37;11 - 00;38;00;25
Unknown
And you're like, climbing off of, a pillar. yeah. Like you're climbing off this El Cap spire. You're climbing off this spire. It's 11 C, and it's pretty nails. 11 C and it's it's like, if you blew it, you would just, like, kind of fall on to just a huge ledge. And so I was like, I'm just going to eat this.

00;38;00;27 - 00;38;29;10
Unknown
and then the last third I mean, I kind of think I did a couple of five, 11 free moves, which I was like through the roof about. I was so psyched. but then, I mean, I aided the shit out of attendee and then did a bunch of climb to ten B like pretty much free. but still was like pulling on stuff.

00;38;29;12 - 00;38;44;23
Unknown
And then by the time I did, I mean, I freed the five seven at the top or something, but there was yeah, it there was definitely attrition. As time goes on. Yeah. And your feet are just destroyed.

00;38;44;23 - 00;38;48;21
Unknown
route? Like, doing the South? Like, had you had any, like, was this

00;38;50;10 - 00;39;15;27
Unknown
Oh, no. No, that would be crazy. no, I had done this out a with, another partner, Jake, who I climbed a bunch with. We we did it in, I think, 16 hours the first time. and it was like, whoa, that was burly. We'd done the nose. We tried it on the nose together 3 or 4 times.

00;39;15;27 - 00;39;44;03
Unknown
We probably done Lurking Fear together three times, I think, to to no end and half to walk. Watkins. so we've climbed a pretty decent amount together, and he's a very he's a very solid climber. And yeah, we did in 16 hours. And that felt like a proper challenge. And then Aaron, Aaron Livingston and I, we did it in like 12 hours.

00;39;44;05 - 00;40;19;00
Unknown
And he had already rope soloed it at this point. So like we still did it like as a team in 12 hours. And I'm like, shit, man, I don't know how much you're like, is eight hours enough to make up for the fact that you don't have a partner? I just I was 19 hours and 57 minutes.

00;40;19;02 - 00;40;56;02
Unknown
It was like. 20 hours and six minutes. Oh yeah. It was like there were. Yeah there were people. that's one of those times you're like, oh man, I'm glad I recorded this. So that like if someone ever was like, hey, is that legit? I could be like, look at the timestamp on my phone. And then, fortunately, my, my girlfriend and then two of our friends, three of our friends came and met me on top, and I my phone had died, of course.

00;40;56;02 - 00;41;17;15
Unknown
Classic. and so I didn't really know what time it was, but I could hear them yelling at me, and I was like, like, what time is it? And they're like five of like 38. And I was like 38. Okay, so I have what is that, monkey brain. Oh, 18 minutes. I have eight or. No, sorry, 28 minutes.

00;41;17;15 - 00;41;32;28
Unknown
I have 20 minutes to get up there. And I saw a pitch and a half left and I was like, I can do this. I have to just, like, do that. Come on, let's do this. And then I heard them, like, yelling like ten minutes left. And I was like, on the last pitch. And I was like, like, oh, I've got this.

00;41;32;28 - 00;41;43;07
Unknown
Like, I know I've got this. but yeah, like, that's what that's like. The good thing about records though, is like, if there wasn't,

00;41;43;07 - 00;41;59;26
Unknown
if I didn't know that there was, oh, like a, you know, arbitrary number. Right. But 2006 if I didn't know that existed, I might have taken more time. Like, I might have taken another half hour and then it wouldn't have been as epic, like it was like a finish where, like, I like, ran as fast as I could up the top.

00;41;59;26 - 00;42;19;29
Unknown
I have all this shit like I've got. I ended up like doing the last pitch. Really weird, where I just ended up with, like, the rope tied off at half way to me and fixed in two different places on my harness, and I'm running with 230 or 2 40 meter ropes, like hanging on either side of me.

00;42;19;29 - 00;42;26;04
Unknown
And I'm just like, running as fast as I can and, like, get to the chains at the last anchor, like smack and and just like, collapse.

00;42;26;04 - 00;42;47;26
Unknown
And it was just like, right. Like that's what's cool about, you know, the history is you have something to aim for into. You like to really like a good measure, to like, push yourself against.

00;42;47;29 - 00;43;18;06
Unknown
I mean, it felt good. Yeah. I felt really good. I mean, it was it was just a really nice way to kind of like honor, a good friend and, like, an inspiration. and then, like. Yeah, just have something to really strive for and, achieve because, like, it, it pretty much dominated six months of my life.

00;43;18;09 - 00;43;40;22
Unknown
like, I was just I was solely focused on that. I wasn't focused on sport climbing. I wasn't focused on bouldering. I wasn't like I was focused on trying to do this all day in a day and like, live to tell the story about it. and like, skip to the top, because at that point I had like four friends or three, four total friends coming to meet me on the top.

00;43;40;22 - 00;44;04;05
Unknown
And I didn't, like, you don't want to let them down. You want to be like, oh, hey, sorry. Like I can't make it. I have to repel. And now, you know, you have four friends up on top of El Cap waiting for you. That just have died by themselves. but, but no, it was it was awesome.

00;44;04;05 - 00;44;34;17
Unknown
It was just it was so fun to do it and have that experience and just kind of keep building that self-reliance where I'm like, okay, you know, anything's possible. and then, yeah, I mean, people seem psyched. yeah. It was it was cool, but maybe a little too psyched. because very quickly after came the repeats, and maybe this is the time for the South.

00;44;34;23 - 00;44;38;22
Unknown
I don't know what it was, but it was like every year it.

00;44;38;22 - 00;44;53;06
Unknown
the funny. I don't know, funny, but the. I'd like to dive into this a little bit. I mean, so what exactly happened? So Honnold came and beat your record. How so? How much time was there between his ascent

00;44;54;24 - 00;45;17;00
Unknown
So. So I did it. Well, it was it was my dad's birthday. Funny enough, like May 11th. And then I call my parents and I'm like, I survived. And, like, did the record, blah, blah, blah. And they were like. They were like, they also don't fully understand it. But because I'm from Ohio, right? My parents like just yeah, they're like, they love that.

00;45;17;00 - 00;45;44;08
Unknown
I love it. Right? But if I loved knitting, they'd be like, yeah, go knitting. but then like I was talking to Jordan Cannon excited seen he had just done, lurking fear. So and then it was like five days later, Jordan did the selfie and I was like, oh shit, he might be the record. Because, like, you mean he's a significantly more established 70 climber than I am, right?

00;45;44;08 - 00;46;07;19
Unknown
Like, I mean, I obviously climbing a semi like I haven't done freeride or they haven't done Golden Gate in a day, I haven't done, you know, wet like or a nightmare. Right. Like he's a decidedly better free climber than me. and so I was like, oh, he might do it. And then he ended up, I think getting caught behind some parties, and then going like a little bit over.

00;46;07;19 - 00;46;14;00
Unknown
Right. And then, but I was talking to him and then it was funny, as I started getting

00;46;14;00 - 00;46;29;08
Unknown
after I did it, I started getting reports of like, random people, I don't know, messaging me and being like, hey, just so you know, like I saw Honnold with a rope walking up to El Cap looking like he's heading towards free blast.

00;46;29;10 - 00;46;46;16
Unknown
And I'm like, And I just started getting these, like, hilarious reports. And at this point, we had already left to where we were in Australia or we were in New Zealand. Like, we're like hanging out in New Zealand, you know, like all the way around the world, like truly. And I'm getting reports like hot dogs going from the South.

00;46;46;16 - 00;46;53;15
Unknown
And I'm like, of course he is. Like, no one's talking to them ten years.

00;46;53;15 - 00;47;15;08
Unknown
about. Like, why no one cared about it until you established the record. So have you. Have you digested that a little bit? Have you, like, had any answers or questions in terms of, like, why everybody was like not allowing you to have the space to just sit with it for a while, like, I mean, I don't know, like I reflected on a

00;47;32;04 - 00;48;02;04
Unknown
Yeah, I don't know. I think I'm, like, pretty at peace with it because I think it's, I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, you know, it's a rock climb, kind of. Who cares? if you. I don't know, it could have been, what is the term buildings? Roman? It could have been like a coming of age type of thing, where it was it was meant to happen this year and it was going to happen regardless.

00;48;02;04 - 00;48;29;15
Unknown
It could have been, you know, people saw it and had forgotten about it and thought, hey, now it's, you know, this is hey, I haven't thought about this in a while now, you know, it's in vogue, right? Like, oh, I'm psyched to to try this. Right. But at the end of the day, I mean, I couldn't, it would, it definitely would have been sweet for it to hold for a year or five years or ten years or whatever.

00;48;29;17 - 00;48;45;21
Unknown
But honestly, like, I'm not a professional climber, like, I don't like I'm not a great free soloist. Like, I do it some, but not a ton. and yeah, I

00;48;45;21 - 00;49;02;09
Unknown
mean, even the thought of, like Honnold taking, speed, a Yosemite speed record for me, it's like, it's pretty rad. Like, look up. I'm not mad about that.

00;49;02;12 - 00;49;07;29
Unknown
like, I don't, Know who?

00;49;10;03 - 00;49;14;20
Unknown
No, no, no, I think he's just like, oh, sweet.

00;49;14;20 - 00;49;22;03
Unknown
way to look at it is like, you know, if anyone's going to just, like, absolutely obliterate a time, it's going to be handled. And so, like, you might

00;49;29;28 - 00;49;33;08
Unknown
Yeah.

00;49;33;08 - 00;49;35;21
Unknown
something, it's just like it's going to be like Brandt.

00;49;35;21 - 00;49;42;28
Unknown
And then Honnold and, you know, because it's like, I don't know, too many people are going to be beating this speed record anytime soon.

00;49;50;12 - 00;49;57;14
Unknown
That there was. Yeah. I mean, the there's, like, the nose battle. Yeah.

00;49;58;17 - 00;50;13;04
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, I think.

00;50;13;06 - 00;50;36;06
Unknown
yeah, I don't know, I like I said, like, I, I honestly didn't I didn't even know Yosemite was a thing when I started climbing. So I'm like, you know what to to be even mentioned in the same conversation with the, like the Michael Jordan of speed climbing, right? Like you can't argue he's the best outside of, like, hard aid climbing, right?

00;50;36;06 - 00;50;54;04
Unknown
Maybe like Ammon McNealy or like there's some, you know, newer guys on the block who were absolutely crushing it. But as far as like, speed climbing goes, like he's pretty much the Michael Jordan of it or I would say the LeBron James. I'm more of a LeBron James fan. Hate me if you will. from Ohio. But,

00;50;54;06 - 00;51;02;17
Unknown
That's fair. but yeah, like to be mentioned even with the, you know, in the same conversation, same sentence is like rad.

00;51;02;17 - 00;51;28;09
Unknown
And I'm like, that's cool, man. Like there's fortunately there are there are plenty of other things to do. and yeah, I mean, I'm just I'm psyched to kind of have, you know, had had a chance to to make a little mark on Yosemite climbing history.

00;51;28;11 - 00;51;33;05
Unknown
and yeah, I mean, it was, I don't know, like, I feel. Yeah. I

00;51;33;05 - 00;51;51;13
Unknown
don't know, people like, tell me that I should be upset or something, but I don't know. I just don't really. It doesn't really like I wish yeah, I wish I was still the record holder, but it doesn't really make me mad. I'm like, it's kind of rad.

00;51;51;13 - 00;52;02;22
Unknown
And also like, it's a fucking rock. I don't own the rock. So like, it's cool that someone went and broke the record like,

00;52;02;22 - 00;52;12;07
Unknown
detracts from your achievement at all. And you definitely shouldn't feel anything but super psyched about what you did. I just think it's just a funny chain of events.

00;52;13;02 - 00;52;14;07
Unknown
Yeah.

00;52;27;24 - 00;52;42;03
Unknown
Yeah. But if you were him and you could do it, you know, you'd probably be like, yo, fuck it. I'm going to go break this record. You know, like. Like I could swim up rock like that guy, and, like, I got some notification like, yo, this guy just did this, and you'd be like, yeah, okay, cool. I'm going to go do that.

00;52;42;03 - 00;52;46;21
Unknown
Like, you know, the it's pretty logical, I think, you know,

00;52;46;21 - 00;53;18;11
Unknown
Well and yeah. And having soloed free rider two it's like it's so much of the same climb right. That you're like yeah dude. Like why not. Like if someone right like I, I scramble around Lover's leap a decent amount. And if someone if I had you know, if it was like oh hey, there's, you know, if there's a news article, I was like, hey, someone soloed whatever corrugation corner in like 27 minutes.

00;53;18;14 - 00;53;54;13
Unknown
I feel like that's not that fast. I could do it faster. Like I might go do it. And, like, honestly, I probably would, to be fair. So that's maybe that's why I'm like, yeah, I, I don't blame the guy. That's like, yeah. No, I think I don't, I think he did. I think he did a decent amount of at least roped climbing, but his rack was like, if you look at my rack versus his rack, it's wild, dude.

00;53;54;17 - 00;54;30;24
Unknown
Like, I honestly wish I could see, like, what, his exact tactics. Because if you look at the rack that he had, he posted a picture of it. It was like seven cam, like it was some wild shit. And dude, I took, a full double from point to to three, I think a single four. And then I took all the offset cams and then all the, like, all the offset nuts from the tiniest brassy to the biggest offset to like, the red or the whatever.

00;54;30;24 - 00;54;50;21
Unknown
The, the DM biggest one is like I had a full like rack and I'm like, man, to think about climbing that route. I don't know how many pitches up I would get with that rack, like I'd probably get the easy stuff, but I get to like pitch 20 and I'd be like, yeah, like, I have to go down.

00;54;50;21 - 00;55;12;08
Unknown
I can't, like, I can't do this, this. There's just there's no like, what am I supposed to put here? Like 511 hard. 511 with minimal protection. And I'm just like, what? No. Like, I near need protection here. Like, this is a death wish with this.

00;55;12;08 - 00;55;14;20
Unknown
60m up. I,

00;55;16;17 - 00;55;19;13
Unknown
climbed free rider. like,

00;55;19;13 - 00;55;32;07
Unknown
have you ever, like, been there and, like, on those positions, like kind of envisioning, like Alex soloing that and just like from the perspective of somebody who's actually, like being on that climb, like, just like how absolutely demented

00;55;33;20 - 00;56;04;18
Unknown
Yeah. It, one might think that it makes it more normal. it makes it less normal. It makes it more insane. Honestly, having been up there. Having. Yeah. Climbed it. having climbed three rider like I fell on it. but the thought of doing quite a few of those pitches without a rope is just frightening.

00;56;04;22 - 00;56;32;01
Unknown
I mean, and I'm not like, fear does not rule my life, right? I, I post three posted something the other day I love I love motivational shit on Instagram because so much Instagram is kind of like, you know, like canned, like eye candy for like, I don't know, it's just like, not productive, right? Like, sucks you down a rabbit hole, but I like, finally gotten it to curate, to like, something that's productive for me.

00;56;32;03 - 00;57;07;28
Unknown
And I saw something last week that said, like, if you said it was like, if you, are doing something worthwhile and you sense fear or you feel fear, you need like now you know which direction you need to push further. Right? And that's that's not verbatim, but I fear does not rule my life. but the thought of so like few pitches just like gives like, I just, I would never do it like, it's it's just mind blowing.

00;57;08;01 - 00;57;36;08
Unknown
and it's rad. Like, it's the greatest thing ever. So, Yeah. No, I definitely would never do that. I will never FreeCell or anything that hard. but it is a insanely sick feat to have done, and and it's hard to even fathom because, like, I mean, I'm sure we all think about it with climbing, right? Like, I've got a couple projects I'm working on and around here because I'm trying to get better at projecting.

00;57;36;10 - 00;57;56;29
Unknown
Right? So like, I'm not I'm definitely not the I'm not the best at projecting, right. But like, I'm trying to get better at it as well. And I'm trying to go back to climbs that, you know, maybe I failed on once or twice and try to go back and say, hey, you know, I'm going to I'm going to put in six, seven, eight burns to try to do them.

00;57;57;02 - 00;58;26;28
Unknown
but the, you know, the thoughts that go through in your head like the, the minor self-doubt. Right? And then you kind of fight it with like, no, I can't do this. Here's why I can't do this right. I've done all these other things, those thoughts before climbing something and then the just entirely different scale that like the thought of free soloing, something that crazy would have, like not just the night before, like the week before.

00;58;27;00 - 00;58;30;07
Unknown
It's hard to fathom.

00;58;34;24 - 00;58;39;20
Unknown
Yeah, yeah.

00;58;47;24 - 00;58;55;07
Unknown
Yeah. Like. No. Yeah. You don't place camps. It's easier to climb. Yeah.

00;58;55;10 - 00;59;19;12
Unknown
Yeah. It's so beautiful to like, if you ever. I call it scrambling a lot just to make everyone feel more comfortable. but, Yeah, like scrambling around. You're just, like. Yeah, yeah. No. Not me. my role is five, nine and under. but, but, yeah, the just like, the, like, uninhibited where, like, you can move wherever you want.

00;59;19;18 - 00;59;35;26
Unknown
You don't have to worry about, like, bullying or like, what gear am I going to hold for this versus that? Or like, oh, now I got to play my partner up. You just like, no, no, no, let's just like, let's just go for a romp in the, you know, on this big granite playground and see what happens.

00;59;35;26 - 01;00;01;11
Unknown
Well, not see what happens, get to the top and then decide. And then decide like, oh, do we want, do we want to, you know, down climb something else? Or do we want to walk off around to the front and climb something else up? Or you know, there's all these different options versus like with a rope and a rack and your harnesses and your approach shoes all of a sudden, like, you have to walk around or you have to, like, repel down.

01;00;01;11 - 01;00;15;00
Unknown
It's not like, oh, I could down scramble a, you know, five, seven. Like that's not an option. But definitely very liberating.

01;00;15;00 - 01;00;31;04
Unknown
it's a fun experience. I have very, very little experience with it, but, it's, it's definitely, like, the purest expression of of climbing. so, so what's next? What's next for you? What is like, what does the future hold for your channel and, and and for yourself as a climber?

01;00;34;11 - 01;01;01;06
Unknown
I think for myself as a climber will be I'm going to the last two years. I'm always trying to figure out what I suck at, as a climber. And so I was good at sport climbing, and it was all relative, right? I, I was good at sport climbing. I was way better at sport climbing than I was at, like any speed, wall speed or like big wall stuff and bouldering, like I was always horrible bouldering.

01;01;01;08 - 01;01;21;28
Unknown
And then I got better at like bigger stuff. And then it was like, okay, sport climbing and bigger stuff, and then horrible at bouldering. Within the last, like year and a half, I've been just like focusing on bouldering and big walls and that's kind of been my like. My joke is that like, I don't sport climb or single pitch climb, I only boulder or do big walls.

01;01;22;00 - 01;01;47;27
Unknown
And if you look at the channel like you can see like there's not many sport, there's not many single bit, there's that many times I'm like 0 to 80ft off the ground. Like it's either I'm three feet off the ground doing a dino or I'm 1000ft off the ground. and so I realized that now my bouldering and my big wall climbing are good enough, for what I care to do.

01;01;48;03 - 01;02;08;04
Unknown
Because I don't care to be a 515 climber. Like, that's just that. Sounds like I'd rather spend my time climbing a ton than, like, really, really, really working to climb some crazy hard number. Right? I realize I'm not as good at, like, sport climbing is kind of my limiting factor. If you will, on trad routes as well.

01;02;08;04 - 01;02;35;21
Unknown
Right? But like the ability to, like just put down, you know, 12 plus 13 minus. it takes me longer than I would like it to. So now my goal over the next six months is to just hammer out and just get better at projecting and finding whatever my whatever challenges me the most and like doing that and just getting better at that.

01;02;35;23 - 01;03;04;08
Unknown
and mostly in single pitch climbing. And so, so yeah, I'm like a lazy sport climber, five days a week and then, two days a week, I go, like, out in the mountains and play. so, yeah, I think sport climbing in the near term to kind of set up for, for bigger stuff. Right, for more link ups in the Valley.

01;03;04;10 - 01;03;39;15
Unknown
and then, you know, like there's, there's some, there's some speed climbing stuff that should probably, you know, there's some records that have been there for a while that should probably, you know, have someone, see if they can bring them down a little bit. you know, but, but, yeah. So there's a couple of those and then, like, that's personal stuff is just, you know, and then just bigger and and better, and then the channel will follow, right?

01;03;39;15 - 01;04;34;00
Unknown
It'll be bigger, ideally bigger and better. harder, maybe more cutting edge. And then hopefully next year we take a sweet international tour and spend a lot of time overseas, and especially in Europe, and go to some just epic. We've sampled Europe. We haven't quite hit it as well as that should be hit. And so we're hoping to spend a lot of time over there and just, yeah, bring the people with us, show them you know what's possible, what's out there besides just, you know, Red Rocks and Yosemite and, you know, the incredible Hulk, which, you know, Sue's Fair Verdon, maybe the Dolomites, right?

01;04;34;00 - 01;05;13;18
Unknown
I haven't even been to the Alps. So the Alps, all this other crazy shit that exists in this world that while the US is huge, right? And has a ton of climbing, and there's so much, especially for the limestone lovers, right? There's just so much rock out there that I can't wait to see. And I'm stoked to share with everyone else too, because, I don't know, man, climbing is fun, but it's it's even more fun to, you know, have those experiences and then have awesome people around you to, to share them with and share that stoke.

01;05;13;18 - 01;05;37;00
Unknown
And, you know, obviously climbing makes us feel alive, but also connecting with others and helping them feel alive, right. And and understanding what, what makes them wake up in the morning and be psyched and, you know, be excited to go about their day. But you know what also makes them tick, both internally and also out in the mountains.

01;05;37;00 - 01;05;54;25
Unknown
This concludes today's episode, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you'd like to learn more about brand, check out the links in our show notes. And if you still haven't seen his YouTube channel, I'm just not really sure what to say. Just a reminder, please share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is the best way to support the show.

01;05;54;27 - 01;06;13;11
Unknown
Plus, don't forget you can watch our full episodes on YouTube. Stay tuned for our next episode with the renowned yet mysterious Alpine crusher, Tyler Carro. Until then, keep exploring, stay safe and as always. Thanks for being a part of the climbing majority. See you in two weeks.