The Climbing Majority
Most of today’s climbing media is focused on what happens at the edges of the sport involving the most experienced and talented climbers in the world. Your host Kyle Broxterman believes that most of these stories and experiences do not directly relate to the majority of climbers that now exist. As a part of this group, he is here to give this new Climbing Majority a voice.
The Climbing Majority
110 | Connor Baty: Flow Without Fame - Zion First Ascents, Rope Soloing & Unsponsored Climbing
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 grades, leveling out around the 5.13 range. He then took that knowledge and merged it with his true passion: adventure. Connor has been quietly building a reputation as a cutting-edge first ascensionist and endurance linkup climber. Connor was the partner to our previous guest James Barrow for the Complete Tower of the Virgin Traverse. They also established a new 5.12+ multipitch route in Zion, called Kora. Connor has climbed Time Wave Zero down in Potrero car to car in 5 hours and most recently he’s claimed the rope solo speed record of the Zion Triple Wall—linking Touchstone, Moonlight Buttress, and Prodigal Son in a blistering 12 hours. Needless to say Connor is a crusher.
He could easily seek out sponsorships at the level he is climbing. But as we learn in our conversation, Connor has zero interest in self-promotion. For him it's all about personal progress, adventure, and living the life he has now to the fullest. He even has groundbreaking pursuits outside of climbing and is currently attempting to navigate the Colorado River from source to sea. What I found most interesting about our conversation is how well-spoken, composed, and level-headed Connor is as a human and a climber. Back when I was 22 I could not say the same thing about myself. I really felt the stoke and energy from Connor in our conversation and I'm happy to be sharing it with you now.
Watch the full episode on Youtube
---
Thanks to our sponsors!
LIVSN Designs
Checkout their Ecotrek Trail Pants Here
Use Code "TCM15" At Checkout for an extra 15% OFF Your Order
Hot Chillys Performance Base Layers
Checkout their Micro Elite Chamois Base Layer Systems Here
Use Code "TCM15" At Checkout for 15% OFF Your Order
Get Access to Exclusive Episodes, Unlock Ad-Free Podcast, & MORE!
---
Resources
Conor's IG
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:24
Kyle
Welcome to the Climbing Majority podcast, where I capture the stories, experiences and lessons of nonprofessional climbers, guides and athletes from around the world.
00:00:09:26 - 00:00:14:17
Kyle
Come join me as I dive deep into a more relatable world of climbing.
00:00:15:16 - 00:00:21:24
Kyle
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the last episode of the year. For everyone who's been here since the beginning. And for those of you just joined us
00:00:21:24 - 00:00:32:16
Kyle
this year. I just want to thank you for your support. Allows me to continue to seek out and speak with some of the most interesting people in the world, and it's my honor to capture their stories and share them with all of you.
00:00:32:19 - 00:00:52:27
Kyle
This show thrives on guest recommendations. If you know a local legend, silent Crusher, or a mentor, that would be a great fit for the show, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can DM me on Tcm's Instagram or email me directly at the Climbing Majority podcast at gmail.com. I'm so stoked on the continued development of this passion project of mine, and cannot wait to show you all what the show is capable of.
00:00:53:04 - 00:01:13:05
Kyle
Cheers to 2026! Today's guest is 22 year old Silent Crusher from Zion Conner Beattie. Conner has been climbing since he was eight years old, with key early development as a track climber at garden of the Gods in Colorado, a notoriously chalky area with soft, loose sandstone. Since then, he quickly progressed through the grades, leveling out around the 513 range.
00:01:13:07 - 00:01:32:12
Kyle
He then took that knowledge and merged it with his true passion adventure. Conner has been quietly building a reputation as a cutting edge, first essentialist and endurance linkup climber. Conner was actually the partner to our previous guest, James Barrow, for the Complete Tower of the Virgin Traverse. They also established a new 512 plus multi pitch route in Zion called Cora.
00:01:32:14 - 00:01:55:22
Kyle
Conner has climbed time. We've zero down in Potrero Kartika in five hours and most recently he has claimed the rope solo speed record of the Zion triple wall linking touchstone, Moonlight Buttress and Prodigal Son in a blistering 12 hours. Needless to say, Conner is a crusher. He could easily seek out sponsorships at the level he is climbing. But as we learn in our conversation, Conner has zero interest in self-promotion.
00:01:55:24 - 00:02:14:02
Kyle
For him, it's all about personal progress, adventure, and living the life he has now to the fullest. He even has ground breaking pursuits outside of climbing, and is currently attempting to navigate the Colorado River from source to see. What I found most interesting about our conversation is how well-spoken, composed, and levelheaded Conner is as a human and a climber.
00:02:14:04 - 00:02:26:26
Kyle
Back when I was 22, I could not say the same thing about myself. I really felt the stolen energy from Conner in our conversation, and I'm happy to be sharing it with you now. So without further ado, I bring you Conner B.
00:02:38:09 - 00:02:39:16
Kyle
you know, there's not a lot of.
00:02:39:16 - 00:02:40:27
Kyle
Information about you on the internet.
00:02:40:27 - 00:02:41:16
Connor
Yeah.
00:02:41:16 - 00:02:43:06
Kyle
And that's kind of my choice.
00:02:43:09 - 00:02:47:02
Kyle
Which is cool. Which is cool. But it makes my job harder
00:02:47:02 - 00:02:47:10
Connor
Oh, I
00:02:47:10 - 00:02:53:23
Kyle
because I can't. I can't do any research. You know, so I'm. I'm honestly, I'm stoked to be sitting.
00:02:53:23 - 00:03:11:21
Kyle
Down with you here, and, I just feel like it's, It's an honor just because you. It seems like. Yeah, you've you've kind of, like, adopted this personality of of just, like, climbing for yourself and not really seeking any sort of media attention and might even to the point where you've kind of like, turned some opportunities down.
00:03:11:21 - 00:03:19:08
Kyle
Where people are like, hey, come talk to you like, I don't really know. And so you've kind of become this, like, quiet legend.
00:03:19:14 - 00:03:20:03
Kyle
You know, like.
00:03:20:06 - 00:03:23:16
Kyle
People have heard and seen your name through these achievements that you've.
00:03:23:16 - 00:03:25:08
Kyle
Done and.
00:03:25:10 - 00:03:26:15
Kyle
Yeah, you've built like, this name for.
00:03:26:15 - 00:03:41:03
Kyle
Yourself, even though it's not this public nature. And you've kind of been silent up to this point. So I guess, like my, my opening question is like, why now? Like, what about now is kind of felt right for you to kind of share your story.
00:03:42:07 - 00:04:05:27
Connor
Honestly, like, this whole entire scene is not my scene. Talking here, sitting down in front of cameras. Never done it before. But I'm a huge consumer of, like, climbing media, and I love it so much. And one thing that made me stoked in my, like, climbing and adventure, everything is, podcasts and specifically your podcasts. I've been listening to it for three years now.
00:04:05:28 - 00:04:25:17
Connor
I think that's like almost when it's like, I think I started like episode like 5 or 7 when I started listening and it just like gets me up, climbs, it gets me stoked to go on adventures. And I honestly was like, if I could help some kid or some dude wanna get up there and go adventure, I should try to
00:04:25:17 - 00:04:25:29
Kyle
it.
00:04:26:01 - 00:04:39:29
Kyle
That's cool. So you're trying to bring the same stoked to somebody else that the show is? The people who have been on the show is given to you. That's awesome. So, I mean, you've been following the show for quite a long time, and you've seen kind of an evolution. I'm imagine. Yeah.
00:04:40:02 - 00:04:41:00
Kyle
Yeah.
00:04:41:14 - 00:04:43:19
Connor
From you guys just interviewing each other about your
00:04:43:19 - 00:04:44:09
Kyle
Yeah.
00:04:44:09 - 00:04:46:06
Connor
like more and more people. Yeah it was cool.
00:04:46:06 - 00:04:46:16
Kyle
Yeah.
00:04:46:17 - 00:04:52:09
Kyle
That's awesome man. Do you have any, like, standout episodes up to this point where you're just like, man, that one was so cool.
00:04:53:07 - 00:04:54:12
Connor
I don't know.
00:04:54:14 - 00:05:04:13
Connor
I liked a lot of them and a lot of the names, just the names I recognize that I don't know as much, but I know, like, some of their climbing routes and some of their achievements.
00:05:04:16 - 00:05:04:29
Connor
Yeah, it was
00:05:04:29 - 00:05:07:16
Kyle
That's awesome man. Did you listen to Alan Burgess at all.
00:05:07:16 - 00:05:08:15
Connor
That was.
00:05:08:15 - 00:05:11:19
Kyle
That's like the British 70 year old. Yeah. He like two episodes.
00:05:11:19 - 00:05:14:23
Kyle
That were like three hours long.
00:05:14:25 - 00:05:20:16
Kyle
Wild stories though. Yeah. Yeah. It's been cool, man. I really love.
00:05:20:23 - 00:05:26:19
Kyle
The aspect of just interviewing people that haven't told their story before, and it's so cool about climbing is because.
00:05:26:22 - 00:05:28:01
Kyle
You don't have to be a pro.
00:05:28:01 - 00:05:42:27
Kyle
You don't have to, like, be in the media attention to have these life changing experiences. And like, that's been the whole vision of this show is just like finding people like, exactly like yourself. I think you're you're almost like the I would say like the epitome of, like.
00:05:42:27 - 00:05:48:24
Kyle
What this show is like, built around is, is the majority is people who are seemingly out there.
00:05:48:26 - 00:05:50:19
Kyle
Living the life of climbing and.
00:05:50:19 - 00:05:52:29
Kyle
Experiencing all these things that fulfill.
00:05:52:29 - 00:06:08:15
Kyle
Us and climbing, but just are on the internet. You know, we don't get to see what you're doing. So yeah, I'm just I'm honored to be here, man. I'm super stoked you're here. And, yeah, I can't wait to, to dive in and tell your story. And, like you said, hopefully inspire some people.
00:06:08:22 - 00:06:11:01
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. Hell, yeah. Man.
00:06:11:01 - 00:06:14:28
Kyle
guess, you know, we'll open this kind of background section with just like, How old are you now?
00:06:15:13 - 00:06:15:28
Connor
I'm
00:06:15:28 - 00:06:16:19
Kyle
2022.
00:06:16:21 - 00:06:19:28
Kyle
And what age did you start really climbing?
00:06:19:28 - 00:06:22:28
Connor
Oh I would have to say like 12 or
00:06:23:10 - 00:06:27:10
Kyle
Okay. So you've been climbing for ten, 12 years?
00:06:27:18 - 00:06:28:17
Kyle
Yeah. Like that?
00:06:28:21 - 00:06:44:01
Kyle
Yeah. I think a lot of us, at least the people in my circle, are always like, I found climbing when I was 30. I found climbing when I was 22. Do you do you find like that as a common thread around the climbers that you find as well? Or do you do you find that most of the people you're surrounded by also found climbing kind of around the same time as you?
00:06:44:09 - 00:06:58:23
Connor
I feel like everyone finds it in college for some reason. Like, that's when everyone. Because there's, like, so many friend groups, and you always know a climber, and they always, like, want to bring someone out. I very rarely meet anyone who I feel like started as young as me, and who's still going as
00:06:58:29 - 00:07:01:19
Kyle
Unless there's some, like, crusher comp climber. Yeah.
00:07:01:19 - 00:07:03:08
Connor
100%. Unless they've like sent 14 that
00:07:03:25 - 00:07:04:18
Connor
nah, I'm
00:07:04:18 - 00:07:07:01
Kyle
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I think.
00:07:07:07 - 00:07:19:28
Kyle
Some people might find like, I don't know, a level of burnout at some point. Yeah. Through your progression, did you ever experience any sort of, like, lack of motivation, or has it just been building ever since you started?
00:07:20:04 - 00:07:20:23
Connor
No, I don't.
00:07:20:23 - 00:07:41:11
Connor
Think I've ever had any lack of motivation. But also, I feel like I can switch through different climbing mediums that if I like, maybe don't want to be hard sport climbing, I can just go into chill five, nine track days, but I can never see myself losing excitement over just like an adventure. Five nine like forever and always.
00:07:41:11 - 00:07:41:26
Connor
I would love to
00:07:41:26 - 00:07:43:21
Kyle
that, but I guess I didn't always, at.
00:07:43:21 - 00:07:53:25
Kyle
Least from what we talked about, I didn't always start that way. It seemed like, if we're going to talk about these pillars, like, you know, in our meeting. Great. I had mentioned I've been kind of workshopping this idea.
00:07:54:06 - 00:08:02:05
Kyle
So it's like performance, spirituality, adventure. Those are the three. And then you suggested kind of like, insightfully
00:08:02:05 - 00:08:02:12
Connor
Yeah.
00:08:02:12 - 00:08:02:19
Connor
Like
00:08:02:19 - 00:08:03:18
Kyle
relationships.
00:08:03:18 - 00:08:03:29
Connor
Yeah.
00:08:03:29 - 00:08:11:25
Kyle
And I really like that. So we'll talk about relationships later, but it seems like in the beginning, at least, you know, performance was the main pillar. Was that correct?
00:08:12:02 - 00:08:12:26
Connor
Yes.
00:08:12:26 - 00:08:40:06
Connor
I mean I only competed just in like local high school competitions and state competitions. Never like anything big or anything glorious. But I definitely as a kid you see grades and you always want to go for a harder and harder grade. But it wasn't necessarily like a driving factor. Even if I was like, going through the comp scene, I still would go out to garden of the gods and climb five sevens with my mom.
00:08:40:06 - 00:08:43:01
Connor
Like, that was just always the pinnacle of.
00:08:43:01 - 00:08:44:00
Connor
What I thought climbing
00:08:44:00 - 00:08:44:03
Kyle
was.
00:08:44:07 - 00:08:47:02
Kyle
Okay, interesting. So adventure was always there.
00:08:47:02 - 00:08:48:03
Connor
Yeah, definitely.
00:08:48:03 - 00:08:51:00
Kyle
But I guess maybe performance got more of your attention in the beginning.
00:08:51:13 - 00:09:02:18
Kyle
Because I feel like that's definitely in the beginning. That's what you focus on. It's like, well, let me get better. Let me find what kind of grade I can climb. And then you eventually plateau at a certain point, and then it's like, okay, do I punch through the ceiling or do I diversify?
00:09:02:18 - 00:09:03:18
Connor
Yeah.
00:09:03:20 - 00:09:16:28
Connor
Especially when, like when I'm as a kid you have so many opportunities to go into the gym like you have. All your friends are driving to the gym. Everyone can always just bring you to the gym. But I feel like you have less opportunities to go outside. And so you focus more on the numbers and the grades inside.
00:09:16:28 - 00:09:21:01
Kyle
Adventure is harder to come by. You can just walk into a gym and put on plastic and try hard.
00:09:21:03 - 00:09:21:22
Kyle
Yeah.
00:09:21:25 - 00:09:24:25
Kyle
Interesting. So you said you got into the comp scene a little bit.
00:09:25:13 - 00:09:34:03
Connor
Just a tiny bit. Yeah. Just through high school. I just climb in for, like, my, high school actually had a team, and so I just competed with them.
00:09:34:03 - 00:09:37:21
Kyle
That's probably one of the benefits of being in Colorado is like it's integrated into education.
00:09:37:22 - 00:09:41:01
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, talk to.
00:09:41:01 - 00:10:02:25
Kyle
Me about your climbing progression, I guess through the grades. Like how fast it, you know, like, we just kind of talked about a plateau, right? Like, for me, I'd say my plateau was like 511. Like, I got there pretty quick, and then I stayed there for a really long time. And it's only been until recently, after a lots of effort and change of focus, change of lifestyle, change of diet, like where I've been able to kind of push that a little bit.
00:10:02:27 - 00:10:04:26
Kyle
What was like your progression towards a plateau?
00:10:04:26 - 00:10:26:06
Connor
I was super slow progression especially as like a 12 year old 13 year old I did most of my climbing like when I was outside I wasn't really pushing the limits. I did hundreds of pitches without ever taking a fall, especially because like garden of the gods climbing, you don't really you're really supposed to fall there, especially when you're placing gear at a young, that young of
00:10:26:11 - 00:10:26:27
Kyle
So you started.
00:10:26:27 - 00:10:27:25
Kyle
To try climbing early on?
00:10:28:02 - 00:10:28:17
Connor
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:28:18 - 00:10:30:25
Connor
Maybe 2 or 3 years after I started
00:10:30:25 - 00:10:35:01
Kyle
Climbing. And who will jump back to this continued
00:10:36:00 - 00:10:58:00
Connor
And so I, so I just slowly, slowly worked my way up. It was until maybe sophomore year of high school. I started sending 12 thirteen's, but I jumped through the 12 and 13 pretty quickly. I like probably took me. Yeah, six years to get to, seven years to get to my first 12 and then maybe three months to get to my first 13 be.
00:10:58:02 - 00:11:21:21
Connor
So yeah, it's just like really jumped up fast. Just due to like, good mentors and definitely a shift in focus from like the adventure side of things to more just like the project inside of things, which was really fun to have a mentor show me how to like, actually project and like be okay with. I made a quarter of a move further today and I am happy with that.
00:11:21:23 - 00:11:33:03
Connor
But then I plateaued after. I just was like, okay, I may not sit here and project for ever, but I, I still love climbing. So I'm going to kind of like drop it down a few grades and just climb.
00:11:33:06 - 00:11:39:27
Kyle
So you almost kind of like adventure first as a kid and then like, you were introduced to people and were like, this is what performance is like.
00:11:40:10 - 00:11:43:24
Kyle
then you had this, like, bubble burst of performance, and then you're just like.
00:11:43:24 - 00:11:45:00
Kyle
Okay, well, let's.
00:11:45:02 - 00:11:49:08
Kyle
Taper off. And it's been this like wave of kind of changing focuses.
00:11:49:08 - 00:12:02:19
Connor
I remember when I was a senior in high school, I climbed my first 12 D and then like three weeks after that I was like on site in three and a day at Maple. Like just pretty quickly I.
00:12:02:21 - 00:12:03:02
Connor
Was able
00:12:03:02 - 00:12:03:12
Kyle
do that.
00:12:03:15 - 00:12:05:23
Kyle
That's cool. And so jumping.
00:12:05:23 - 00:12:13:28
Kyle
Back to that mention of trad kind of early on, I would say like trad requires mentorship, requires instruction. Who was that for you when you were so young?
00:12:13:28 - 00:12:15:07
Connor
00:12:15:09 - 00:12:34:10
Connor
So I did most of my climbing with my mother actually from a young age, because she was the only person I found that would actually go out to the crags with me commonly and not complain when I brought her to a freezing cold crag in the middle of winter in Colorado and belay me all day. But she actually would pay for a guide, like my birthday.
00:12:34:10 - 00:12:53:28
Connor
Every birthday had for a while, I would have, like, here's how to, like, outdoor climb and then here's how to trad climb, and then here's how to multistage climb. And so, like every year I'd have one guide, but it was only one day, which isn't really enough of a mentorship, but I took it to heart from a young age that I was like, I was going to learn properly.
00:12:54:05 - 00:13:03:27
Connor
And so after learning that, I would just really these like five sixes and five sevens over and over and over again, just dialing it down and getting gear pretty decently
00:13:04:27 - 00:13:07:09
Kyle
So you've been pretty risk off from the beginning. Yeah.
00:13:07:12 - 00:13:08:08
Kyle
Yeah.
00:13:08:10 - 00:13:11:07
Kyle
Was that self-imposed or was that taught to.
00:13:11:17 - 00:13:38:13
Connor
Definitely self-imposed. Yeah. Definitely self-imposed. But going along with that, after I really did feel like I dialed it down, I quickly got into easy but R-rated pictures. Especially climbing, like, a lot in the garden. You quickly get into R-rated pictures fast, and so I learned, like, the balance between, like being safe, but also climbing harder in more dangerous pitches.
00:13:38:27 - 00:13:40:18
Kyle
And that's all stems from
00:13:40:18 - 00:13:53:17
Kyle
confidence and connection to your movement. And it seems like you were building such a huge pyramid where it's like, okay, like I have climbed this same route a bunch of times, or I've climbed routes so similar or it's like I have pretty confidence in my movement here where I can.
00:13:53:19 - 00:14:06:16
Kyle
I don't need a piece like, you know, five feet below me or whatever. Yeah. That's a that's been a big thing for me that I've been trying to promote a lot is just like building that connection with your movement. I feel like it's to me, it's like why I climb, right?
00:14:06:16 - 00:14:14:05
Kyle
It's like I want to be so solid and be so connected to what my movement is and whether I'm going to come off the wall.
00:14:14:05 - 00:14:20:06
Kyle
Like, I don't want to be surprised and like that part of that is the risk management for me is like, I'm able.
00:14:20:06 - 00:14:22:08
Kyle
To choose to.
00:14:22:11 - 00:14:35:12
Kyle
Take on more risk based on my comfortability on the rock. Yeah. And I think that, at least for me, in the beginning, I don't know, that wasn't really taught to me very much. It was just like I very much fell into the trap of like.
00:14:35:14 - 00:14:45:25
Kyle
Just sand and like, you know, place gear and you got to wear like it. Yeah, I roll it out. You're sick bro. You know, I pull off the crux move barely, somehow, and you're just like, oh, you know
00:14:45:25 - 00:14:46:22
Connor
it out's the cool
00:14:46:22 - 00:14:49:22
Kyle
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like, how did you not get.
00:14:49:22 - 00:14:51:10
Kyle
Kind of, like, wrapped up into that?
00:14:51:10 - 00:14:56:06
Kyle
Like it was it like, was there any sort of outside pressure from media or from social.
00:14:56:06 - 00:14:57:05
Kyle
Groups or anything?
00:14:57:06 - 00:14:57:24
Kyle
None.
00:14:57:24 - 00:15:02:08
Connor
Yeah I don't think there is any at all. The only pressure I had is my mom yelling down to me like.
00:15:02:12 - 00:15:10:29
Connor
You have been put in a piece of gear. Yeah, I took it and I'm like, oh, there's no gear left. I got a few more meters until I can find a
00:15:10:29 - 00:15:12:00
Kyle
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:12:09 - 00:15:17:04
Connor
But yeah, no, I had no pressures outside of, any social groups or
00:15:17:04 - 00:15:17:28
Kyle
anything interesting.
00:15:18:02 - 00:15:18:29
Kyle
Okay. I wonder.
00:15:18:29 - 00:15:20:05
Kyle
You know, you said that you were a.
00:15:20:05 - 00:15:26:20
Kyle
Safety or risk manager. Was self-imposed in the beginning. I wonder if my risk taking was self-imposed as well.
00:15:26:22 - 00:15:27:08
Kyle
Yeah.
00:15:27:17 - 00:15:42:14
Connor
I have seen that, though, from a lot of, like, I have a lot of friends who just think, like, they work up through the back and they're like, I'm just our free soloing or I'm going to start, like, doing these really, like, skipping clips and doing big falls. And they kind of like, act like they have to almost.
00:15:42:16 - 00:15:44:12
Connor
And so I wonder if that's like the same thing.
00:15:44:19 - 00:15:45:24
Kyle
Yeah, I definitely think.
00:15:45:24 - 00:15:49:21
Kyle
You can attach your ego towards like, taking on risk. It's like.
00:15:49:29 - 00:15:51:01
Kyle
Because there's like this.
00:15:51:01 - 00:15:59:07
Kyle
Weird attachment to like, act, mastery, like, you know, because you see the masters, like, take on more risk.
00:15:59:07 - 00:16:04:20
Kyle
But it's because they can not because they do. Right?
00:16:04:22 - 00:16:10:14
Kyle
And so I think that that that was the fallacy, at least for me, is like just because I'm doing it and getting away with it.
00:16:10:16 - 00:16:13:11
Kyle
Doesn't mean it's sustainable. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:13:11 - 00:16:15:20
Kyle
So your performance.
00:16:15:20 - 00:16:32:04
Kyle
Chasing or at least your progression in performance. You know, you said you got in, you know, you started climbing trad. You got into the 12, you instantly got through the 13. You know, did that also translate to outdoor climbing pretty quickly or where you kind of like performance focused in the gym?
00:16:32:08 - 00:16:34:21
Kyle
Oh, that was all outdoor. Okay.
00:16:34:26 - 00:16:47:20
Connor
inch was all outdoor. I mean, I was climbing a ton inside, like six days a week. Inside. But, no, everything inside was just practice for me. Yeah, I was definitely just training inside for
00:16:47:20 - 00:16:48:09
Kyle
the outdoor.
00:16:48:11 - 00:16:49:21
Kyle
So what like.
00:16:49:27 - 00:17:04:08
Kyle
Accomplishments during that period of, you know, performance chasing. Did you achieve kind of in your earlier years. Like do you have any particular roots you were super proud of any projects that you had took, taking a lot of time to kind of work on?
00:17:04:27 - 00:17:26:06
Connor
I'm sure I do, but honestly, I was more focused on the next one to really sit back and look at it, because when I would, I was doing a lot of it in Clear Creek Canyon in Colorado. And when I would send that 513 A or something, the 513 B was sitting right next to it. And it didn't matter how much time I spent on that A or B or whatever, the C was sitting right next to that.
00:17:26:09 - 00:17:41:18
Connor
And so I feel like I just always was like, all right, here's the next step. Or it doesn't even have to be a number grade harder. It could be the 12 D over here that I whipped off of for the last two weeks. Like there always is one more step. So I don't feel like I could enjoy something so much as just like, nice.
00:17:41:18 - 00:17:43:25
Connor
I send it next one, like I'll start working at the
00:17:44:15 - 00:17:48:25
Kyle
Were you ever repeating routes or was it always chasing the next one that you hadn't done.
00:17:49:05 - 00:17:49:20
Connor
Probably just chasing
00:17:49:25 - 00:17:57:18
Kyle
Chasing the next one. And then are you like would you if you were to categorize yourself as like a project or on site or which one do you would you lean more towards?
00:17:57:18 - 00:17:59:18
Connor
Right now I'm definitely like an
00:17:59:23 - 00:18:09:11
Kyle
But back then it was project there. So that's like a concept to me that's very unfamiliar. I don't project I'm like pretty much an insider.
00:18:09:24 - 00:18:11:02
Kyle
00:18:11:04 - 00:18:12:22
Kyle
Talk to me about like your.
00:18:12:22 - 00:18:21:11
Kyle
Experience in the project in world like what are you like about it. Like what's that process like in your head? Like, I guess break that that kind of mentality down a little bit.
00:18:21:13 - 00:18:21:17
Kyle
I
00:18:21:17 - 00:18:40:00
Connor
I love the feeling of having, like, five days on the route. I feel like that's my. Or sending on your, like, sixth day. That's like the perfect project for me, because you have 4 or 5 days of just getting that route perfectly memorized enough to, like, know every crystal, but not enough to just dole yourself out on the route.
00:18:40:03 - 00:18:58:12
Connor
Like my mentor when he was behind me, he had a project that he was projecting for like four years and like, actively on it on a daily basis or an every few day basis for the whole season. And that would just be way too much for me. I wouldn't be able to handle it. But like the five day project, you can see progression.
00:18:58:12 - 00:19:16:25
Connor
And then when you finally do sand, you get into just an amazing flow state. But I feel like it's harder to get to when you're on side in, because this flow state where you don't even need to look at the next hold because you know where it's going to feel, and you hit that hold and you're like, oh, let me adjust it right here, because I know there's a certain crystal that will pinch in a certain way and feel better.
00:19:16:27 - 00:19:18:13
Connor
And then the flow state for setting that
00:19:18:13 - 00:19:19:06
Kyle
is amazing.
00:19:19:08 - 00:19:20:28
Kyle
That's cool.
00:19:21:01 - 00:19:22:07
Kyle
So I feel like at a.
00:19:22:07 - 00:19:42:10
Kyle
Certain point when you're when you're climbing, you have to project something to get better. Right? But then after, like, I guess, I don't know, like for me, the there's like the adventure of like figuring the puzzle out on the fly. But then once you've like, understand all the moves, there's like the it's lacking that kind of, novelty.
00:19:42:12 - 00:19:44:00
Kyle
Do you experience that kind of.
00:19:44:03 - 00:19:47:15
Kyle
Lack of novelty at all, or it's like you're trying to piece it all.
00:19:47:15 - 00:19:51:02
Kyle
Together into one consecutive push.
00:19:52:12 - 00:20:11:14
Connor
I'd have to say at least like in my climbing right now, it doesn't lack the novelty because I've been projecting mostly trad routes and like harder for me trade routes. And I love piecing all the like intricate trad pieces together. How I'm going to protect it if it's more dangerous, like what exact piece fits perfectly there, and the different movements for that.
00:20:11:16 - 00:20:16:20
Connor
And so I feel like there's so much to work through that I haven't really, like lost interest or
00:20:17:04 - 00:20:22:16
Kyle
I guess a better way to frame this question is do you think that you could progress through the grades.
00:20:22:16 - 00:20:28:26
Kyle
Never projecting, or do you feel like projecting is a essential part of pushing yourself.
00:20:29:06 - 00:20:46:09
Connor
I think it's an essential part of pushing yourself just to get stronger, like you could if you were, like hiding in the gym, hang boarding all day, and then you'd come out. You could just easily, like flash every grade harder and harder. But if you're not doing that, I feel like there's no way of getting stronger and like, really working through the.
00:20:46:09 - 00:20:47:19
Connor
Grades without falling
00:20:48:28 - 00:20:54:25
Kyle
I guess at least the, the thing would be that it, your progression would just be.
00:20:54:25 - 00:20:59:03
Kyle
Really slow like, okay I'm gonna try to on side 11 B and then you don't get it.
00:20:59:06 - 00:21:03:08
Kyle
And then I guess the decision there is like okay you didn't climb it clean.
00:21:03:08 - 00:21:07:11
Kyle
And so you're going to get to the top. You sent it. But then like are you going to come back for it?
00:21:07:13 - 00:21:09:17
Kyle
Probably not. You know, at least if it's a huge multiple.
00:21:09:20 - 00:21:22:24
Kyle
You might not come back for it. But then yeah that's interesting. Yeah. I think, I might be at the precipice of, having to project something. Yeah. I think single pitch is probably easier to justify a project in than, like a larger multi pitch
00:21:22:24 - 00:21:23:03
Connor
Yeah.
00:21:23:08 - 00:21:27:00
Connor
Project in multiple pitches can just get super involved and super hard.
00:21:27:15 - 00:21:29:09
Kyle
How have you managed your time?
00:21:29:11 - 00:21:39:02
Kyle
It seems like even when you were younger you were like six days a week climbing. Like how early on did climbing steal your focus to that degree.
00:21:40:08 - 00:21:41:01
Connor
Pretty.
00:21:41:04 - 00:21:42:15
Connor
Pretty early. Yeah.
00:21:42:15 - 00:22:02:18
Connor
Before high school. Like middle school. It like stole my focus that early. I'm also a huge runner. And so I've been running six, seven days a week for the entire time, too. I have no clue. Honestly, I feel like I just prioritize it. And so it's going to happen no matter what, and all the pieces are going to fall into place no matter what.
00:22:02:20 - 00:22:05:13
Connor
For better or for worse, I'm just going to end up climbing like.
00:22:05:22 - 00:22:16:22
Kyle
Yeah I mean that's the thing. You just make priorities for things and it just makes it work. What about like financial. So like supporting yourself through this time. Did you, like, get scholarships for college? Like.
00:22:17:00 - 00:22:36:23
Connor
I did get some scholarships for college, but, just worked as much as I could. And just hard jobs. Random jobs, just to be able to, like, fit, like a puzzle piece into all of my different activities. It was definitely hard when I was running, D1 cross-country and trying to climb and trying to work and go to school.
00:22:36:23 - 00:22:52:11
Connor
Like, definitely school fell through the cracks pretty hard on that one. When you're trying to sit in physics class and you're just like falling asleep because you got one hour of sleep between work and running and everything. But yeah, just trying my best, not doing it perfectly, just trying my
00:22:53:00 - 00:22:58:13
Kyle
D1 yeah. And high school or college. Oh wow. That's some serious shit.
00:22:58:13 - 00:22:59:04
Connor
it was.
00:22:59:11 - 00:22:59:19
Connor
Yeah,
00:22:59:19 - 00:23:01:24
Kyle
Well the new year. Wow.
00:23:02:01 - 00:23:03:09
Kyle
So freshman I was it.
00:23:03:09 - 00:23:04:02
Connor
It was my sophomore
00:23:04:06 - 00:23:06:06
Kyle
Sophomore year. What events did you run?
00:23:06:11 - 00:23:23:27
Connor
As long as they could give me. So I was just, so, so, did cross-country eight K and then track. I was going to do the ten K, but I got a little injured and didn't really end up running much. But right now, my running is more just as long as you can give me 24 hour, 48 hour running type of deals.
00:23:23:28 - 00:23:24:13
Kyle
Wow.
00:23:24:15 - 00:23:26:23
Kyle
Did you ever get into, like, the ultramarathon thing?
00:23:26:26 - 00:23:31:07
Kyle
Yeah. No, that's the kicker. Okay, cool. So you're still.
00:23:31:08 - 00:23:35:22
Kyle
Doing, like, longer endurance races or just personal runs?
00:23:36:00 - 00:23:39:16
Connor
Mostly personal runs, but I try to do at least 100 miler a year or something
00:23:39:16 - 00:23:41:04
Kyle
Like that. Okay. Yeah.
00:23:41:07 - 00:23:45:01
Kyle
Wow. And then did you start climbing or running first?
00:23:45:22 - 00:23:54:18
Connor
Probably started running first. My mom was a big runner, and my dad was, too. And you're kind of like a wimp. If you didn't go out on the Saturday morning run with a family.
00:23:54:24 - 00:23:56:09
Kyle
That's good I like that.
00:23:56:09 - 00:23:57:06
Connor
into the Saturday morning
00:23:57:06 - 00:23:58:01
Kyle
I like that.
00:23:58:04 - 00:23:58:17
Connor
Yeah.
00:23:58:17 - 00:23:58:29
Kyle
Yeah
00:23:58:29 - 00:24:00:26
Kyle
you you have a quote. You said that you kind.
00:24:00:26 - 00:24:02:21
Kyle
Of got obsessed with the movement of climbing.
00:24:03:14 - 00:24:14:03
Kyle
What do you have, like a particular route or a particular moment where you remember that like clicking where you're just like this movement is like obsessive. I love the flow.
00:24:14:13 - 00:24:43:06
Connor
Probably like the first one. Is this like pretty classic 13 a and Clear Canyon called Sonic Youth. Just a very pumpy flowy route that I had to project for quite a long time is my second 13. And so I had to really actually, like, dedicate to project in and falling in love with the flow in the movement and being quite a bit above my last clip, just because I was so crossing out that I wouldn't clip any of the clips and so super, super safe falls.
00:24:43:06 - 00:24:51:23
Connor
But just like the flow of it and going for each move and every single move was my max for the entire 20 meter route.
00:24:51:23 - 00:24:53:06
Kyle
Would you say that.
00:24:53:08 - 00:24:57:08
Kyle
The movement in climbing progressively gets better the harder you can climb?
00:24:58:00 - 00:25:02:19
Kyle
No, no, no, I mean, is there, like, a bell curve? Where is the sweet.
00:25:02:19 - 00:25:03:03
Kyle
Spot
00:25:03:03 - 00:25:03:21
Connor
For me,
00:25:03:21 - 00:25:04:09
Kyle
Yeah.
00:25:04:12 - 00:25:05:00
Kyle
12.
00:25:05:03 - 00:25:08:02
Kyle
12. Yeah. Just flowy. Flowy.
00:25:08:09 - 00:25:23:15
Connor
Trad. I think trad can like all grades can have the best, like the perfect split or hand crack of the five tens is awesome. And then there's some 513 that I feel like also have amazing movements. But I feel like 12 is really like where you kind of like Max out.
00:25:23:15 - 00:25:23:29
Connor
On the flow.
00:25:24:16 - 00:25:26:05
Kyle
And then after that what kind of.
00:25:26:05 - 00:25:28:07
Kyle
Starts to happen is it gets awkward or just.
00:25:28:07 - 00:25:36:15
Connor
pulling into hard. I'm just like stretching. Like I don't feel like I have the flow. I feel like I'm just like all muscle. No. Anything else? Just like pulling as hard as I can.
00:25:36:15 - 00:25:39:16
Kyle
you feel like that's a lack of fitness? Yeah.
00:25:39:19 - 00:25:42:17
Kyle
So if you're strong enough, maybe the movement gets better.
00:25:42:17 - 00:25:47:27
Connor
I'm sure some professional climber is going to be like all the flow on a 14. C is like, amazing.
00:25:48:00 - 00:25:49:27
Connor
But that's not me.
00:25:50:04 - 00:25:55:14
Kyle
Have you felt like you've reached a plateau or reached like a, I guess a homeostasis with your body?
00:25:55:17 - 00:25:56:22
Connor
Yeah.
00:25:56:24 - 00:26:18:19
Connor
I feel like I have just because I stopped fully stop prioritizing, climbing hard and more. Just climbing adventure and so when I am project in, it's pretty rare and it's pretty quick. This last year, I would, like, fall in love with the root project it for that week. I'd be on it every single day. That week and then send it and then one project again.
00:26:18:21 - 00:26:29:09
Connor
And so I feel like I've also just fallen in love with too many easy routes. And so I have too many easy route that I just climb all day, and I don't end up actually pulling hard.
00:26:29:16 - 00:26:31:07
Kyle
So volume is your key here?
00:26:31:10 - 00:26:43:11
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah, I see that for sure. Yeah. So let's talk about kind of this shift. So, you know, you've established yourself as this like five, 12, five, 13 climber.
00:26:43:13 - 00:26:47:11
Kyle
And you've, you know, adventure is starting to kind of creep back into your life.
00:26:47:19 - 00:26:51:14
Kyle
It seems like this also coincided with your transition to Zion.
00:26:53:09 - 00:26:58:07
Kyle
So I kind of want to talk about, like, some of your big.
00:26:58:09 - 00:27:05:13
Kyle
Objectives in Zion that you've done, and kind of use them to kind of extrapolate more of, like, who you are as a climber.
00:27:05:15 - 00:27:10:03
Kyle
So I have a couple here. We've got like the triple wall, the towers of the Virgin, Korra, and.
00:27:10:03 - 00:27:18:12
Kyle
Obviously Time Wave Zero is not in Zion, but these are the four big ones. Can you help me with the chronological or chronology of these? Which one was first for
00:27:18:12 - 00:27:46:10
Connor
sure. I believe Cora was first that was 512 the I think it's like eight picture out that we, me and a friend, James Barrow, who is on this podcast. I remember what episode? But he was on this podcast talking about our towers, the traverse we did, which was probably right after that. And then, I went out to Mexico for a few weeks and did Sendero in Time Wave zero.
00:27:46:12 - 00:27:53:01
Connor
And then after that, just this last, it would have been last season. I did, the triple solo walls in a day.
00:27:53:01 - 00:27:53:11
Kyle
cool.
00:27:53:12 - 00:27:57:00
Kyle
So let's start with, Korra. Like, where was the first.
00:27:57:00 - 00:27:57:15
Kyle
Ascent
00:27:57:24 - 00:27:58:20
Kyle
go with James?
00:27:59:01 - 00:28:05:07
Kyle
Talk to me about that process. How did you choose it? How did you find it? What did it mean to you and kind of break me down the climb?
00:28:05:09 - 00:28:17:07
Connor
Yeah for sure. So that was my actually first big wall, first ascent that I've ever tried. James knew of a route that him and a buddy of ours, Lanny McDowell, who's also been on this podcast.
00:28:17:28 - 00:28:18:16
Kyle
It's the.
00:28:18:19 - 00:28:19:19
Kyle
The Zion Saint George.
00:28:19:19 - 00:28:20:01
Kyle
Crew.
00:28:20:01 - 00:28:40:06
Connor
Yeah. For sure. They found a route. Landon went up there and he said, this thing is so bad, he they were pulling off blocks just, like, whack and each other on it. And so, Landon said probably not for me. And James got hooked on it because he's hooked on anything cross. And so he knew that he could convince me to get out there and start pulling on it.
00:28:40:08 - 00:29:02:06
Connor
We made it a few pitches up and we found this, like, incredible ten meter roof that, just went straight out of the wall. Ended up going around 12 d, and then just brought it all the way to the top of the tower. And it was just amazing. First experience for us. We did all winter, and we met up every single weekend that whole winter and just climbed on that thing.
00:29:02:08 - 00:29:03:02
Kyle
How long did it take to.
00:29:03:02 - 00:29:04:04
Kyle
Like, clean it up?
00:29:04:22 - 00:29:13:29
Connor
I think we put 6 or 7 days of effort, like full days, sunrise to sunset of effort and hike out in the dark, just to clean it and make it
00:29:14:09 - 00:29:17:16
Kyle
Are you cleaning top down or bottom up? Wow. Okay.
00:29:17:18 - 00:29:18:05
Kyle
So you're
00:29:18:05 - 00:29:19:22
Connor
it's on a freestanding tower in
00:29:19:26 - 00:29:28:04
Kyle
Okay. And so what, you're, like climbing up, putting in trash gear, taking, cleaning, brushing, pulling blocks off, trying to make moves. Get a little bit further.
00:29:28:04 - 00:29:28:25
Connor
Yeah.
00:29:28:27 - 00:29:44:02
Connor
Or just, like, really, really delicately climbing through the maze and just hoping I don't send anything on James. And then we core shot, we shot five different ropes on that climb or four different ropes because we just kept bouldering our ropes,
00:29:44:09 - 00:29:46:20
Kyle
Like pulling blocks off onto the rope.
00:29:46:20 - 00:29:55:03
Connor
ropes over and over again, like we were just James and I at the end of the season, were so broke for having to buy so many damn ropes that season.
00:29:55:06 - 00:29:59:25
Connor
We donated so many to Cora. And then,
00:29:59:28 - 00:30:00:12
Connor
Yeah.
00:30:00:14 - 00:30:09:25
Connor
Just so many rows, but just trying to get up and and James would go and just, like, throw everything off and just bomb it all as I tried to drill a bolt in that really bad rock.
00:30:09:25 - 00:30:11:03
Kyle
Now the rockets.
00:30:11:03 - 00:30:16:07
Kyle
Progressively worse the higher you go up right in Zion. And so this was just bad to start off.
00:30:16:25 - 00:30:32:08
Connor
I would say it's more just like big flakes to start off with that. Like, once you get those off, the climbing is really, really good. But then there's a distinct switch that you get to where you're just like, yeah, this is just bad rock, fun movement. Like it is a really fun route, but you're just in bad rock.
00:30:33:06 - 00:30:34:18
Kyle
So the 12 deep roof like.
00:30:34:18 - 00:30:40:18
Kyle
What kind of movement is it. Like what kind of crack are we talking like a big lie back or are we jamming through the roof.
00:30:41:06 - 00:31:06:22
Connor
It starts at number six, like fully off the ballet. Number six actually, like, uses James's shoulder to, like, actually get into the number six. And so you're straight right off the deck, inverted. And then it pinches down to like, point threes. And so you have to like point three it and so you're kind of like lie back in that more just like dragging your body across it.
00:31:06:24 - 00:31:23:28
Connor
And then it opens up for a quick pot of number fours. So you get to like get a nice head jam in there. There's a classic video of me hanging out there with my head, like, turned sideways, fully jammed. And, I'm just breathing like no one's business of anything. And then you pull through the roof on, like, point
00:31:24:07 - 00:31:28:23
Kyle
Wow. Point to is with face or tips.
00:31:28:26 - 00:31:29:15
Kyle
And that thing.
00:31:29:26 - 00:31:46:12
Connor
just tips on it. But you do have one just like Pinnacle Foot that you're just standing on. You're just praying it doesn't pop off. But when I send it, I was like, placing some gear in the roof. And then I tried to place one and instantly pulled it out, just, like, instantly broke all the rock around it.
00:31:46:12 - 00:31:56:01
Connor
So I tried to pull another one and my hand pops off as I'm going for the last hold and just somehow save it. And so I was like, all right, glad I don't have to do that again.
00:31:56:01 - 00:31:56:27
Connor
Like
00:31:56:27 - 00:31:59:00
Kyle
Yeah. Has it been repeated.
00:31:59:19 - 00:32:00:25
Connor
It's been attempted but never
00:32:01:01 - 00:32:02:19
Kyle
Interesting.
00:32:02:22 - 00:32:12:16
Kyle
I feel like. Yeah. Like what. What is that like. Is it just because it's, is it the nature of the climb and it how bold it is that it doesn't attract people or.
00:32:12:28 - 00:32:32:12
Connor
I feel like Zion. This doesn't attract hard climbers. I feel like most people who come to Zion either go for the adventure side of things straight like C1 aid climbing up on our classic, IG climbing routes that we have, or they get drawn into just like an, like buttress. If you're going to come and climb hard, you're gonna climb hard, in light, and you're probably not going to get off anywhere
00:32:32:12 - 00:32:32:17
Kyle
else.
00:32:32:24 - 00:32:36:23
Kyle
Have you climbed tattooing. Yeah. It looks really good. It looks good.
00:32:36:23 - 00:32:37:05
Connor
Yeah, it's.
00:32:37:05 - 00:32:43:01
Connor
So, so good. Sustain. Though those 511 pitches hit you hard, one after another after another.
00:32:43:01 - 00:32:43:13
Kyle
Yeah.
00:32:43:20 - 00:32:45:02
Kyle
Yeah. There's some hard stuff out there.
00:32:45:06 - 00:32:45:15
Kyle
Yeah.
00:32:45:20 - 00:32:56:24
Kyle
Yeah, I'm close enough where I'm like. I'm starting to because moonlights on the list. So I got to try to work up to it. Yeah, it looks good. I saw some pictures of it recently. I just gotta get it on. Get on that thing.
00:32:56:29 - 00:32:57:14
Connor
Yeah.
00:32:58:00 - 00:33:03:28
Kyle
So all these ropes, you say that like you're, you know, a very risk averse climber.
00:33:04:00 - 00:33:09:24
Kyle
I feel like I've never even shot a rope. Ever. Never.
00:33:09:26 - 00:33:20:14
Kyle
Is it like. Because risk is subjective? I would say so. Like, what does a risk mean to you? Like, is it like I could die, or is it like.
00:33:20:16 - 00:33:23:15
Kyle
Bodily harm? Like, how do you break that down in your head?
00:33:23:15 - 00:33:44:07
Connor
like risk for me is just taking his least amount is possible for a given day or a given route. Like, I cannot go and tell you that I'm not taking any risk when I go climb A4 solo A4, but, it's taking as least risk as possible. All of my friends, they'll be laughing at this because I shot so many ropes every season.
00:33:44:10 - 00:34:12:10
Connor
I tried to tallied up once and if you like, count each individual core shot I've done. I'm probably in the mid 30s like I do it a lot, and I have had some pretty scary core shots. But I feel like I try to be as safe as possible, and each time I core shot it, I feel like I have a unique reason why I got core shot, and it wasn't actually like a sketchy situation.
00:34:12:10 - 00:34:17:02
Connor
It's just like, that happen situations over where safe
00:34:17:17 - 00:34:18:02
Kyle
And this is.
00:34:18:02 - 00:34:19:25
Kyle
Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is like.
00:34:19:25 - 00:34:20:19
Kyle
Ropes don't break.
00:34:20:19 - 00:34:30:06
Kyle
Right? And so, like, it's almost like the core shot is just like, okay, time to be done. Yeah. It's like, now I need a new rope. But I think a lot of people like, even the.
00:34:30:06 - 00:34:32:05
Kyle
Idea of having a core shot is just like I.
00:34:32:05 - 00:34:43:26
Kyle
Was fucking died, you know, like this terrible thing that they want to try to avoid, but it's almost like it's built into the safety system of the rope. It's like the last straw. It's like, this is it. It's over. I feel like the only other.
00:34:43:26 - 00:34:53:08
Kyle
Reason why, like, a core shot would be scary, is if, like, you're rubbing over an edge or something where it can get cut. But I guess, like.
00:34:53:10 - 00:34:54:02
Kyle
Yeah. Like, what's.
00:34:54:02 - 00:34:57:03
Kyle
Causing your core shots? Are you, like, dropping blocks? Are you?
00:34:57:19 - 00:35:19:28
Connor
Honestly everything I had a few drop blocks, my latest core shot was probably my scariest core shot I've ever had. I was soloing on El Cap on the shield, and I just took a very unexpected fall. And I factor to the anchor and core, shot it down to four strands. Yeah, it was a scary one. I did have a backup rope.
00:35:20:00 - 00:35:35:25
Connor
And so that was my one thing as I was up there, and I was quite scared on the shield. Like it's pretty, pretty intense route. And so I actually did have a backup rope attached to me at that time. And so that's why I was like, okay. Like, yeah, of course you're to three strands. That's scary. That's not safe.
00:35:35:25 - 00:35:51:08
Connor
I can't say I'm not up here taking risks, but I had a backup, bro. It was perfectly fine. I would have taken a bigger fall. But on the shield, you can take as big as far as you want. Like you're not hitting anything. You're just flying through the air. Yeah. So, like, that's my way of, like. Okay, I was safe.
00:35:51:12 - 00:35:53:09
Kyle
You were tied in to the back.
00:35:53:11 - 00:35:55:09
Kyle
It was a it was a tag line or.
00:35:55:09 - 00:36:08:22
Connor
Yeah. Was a tagline, but I had this way of if I broke it in half and then tied to the anchor, and I actually was tied to my belay loop as I solo, and, so I was taking a bigger fall, but it still would have been another one.
00:36:08:22 - 00:36:22:23
Kyle
Now was that like, was it a serendipitous reason for you to be safe or because of like you pre-planned that, like, okay, if my rope fails, I have a backup? Or was it just happened to be in that situation where it would have been provided as a backup?
00:36:22:29 - 00:36:42:28
Connor
Kind of just happens to be in that situation. I do sometimes whenever I get scared. I love to throw on a backup rope just because I just like doing it. There's no reason not to, in my opinion, especially when I'm soloing. I like I have my soloing down pat where I don't really have that much stuff, and so why would I tie a fully weighted loop onto my whole loop?
00:36:43:04 - 00:36:50:03
Connor
Why don't I just tie it onto my belay loop and then just take like two extra seconds to set it up perfectly? You know, lock up on me.
00:36:50:12 - 00:36:50:19
Connor
So
00:36:50:26 - 00:36:52:00
Kyle
And that way you have two ropes,
00:36:52:00 - 00:36:52:08
Connor
yeah,
00:36:52:08 - 00:36:55:18
Kyle
just in case. Interesting. Interesting.
00:36:55:25 - 00:36:57:04
Connor
And when you're on El Cap,
00:36:57:19 - 00:36:58:29
Connor
you got no one wanted it.
00:37:00:06 - 00:37:06:08
Kyle
I mean, I guess, like, the next one is the towers of the Virgin Traverse. You know, we, like you.
00:37:06:10 - 00:37:10:04
Kyle
Talked about already. We had James on the show and we talked about that pretty extensively.
00:37:10:04 - 00:37:10:16
Connor
Yeah.
00:37:10:16 - 00:37:18:29
Kyle
What did that trip, like, mean to you personally? And, his close call was after that, right? Yeah. That was unrelated.
00:37:18:29 - 00:37:19:11
Connor
Unrelated.
00:37:19:13 - 00:37:21:08
Kyle
Yeah. So what did that trip mean to you?
00:37:21:08 - 00:37:25:18
Kyle
Like, what was your kind of perception of that? And why did you choose that as an objective with James?
00:37:25:23 - 00:37:35:00
Connor
Yeah. For sure. James had a perfect summary of that on your last interview with him. But it's just a beautiful, beautiful set of towers that.
00:37:35:00 - 00:37:36:01
Connor
Are.
00:37:36:03 - 00:37:55:11
Connor
Nearly impossible to get into. And if people have gone into them before, they're on the sheer face. And you can only do like one of them. And this was our way of just linking all of the summits together in one continuous push. And so we got to do 20 of, like, my favorite Zion summits on rarely climb peaks.
00:37:55:13 - 00:38:17:29
Connor
So it took us two years to do it. Our first year we tried as hard as we could, but we got stuck in so much snow. Snow above our heads, carrying way too much gear and then we came back the second year and had a very amazing experience out there of two guys trying our hardest, working through that absolute rubble pile of spires.
00:38:18:02 - 00:38:19:16
Connor
But amazing, amazing peaks.
00:38:19:20 - 00:38:20:01
Kyle
Yeah.
00:38:20:03 - 00:38:21:10
Kyle
It seemed like there was a lot.
00:38:21:10 - 00:38:36:07
Kyle
Of risk management during that kind of, trip. Like, how did you again, with your kind of risk averse nature or at least your mentality there, how are you justifying the risk that you were putting yourselves in? Like, how was your thought process there in terms of managing the risk?
00:38:36:12 - 00:38:56:27
Connor
Yeah. For sure. Every lake. But we moved on that traverse. We always had to like, think of ways of, are we going to rope up here? Are we not going to rope up here, or are we going to repel. Are we going to down climb? But one thing I knew going into that James had a one year old daughter at that point, and we were going to do everything to the best of our abilities.
00:38:57:00 - 00:39:18:15
Connor
If there is any point of down climbing, we would be repelling it. If there's any point of scariness, we would put an extra piece of protection. We would go around all of these, peaks that we knew of. There wasn't really that hard of a climb that we we shouldn't be taking that much risk on each individual peak, especially with our year of experience beforehand.
00:39:18:18 - 00:39:29:09
Connor
And so we were able to really just move slower than maybe some parties might have, but not take any risk or extra risk throughout the climb.
00:39:29:26 - 00:39:30:15
Kyle
Would you say.
00:39:30:15 - 00:39:49:18
Kyle
Like so that I mean that like particular one is like stepping more towards like this endurance feat. Right. How like and there's like this psychological component to that of like staying on and sharp like you just said, every decision we make, every foot we make is like a calculation that that's mentally taxing over a long period of time.
00:39:49:18 - 00:39:53:24
Kyle
Like, so that psychological fatigue.
00:39:53:26 - 00:40:03:09
Kyle
Do you feel like how do you process that? And then do you feel like your training in cross-country and your endurance background has transferred into that kind of aspect of your climbing?
00:40:03:09 - 00:40:14:13
Connor
I think it definitely has. I know that a lot of people, when they talk about that, like psychological fatigue, because we were up there for four days, three nights on the sharp end, on cliff edges, on chores.
00:40:14:18 - 00:40:15:25
Connor
Every,
00:40:15:28 - 00:40:35:15
Connor
Every single second. A lot of people don't like that. I feel like I love it, I love being in that terrain and traveling through that terrain for a long period of time. That just brings so much joy to me. And so when it, like, drags other people down, I feel like it almost picks me up and it makes me even more psyched to be there that like, oh, it's like it's still giving it to us.
00:40:35:15 - 00:40:39:15
Connor
It's still hard. Like we're still having to work for every foot. So I like it.
00:40:39:29 - 00:40:43:14
Kyle
So you don't get taxed or you're able to just stay sharp.
00:40:43:18 - 00:40:43:27
Kyle
Yeah.
00:40:44:04 - 00:40:45:01
Kyle
Interesting.
00:40:45:04 - 00:40:50:29
Kyle
Do you. Yeah to a point. What about like the relationship between you and James.
00:40:50:29 - 00:41:11:14
Kyle
Like obviously I feel like during those long bouts there's like a a give and a take. There's breath between someone struggling and someone carrying the team. Like, how did you guys balance that kind of back and forth? Like, were you guys both pretty locked in the whole time, or were there switches between people taking the weight of kind of the burden of doing what you guys were doing?
00:41:11:20 - 00:41:33:00
Connor
I think James and I are two very different climbers, and we work very well together. James is all in the planning aspect. I've never seen someone so good at planning out this guy. Can pull up Google Earth, zoom in to a random blob of pixels and be like, all right, that treated that tree 65 meter repel and that treated this bush, and he'll have it down and he'll be like, Connor down.
00:41:33:00 - 00:41:51:18
Connor
There's a 65 meter repel, and it will be exactly 65m. And that traverse would never have been possible without him in that knowledge, where I feel like, I'm more make up for it in the strength aspect and so I can be the one who takes the leads. I can be the one who carries the heavier packs, and I can be that person.
00:41:51:18 - 00:42:10:01
Connor
And so we both need each other in that situation to push each other through. But for the time that we actually did do the traverse, James was fighting off this like terrible cold that he got. And so it kind of did come on me to be like, all right, he's going to kind of be the brains, and I'll kind of be just the bronze.
00:42:10:02 - 00:42:15:26
Connor
And so I'm going to be the one who's carrying it with my head down, and he's going to be the one making the decisions and picking out the routes for
00:42:16:04 - 00:42:24:10
Kyle
That's cool man. Yeah I definitely think I've been blessed enough to climb with a single partner for most of my climbs. It's been two.
00:42:24:10 - 00:42:26:26
Kyle
Different partners but I always have.
00:42:26:26 - 00:42:28:25
Kyle
Large blocks of climbing with one person.
00:42:29:08 - 00:42:41:07
Kyle
And I love the time that you get to develop with that kind of person and the partnership that you build, and you really get to understand the nuances of, like what each person brings to the team and where the weaknesses are and like where you can start to support each other.
00:42:41:10 - 00:42:43:02
Kyle
It's just really it's really cool.
00:42:43:02 - 00:42:52:22
Kyle
So, yeah, let's talk about time wave zero. What was your, so, five hours car to car? Yeah. And it's. How many? 20ft.
00:42:52:24 - 00:42:53:23
Connor
Yeah. 21
00:42:53:26 - 00:42:55:09
Kyle
21 pitches.
00:42:55:11 - 00:42:57:27
Kyle
Did you single the whole thing? How many blocks?
00:42:57:27 - 00:42:59:00
Connor
00:42:59:03 - 00:43:04:15
Connor
I let every pitch in. I want to say four pitches.
00:43:04:19 - 00:43:08:21
Kyle
So you broke it down into. Yeah. So five pitches at a time. Essentially
00:43:08:21 - 00:43:09:18
Connor
Yeah.
00:43:09:20 - 00:43:19:01
Connor
It breaks out pretty well. So I just, like, led as far as I could go. And then, when I ran out draws, I led just to the base of the 12 a pitch,
00:43:19:12 - 00:43:21:20
Kyle
So that way your first one was on it. Yeah.
00:43:21:23 - 00:43:25:16
Connor
Send the 12 pitch just as a singular pitch and then belay that and then.
00:43:25:24 - 00:43:26:17
Connor
Top down after that.
00:43:26:17 - 00:43:27:02
Kyle
Is that the only.
00:43:27:02 - 00:43:28:28
Kyle
12 pitch on the climb. Interesting.
00:43:29:04 - 00:43:30:26
Connor
Everything else is just absolute cruise your five
00:43:31:02 - 00:43:35:04
Kyle
Oh okay. Wow. Okay.
00:43:35:07 - 00:43:40:08
Kyle
Okay. That it's starting to piece together a little bit more. Who did you climb that with?
00:43:40:08 - 00:43:41:03
Connor
Falling round.
00:43:41:10 - 00:43:45:08
Kyle
Oh, okay. The the lady climber and. Okay, cool.
00:43:45:08 - 00:43:45:16
Connor
yep I.
00:43:45:16 - 00:43:47:03
Connor
Was there for three weeks down with her.
00:43:47:10 - 00:43:51:21
Kyle
What's your last name? Root. Okay. Part of the Saint George crew.
00:43:51:23 - 00:43:52:12
Kyle
Same crew.
00:43:52:15 - 00:43:54:00
Kyle
Okay. Cool. Crew.
00:43:54:00 - 00:43:55:11
Connor
We're definitely a small crew, but
00:43:55:11 - 00:43:59:15
Kyle
yeah. That's cool. Was that, like. Is.
00:43:59:21 - 00:44:03:29
Kyle
And you did Sendero Luminoso as well down there? Remind me what that is.
00:44:04:20 - 00:44:27:18
Connor
So that's the classic Honnold route that he freestyled over long time ago. That one I think it gets 12 D. But I'm mostly proud of that route. Just it's so incredibly stacked. I think there's ten, five twelves on that route. Ten, five, 12 pitches. And like, seven of them kind of come in a row to just and they're not all 12 A's.
00:44:27:18 - 00:44:45:08
Connor
Most of them are told BS. Depends what guidebook you look at and all that. But, yeah, it was a long effort of piecing that together. And finally at like I think it was our last full climbing day, we had well down there, I was able to, down supported me on a full ground up lead
00:44:45:08 - 00:44:45:19
Kyle
side.
00:44:45:19 - 00:44:49:00
Kyle
Of it. Was that. So you project did that one kind of.
00:44:49:04 - 00:44:54:17
Connor
Kind of. I had, had one day on it, no, two days on it. And then I sent the third day.
00:44:54:21 - 00:44:58:04
Kyle
Okay, cool. Did you get to the top on the other two days?
00:44:58:08 - 00:45:17:03
Connor
No, we just went up to the first 12. The pitch actually never saw, like basically three quarters of the route on my send go because the first five pitches wrecked me every single time I tried. But we just ended up going down, on the last day, as it would like, link it all perfectly and then just keep going
00:45:17:03 - 00:45:17:28
Kyle
cool man.
00:45:17:28 - 00:45:19:10
Connor
the entire route.
00:45:19:10 - 00:45:19:29
Kyle
Wow.
00:45:20:00 - 00:45:21:26
Kyle
What kind of climbing? Face climbing the whole time?
00:45:22:00 - 00:45:24:00
Kyle
Yeah, like techie vert.
00:45:24:02 - 00:45:24:28
Kyle
Overhanging,
00:45:25:13 - 00:45:29:08
Connor
Tech over the foot like foot technique. Is everything on there?
00:45:29:11 - 00:45:33:16
Kyle
That's cool man. That's cool. That's my favorite kind of climbing.
00:45:33:16 - 00:45:33:29
Connor
Yeah.
00:45:33:29 - 00:45:35:08
Kyle
Yeah, I just.
00:45:35:08 - 00:45:35:22
Connor
Potrero.
00:45:35:22 - 00:45:36:10
Connor
Trail's
00:45:36:13 - 00:45:40:09
Kyle
Hell, yeah. I got to make it down there. So many places to go, man.
00:45:40:11 - 00:45:41:19
Kyle
So many.
00:45:41:19 - 00:45:57:25
Speaker 1
This show is brought to you by Lives and Designs. Let's be honest, most of our clothes don't last nearly as long as they should. Too often, they fall apart long before the sting of the price tag ever fades. And when something does rip or tear, most brands do nothing in the form of support, repair, or replacement. Lives in.
00:45:57:27 - 00:46:18:23
Speaker 1
Lives in is different. They design one quality product at a time with a simple philosophy build outdoor apparel that fits well, works well, and lasts longer so that you can wear it more, keep it longer, and spend more time outside doing what you love. Plus, they have an in-house repair program so that if your clothes rip, tear, or fall apart in any way, you can send them in to live in.
00:46:18:25 - 00:46:35:21
Speaker 1
You even get to decide whether your repair falls under warranty or normal wear and tear. Plus, there's a 30 day money back guarantee so you can buy it. Try it, and if you still don't like it, they will give you your money back. Right now, you can get 15% off at lives, and by using the link in the description below and using code TCM 15 at checkout.
00:46:35:22 - 00:46:46:05
Speaker 1
That's the link in the description below, and code TCM 15 for 15% off at checkout. And remember, every dollar spent and lives in is a dollar spent supporting this podcast.
00:46:46:05 - 00:46:57:05
Kyle
Was that. So this, like, Coro. You're, like first ascent project in, you know, you do towers of the Virgin.
00:46:57:05 - 00:47:16:24
Kyle
That's like this big endurance thing. Yeah. A lot of rope was climbing, a lot of rebels, a lot of logistics. And then we're doing Time wave zero and scenario time timer zero was like a simple, you know, you're you're working on those skills and then you're linking, you know, a super hard climb with all these pitches back together.
00:47:16:27 - 00:47:23:06
Kyle
When we start to get into, like, this triple wall, the solo. Yeah.
00:47:23:08 - 00:47:29:05
Kyle
So you're starting to rope solo at this point. When did that start to enter the picture?
00:47:29:05 - 00:47:51:13
Connor
Oh, I've been really, really loving aid rope soloing. Just because I feel like it opens up so much that I wouldn't be able to do. And so I've been doing that for four years now, and maybe the last two years, it's been probably my, like most, like, my most common form of climbing. I love aid rope soloing and lead rope soloing a lot.
00:47:51:13 - 00:48:02:27
Connor
I love just like you can't rely on anyone else. It's all up to you if you're going to succeed, if you're going to get your rope stuck like everything that happens, it's your fault. Success, failure, your fault.
00:48:03:06 - 00:48:08:14
Kyle
I guess I want to talk about, like, the systems that you're using. So, like, for for rope, for someone.
00:48:08:14 - 00:48:20:04
Kyle
Who doesn't understand what ropes, lead rope soloing is, I guess, like, I think I've definitely got some audience here that is a little bit unfamiliar with the process. Just walk me through the process of lead rope. So learn a little bit.
00:48:20:11 - 00:48:35:12
Connor
Yeah. So, when you get to an anchor, you tie into the anchor directly. And then the most basic and common form is you just hook your Gregorian, like, you're going to belay.
00:48:35:15 - 00:48:37:06
Connor
The anchor up.
00:48:37:09 - 00:49:02:09
Connor
And then you put either back up knots, back up belay devices, micro tractions behind it, just in case it doesn't, lock up or also help it feed correctly. And then you just take off climbing, clipping your gear like normal. Everything is like normal. And then when you get to the top, you have to tie into the anchor, repel all the way back down, grab all of your gear, GMR all the way back up, and then redo it all again.
00:49:02:11 - 00:49:09:29
Connor
So it's you do it. You do the route three times. And you're responsible for everything. You got to climb it all.
00:49:10:28 - 00:49:14:21
Kyle
And you started this four years ago. Yeah. Was it out of necessity.
00:49:14:21 - 00:49:17:12
Kyle
Because you didn't have partners for the objectives that you wanted to do.
00:49:17:12 - 00:49:18:18
Connor
Totally. Yeah.
00:49:18:21 - 00:49:38:18
Connor
Like when I'm traveling, I want to go do these, like, huge, big walls. But I don't really trust anyone to just, like, pick a rando and just, like, okay, let's go do this, like, random desert wall or not even being able to find someone to climb these remote walls with me. Definitely a necessity. And then it's slowly became into something that I was like, oh, actually, like really like
00:49:38:18 - 00:49:38:23
Kyle
this.
00:49:38:27 - 00:49:43:12
Kyle
Do you feel like that's a common thing in the kind of category of climber that you are?
00:49:43:14 - 00:49:50:27
Kyle
Yeah. And would you say most of it is lack of compatibility or lack of people.
00:49:50:27 - 00:49:52:17
Kyle
That actually climb your level?
00:49:53:16 - 00:50:01:19
Connor
I definitely want to say climb my level, but I want to say, like, people who want to do those summits and want to maybe do them at the speed I want to do them.
00:50:01:21 - 00:50:04:04
Connor
Yeah.
00:50:04:06 - 00:50:06:24
Connor
But also, I just I love doing it myself. Like, I just.
00:50:06:24 - 00:50:07:02
Connor
Love that.
00:50:07:02 - 00:50:18:16
Connor
Aspect of roping up yourself, especially like, I really found a lot of joining when I was in Yosemite this year and being able to do big El Cap days by yourself, that was just super fun
00:50:18:25 - 00:50:20:08
Kyle
What do you get out of the experience.
00:50:20:08 - 00:50:23:15
Kyle
That you don't get out of a partner like a traditional partner. Climb.
00:50:24:25 - 00:50:45:10
Connor
God, I just love big days by herself in the mountains. I just love that where you're just. You're pushing hard, you're breathing heavy, and you're just working through all of the, gear and systems. That's a huge thing that I love. And a lot of systems go into rope soloing. You can always tell a good rope solo is a bad resource, because if you're a bad roll solos, you're just stuck in your ropes, just knots everywhere.
00:50:45:10 - 00:51:05:26
Connor
You don't know what end is going where, because when you look down from your blade of ice, you can have anywhere from like 4 to 5 strand just hanging off your harness at one time. And so just the systems and getting that all down pat and super fun to work through. And then also being able to do it with somewhat speed to be able to link up climbs, you link up different
00:51:05:26 - 00:51:06:29
Kyle
levels.
00:51:07:02 - 00:51:13:01
Kyle
Is there like I guess I'm fishing for like this mentality that you're in. Like.
00:51:13:03 - 00:51:14:10
Kyle
What do you like.
00:51:14:12 - 00:51:20:00
Kyle
When you're alone on the wall like is there like a mental place you get into? Are there like things that you think about, or.
00:51:20:00 - 00:51:21:15
Kyle
Are you just immersed.
00:51:21:15 - 00:51:22:19
Kyle
In the process,
00:51:22:19 - 00:51:26:04
Connor
Fully immersed. Yeah, yeah. I'm not I'm just having.
00:51:27:07 - 00:51:46:07
Connor
Having fun and just more just like, so much thoughts going through my brain about, like, when your aid soloing or speed aid aids, what's the next piece of gear? What? What should I load up? How should I set up this situation to better me? Like, am I going to be lowering out how many drop down? Like, there's so much stuff that I think about and have to pursue, like really fast.
00:51:46:10 - 00:52:06:12
Connor
Especially when I'm like speed and soloing or like freeze can be I have like two pieces of gear hanging out of both of my sides of my mouth, have them, like, load it up into my hands as they're, like trying to drive anything. And you have like a five loaded next to a 0.3. And yeah, you're just trying to, trying to climb fast and smooth and like, chase the flow state of
00:52:07:11 - 00:52:15:15
Kyle
What? So, like, linking the, Zion triple as it was called, the the the triple wall solo and 12 hours.
00:52:15:15 - 00:52:24:10
Kyle
The connection is touchstone, moonlight and Prodigal Son. Yeah. When did that become possible in your brain?
00:52:24:24 - 00:52:25:12
Connor
Oh.
00:52:25:14 - 00:52:34:27
Connor
I don't think it was. It was never a thought of, like, I always just thought like, because I grew up under, like, thinking, like, that's what Honnold did. Like, I could never do that. And, like, I would never be able to do
00:52:34:27 - 00:52:35:11
Kyle
Did he free.
00:52:35:11 - 00:52:35:25
Kyle
All of it.
00:52:35:25 - 00:52:39:19
Connor
No, I don't think he freed all of it because prodigal doesn't go
00:52:39:23 - 00:52:41:17
Kyle
Okay. Got it.
00:52:41:29 - 00:52:59:29
Connor
But I was like, no, I can't do that. But until this last year, when I was actually supposed to do with a partner, I was supposed to do a James, he got into an accident. And then I was kind of like, I'm in shape, and I already know these walls. I wonder if I could just, like, see how it goes.
00:53:00:02 - 00:53:18:19
Connor
But then I spent the whole season working down each wall individually, getting it down where I would have the perfect rack, and I would know each individual placement and where it goes and how to how to work out my systems the best. Almost like cheat some of the walls and be able to like, okay, I can do this while super fast if I just like do it this way.
00:53:18:22 - 00:53:33:04
Connor
But one thing that I made sure about is I was roped up for every single pitch. I never free solo a single thing, except for I did free. So the first Benjamin, I have to say that because I just it's if you fall your head on a ledge anyways, like, it's not like not any safety reasons to have a rope.
00:53:33:04 - 00:53:45:10
Connor
I always had very much more than adequate gear. And that's one thing that I was like, okay, I could probably, like, shave off 30 or 45 minutes if I run it out or don't carry as much gear. And I was like, nah, I'd rather not do that.
00:53:45:10 - 00:53:48:25
Connor
I'd rather just happy, safe and get the safest, fastest
00:53:49:06 - 00:53:51:17
Kyle
Then the key is to free as much as possible. Right.
00:53:52:07 - 00:54:21:06
Connor
That's what, every party that's tried it, like when people do it as a, party of two, that's what mostly they focus on. But I felt that I was almost quicker in my ladders. So I freed I, Friedman light, and I freed almost all of touch down. But I feel like I'm quicker running up my ladders and just top stepping and just swinging my ladders one over another than I am, trying to free climb it.
00:54:21:08 - 00:54:38:09
Connor
I do quite well on like, cam hands in. And so that's yeah, a friend train. So that's what I, focus on it like moonlight. Because moonlight. So splatter. You can keep one calm the whole entire pitch, and you never really have to leave it. And so you can do it there, but, like, stuff is like, prodigal son.
00:54:38:11 - 00:54:39:29
Connor
I was probably on my ladder for.
00:54:40:01 - 00:54:41:00
Connor
Almost every move.
00:54:41:07 - 00:54:42:19
Kyle
How did you feel after you were done with that?
00:54:43:07 - 00:54:44:06
Connor
I want to do another wall.
00:54:44:23 - 00:54:46:02
Connor
I so wanted to do another
00:54:46:02 - 00:54:47:27
Kyle
you were just, like, zipping.
00:54:47:27 - 00:55:03:10
Connor
was so zipping because I didn't expect I expected to be on top in like 20, 22 hours. And it was, 12 hours and I was on top and I was like, oh, I could like wrap down and I could quickly, like, scrounge together a rack and go over and do another wall.
00:55:03:10 - 00:55:12:05
Connor
But I was like, it's so hard to get off a prodigal. And I only had one rope because I wasn't going to wrap. I had to walk off prodigal. And so I was like, maybe another day I'll come back and do a four walls.
00:55:12:07 - 00:55:14:02
Kyle
And then just to be clear, you're doing this solo.
00:55:14:02 - 00:55:16:19
Kyle
So you have to climb up, wrap down, jog back up.
00:55:16:22 - 00:55:19:13
Kyle
Every pitch. And you still did all three.
00:55:19:13 - 00:55:20:01
Kyle
Walls in 12.
00:55:20:01 - 00:55:24:23
Kyle
Hours. Yeah. That's wild. Thank you. If you were to.
00:55:24:23 - 00:55:32:00
Kyle
Attribute, like, one part of your systems to the reason why I was successful, do you have, like, a particular thing that was like.
00:55:32:00 - 00:55:34:17
Kyle
The secret or the secret sauce or like.
00:55:34:17 - 00:55:37:15
Connor
secret, I've actually had a lot of people ask me
00:55:37:15 - 00:55:37:28
Kyle
this.
00:55:38:01 - 00:55:40:24
Kyle
Because it's like it's wild. Yeah. You'd think that there's.
00:55:40:24 - 00:55:41:23
Kyle
Something that.
00:55:41:23 - 00:55:43:25
Kyle
People are just missing.
00:55:44:07 - 00:55:44:17
Connor
I would.
00:55:44:17 - 00:55:46:00
Connor
Say.
00:55:46:02 - 00:56:05:17
Connor
It's really stupid, but I can get into a jog. I feel like I always call it a jogging stance when I'm running and it's when you run splitters and you are in your ladders and you're almost like, how do I explain it? You're almost the same movement of chugging up a rope. If you know that movement, you legitimately just chug up a rope.
00:56:05:17 - 00:56:11:11
Connor
But instead of holding on to your jug, it's cam handing in your ladders and you're just like,
00:56:11:11 - 00:56:13:00
Kyle
wow.
00:56:13:00 - 00:56:15:23
Connor
up. And so you can kind of actually go as fast as you can breathe.
00:56:16:00 - 00:56:17:28
Kyle
So every time you place, you stand.
00:56:17:28 - 00:56:18:21
Connor
just instantly.
00:56:18:22 - 00:56:21:11
Kyle
And then you place in stand place and stand.
00:56:21:11 - 00:56:22:13
Connor
walking up your ladders.
00:56:22:13 - 00:56:23:05
Kyle
No.
00:56:23:08 - 00:56:24:04
Kyle
It's
00:56:24:04 - 00:56:25:01
Connor
placing and
00:56:25:20 - 00:56:29:26
Connor
and just like, not even making that much progress, but you're just
00:56:29:29 - 00:56:32:19
Kyle
But the consistency gets you up to really fast.
00:56:32:21 - 00:56:34:25
Kyle
And the key there is a splitter.
00:56:34:27 - 00:56:40:10
Kyle
Because you have to change cams. Have you ever attached like multiple size cams to the top of your ladder so you can switch.
00:56:40:10 - 00:56:41:24
Connor
I always, I always have like.
00:56:42:24 - 00:56:46:00
Kyle
This cluster. Oh wow. Okay.
00:56:46:00 - 00:56:46:12
Connor
definitely.
00:56:46:12 - 00:56:47:06
Kyle
00:56:47:10 - 00:56:50:16
Connor
the key is there is actually you hold each cam with each
00:56:50:16 - 00:56:51:10
Kyle
No way.
00:56:51:10 - 00:56:55:20
Connor
and so you can twist it onto it. And so you actually can do the jug.
00:56:55:20 - 00:56:55:29
Kyle
Yeah.
00:56:56:01 - 00:56:56:09
Kyle
If it
00:56:56:09 - 00:56:58:26
Connor
changes you just like change your thumb to a different cam
00:56:58:26 - 00:56:59:24
Kyle
And then flip it up.
00:56:59:24 - 00:56:59:29
Connor
in.
00:56:59:29 - 00:57:00:18
Connor
Yeah.
00:57:00:18 - 00:57:02:11
Kyle
That is there's the secret
00:57:02:11 - 00:57:12:17
Connor
In theory it works. If anyone out there goes and tries to do it, they will like totally just like mess it up 100 times and I definitely mess it up. But it it's really fast if you can get
00:57:12:17 - 00:57:12:21
Kyle
right.
00:57:12:26 - 00:57:14:21
Kyle
Interesting. That's cool man.
00:57:14:24 - 00:57:16:28
Connor
Just something I worked through and just had fun
00:57:16:28 - 00:57:18:21
Kyle
Have you heard of anybody doing that?
00:57:18:21 - 00:57:25:25
Connor
No, because everyone just can free it. Like if, if they're trying to move that fast on that like splitter or easy of terrain, they're just
00:57:25:25 - 00:57:28:04
Kyle
What do you think you could beat somebody, though. That was freeing it.
00:57:28:04 - 00:57:29:17
Connor
I know I can because I've
00:57:30:11 - 00:57:31:05
Kyle
You race somebody.
00:57:31:05 - 00:57:34:15
Connor
raised some people where it's just like, okay, like they're really fast, free climber.
00:57:34:22 - 00:57:44:11
Connor
But I feel like I can beat them on ladders and I, I can beat them on ladders. Not saying like, I bet everyone can beat me speed climbing like, but I'll matters. I can be pretty
00:57:44:11 - 00:57:47:15
Kyle
interesting. That's cool man. I feel like that's such a niche.
00:57:47:18 - 00:57:56:01
Kyle
It's such a niche thing. Yeah. Does it take. Does it take like the movement? It's repetitive. Does it take away from the experience because.
00:57:56:01 - 00:57:58:00
Kyle
You're not like you're not like free.
00:57:58:00 - 00:57:59:21
Kyle
Climbing. There's not that flow.
00:57:59:26 - 00:58:16:23
Connor
No, because I still find flow. And also the systems are super intense for that. And now. Yeah, it's repetitive, but you're moving through so much terrain so fast that it's almost like you're like, okay, now it's a whole new situation here. Like, I'm already through that section
00:58:17:13 - 00:58:28:12
Kyle
That makes sense. Yeah. That was the one thing that turned me off from ice climbing is it's like pick pick, stand, stand. It's like, okay. Got it. I got the whole sport. Yeah. Kind of, you know, obviously.
00:58:28:14 - 00:58:28:21
Kyle
There's
00:58:28:21 - 00:58:48:03
Connor
there's no new systems in play at that. Like I feel like ice climbing. Like this is totally wrong. But every ice pitch is kind of the same. You have a blur at the bottom. You pick big stands in. But every aid solo or every speed, it's so it's always different. Your system's always changing. How you're going to do it is always changing.
00:58:48:21 - 00:58:51:28
Kyle
I could see that ice. I mean I still, I feel like that for every rock climb.
00:58:52:00 - 00:59:11:24
Kyle
It's so wild that you like, every climb is different. It's fucking crazy. It's so crazy. Like what other kind of sport or activity has such variety. I don't I couldn't tell you surfing, but not really because it's still consistent with the same wave.
00:59:11:24 - 00:59:16:02
Connor
I was actually wondering that, like, does it surfer like, feel each individual wave.
00:59:16:04 - 00:59:16:12
Connor
I don't know.
00:59:16:12 - 00:59:25:13
Connor
If I'm weird, but I memorize movements for different routes. Like when I brought up Sonic Youth, I did that route. Had it been eight years ago, I still have the crux moved,
00:59:25:13 - 00:59:25:28
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:25:28 - 00:59:27:00
Connor
like I still know.
00:59:27:00 - 00:59:27:03
Kyle
the.
00:59:27:03 - 00:59:29:09
Kyle
In your neurons. Yeah.
00:59:29:13 - 00:59:37:01
Connor
And my parents always used to make fun of me because I'd be sitting at dinner and I'd just be totally zoned out. Just like working through a random crux in my head, just walking through it in my mind.
00:59:37:01 - 00:59:38:15
Kyle
It was like Adam on or on the ground.
00:59:38:15 - 00:59:39:25
Kyle
Just like meditating.
00:59:39:28 - 00:59:40:23
Connor
Just like under the
00:59:41:01 - 00:59:41:09
Connor
Just
00:59:42:07 - 00:59:44:26
Kyle
Holding onto the crimpers at the table. Yeah.
00:59:44:26 - 00:59:45:13
Connor
exactly.
00:59:45:13 - 00:59:45:29
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:46:11 - 00:59:55:16
Connor
But I still have that. And I still think about that a ton of just like each individual move. And I've done thousands and thousands of pitches, and I feel like none of them
00:59:55:21 - 00:59:57:01
Kyle
Are the same.
00:59:57:10 - 00:59:57:29
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:57:29 - 00:59:59:15
Connor
their each individual unique
00:59:59:15 - 01:00:03:01
Kyle
But you're still building this library of movement in your brain.
01:00:03:04 - 01:00:03:28
Kyle
Yeah.
01:00:04:00 - 01:00:19:11
Kyle
How do you think about visualization. Do you like you just kind of talked about it. You're at the dinner table as a kid. Like visualizing the movement. Yeah. How much of that do you feel like applies to climbing and how, like, underutilized do you think it is? And climbing at first, most people.
01:00:19:21 - 01:00:46:16
Connor
Super underutilized especially for like I know I under utilize it a lot too. But you can work out all the different like especially big wall climbing people get up on big walls and they're like I don't know. They get into situations that they don't know. But it's obvious if you just thought about it beforehand and visualized it before you got into that situation, how you can solve it super quickly and super efficiently and easily and not just like wait till you're in the moment because it's coming up for a while.
01:00:46:16 - 01:00:53:03
Connor
It's not like climbing is such a slow sport. It's not like, oh, instantly this happened, so you can just visualize it coming in.
01:00:53:03 - 01:00:53:18
Connor
And then
01:00:53:24 - 01:00:54:25
Kyle
I think a lot of people.
01:00:54:25 - 01:01:04:01
Kyle
Spend the time being in a state of fear of the unknown coming up to the moment, rather than trying to solve the problem before it's there.
01:01:04:03 - 01:01:19:15
Connor
100%. 100%. That especially speaks to like, big wall climbers when they have their whole cluster of bags and ropes and all that. I've seen it so many times on big walls where they're like, oh, that's about doing causes hard.
01:01:19:15 - 01:01:21:23
Connor
Like we're about to get screwed by that.
01:01:21:25 - 01:01:22:20
Connor
And then they do nothing.
01:01:22:20 - 01:01:25:02
Connor
I get screwed by it. So
01:01:25:02 - 01:01:27:14
Kyle
Yeah. I feel like I love.
01:01:27:14 - 01:01:39:15
Kyle
The concept of visualization, not only in climbing but in my life in general. Like, I can't tell you how many times I've been in the shower. Just like, just like, thinking about shit, you know, like thinking about things that are to come. Like, if I have a conversation with somebody coming up, it just like, well.
01:01:39:15 - 01:01:48:09
Kyle
How could it go? Like, if it goes this way, what do I say if this happens? Like, you know, and like just living your life in the future in all these different ways so.
01:01:48:09 - 01:01:56:16
Kyle
That when it does happen, there's this sense of familiarity. And I feel like we can use that in climbing to. It's like you might not be able to predict exactly what happens.
01:01:56:23 - 01:02:09:10
Kyle
But if you can think about yourself being in that place, especially if you have pictures of the wall or you've been able to read somebody to, like, put yourself there in your brain and then when you're there, yeah, like I said, it's.
01:02:09:10 - 01:02:10:26
Kyle
The sense of familiarity. And so.
01:02:10:29 - 01:02:14:04
Kyle
The, the like nervousness or the jitters.
01:02:14:04 - 01:02:20:05
Kyle
Or the, the fear, it kind of goes away because your body's like, I've been here before. I think that's super important.
01:02:20:05 - 01:02:33:28
Connor
why I love solo climbing and why I love, like, solo. Big days in the mountains is just like being able to, like, be by yourself and visualize your entire life or anything. That's anything that pops up in your brain you're not hiding from, and you're just visualizing
01:02:34:04 - 01:02:41:08
Kyle
You don't have anybody to talk to or entertain or or. Yeah. There's no back and forth. Yeah.
01:02:41:10 - 01:02:43:21
Kyle
That's another thing I love about climbing too, is a lot of people.
01:02:43:21 - 01:02:54:13
Kyle
Call it a mirror. And I think that's so true. I think that, like, especially when you start getting into, like, more riskier things where your body's in this heightened sense of awareness.
01:02:54:16 - 01:02:58:19
Kyle
I think that if you're, like, going through some shit or you're, like, not in a good spot.
01:02:58:23 - 01:03:15:24
Kyle
Mentally, like that stuff is going to come out while you're out there. And so it's so important to, like, ground yourself as much as you can as a human in your normal life, so that when you go to the mountains, like you don't have these like traumatic things that you have to process. Sometimes you need to do that.
01:03:15:26 - 01:03:16:28
Kyle
But yeah, it's cool.
01:03:16:28 - 01:03:19:16
Kyle
It forces. It forces you to reckon.
01:03:19:19 - 01:03:24:06
Kyle
Yourself with, like, your demons. And I think that's so therapeutic.
01:03:24:10 - 01:03:39:16
Connor
Yeah, I'm definitely a masochist, and I have to do that a lot of times to myself. Like, with anything big that happens in my life, I always have, like, a few hundred mile effort. Right after that. Like, if, like, a big moment happens, like I break up, it's like 500 mile run after that.
01:03:39:18 - 01:03:40:22
Connor
Like.
01:03:40:24 - 01:03:45:14
Connor
Like I bike to Mexico after a break up or like stuff like that. You're like, all right, I got to do this now.
01:03:45:14 - 01:03:51:29
Kyle
Yeah. Job change. You know, going on a 200 miler. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool man. What have you learned about.
01:03:51:29 - 01:03:53:14
Kyle
Yourself during those times?
01:03:53:14 - 01:03:56:19
Connor
I feel like everything
01:03:56:19 - 01:03:58:26
Kyle
Everything? Who you are, your identity.
01:03:58:26 - 01:03:59:18
Connor
100%.
01:04:00:28 - 01:04:02:12
Kyle
What is surprised you?
01:04:04:23 - 01:04:22:25
Connor
I feel like after I get back from those runs, I am fully different. Or big days, like some day that just crushes you in the mountains or more. For me, now, it has to be like multiple days, like maybe two week efforts or something like that. You get back and I'm just a completely different person. I'm super.
01:04:22:25 - 01:04:33:13
Connor
I feel like I'm more quiet, a more comfortable with who I am and comfortable with each outcome or everything that happens. It just can happen. I don't have to, like, try to dictate it at any point.
01:04:33:20 - 01:04:37:12
Kyle
I like that.
01:04:37:14 - 01:05:03:24
Kyle
Yeah. There's something too about like the, I don't know the effort over such a long period of time like I just got done. This is small potatoes in comparison to the stuff you do. But I did I coined it like the brownstone bash. I did like, Mr. Z to armor trying to sweet, then to Nightcrawler. It's like 3000ft of climbing and I don't know what it was, but, like, at the first pitch of Nightcrawler, at the end of the day, I was, like, climbing up the first pitch and, like, I, like, just started laughing.
01:05:03:26 - 01:05:05:14
Kyle
And I was just like, Bryce.
01:05:05:14 - 01:05:08:26
Kyle
I don't know if I'm walking or climbing. I can't tell the difference anymore.
01:05:08:26 - 01:05:09:11
Connor
Yeah.
01:05:09:11 - 01:05:14:15
Kyle
And I was just like, this is so sick because my brain was just like elsewhere. And I was just like floating.
01:05:14:15 - 01:05:22:17
Kyle
Around, just like processing my thoughts and just, like wandering around. But my body was just, like, moving effortlessly through the terrain.
01:05:22:20 - 01:05:24:21
Kyle
Yeah. And it was such a cool experience.
01:05:24:21 - 01:05:28:25
Kyle
I got to the top of the first pitch and I was like, damn, that was some flow.
01:05:28:28 - 01:05:29:13
Kyle
Yeah.
01:05:29:18 - 01:05:48:23
Connor
It was a while ago but I, I ran the Colorado Trail, the 500 mile trail across Colorado, and I did it, in 13 days. So it's like 40 ish miles a day. And just by the end of that, I was just so comfortable with everything and just the flow of and running through it that like, almost when the finish line comes, you're like, I really want it to come.
01:05:48:24 - 01:05:58:20
Connor
Yeah. Like I want to. I want to go back into the mountains. I don't want to be here. Like just the flow of things where you're like, I'm almost like, I don't want to cry right now. I'm almost past that. I'm almost just like, just in pure
01:05:58:20 - 01:05:59:06
Kyle
Yeah.
01:05:59:07 - 01:06:11:03
Kyle
You get past the uncomfortable and you're just like floating. I don't even know. It's a weird feeling. I can't imagine like the, I like with the taste that I've had, I can't imagine what it's like exponentially.
01:06:11:06 - 01:06:14:10
Connor
It's addicting. Just like I will run the rest of my life trying to chase that
01:06:14:10 - 01:06:14:12
Kyle
one.
01:06:14:15 - 01:06:15:09
Kyle
Yeah.
01:06:15:11 - 01:06:16:01
Kyle
Yeah.
01:06:16:04 - 01:06:20:02
Kyle
Do you think that's just specifically attached to endurance?
01:06:22:08 - 01:06:28:14
Connor
For me. Yes for me I've only been able to feel it on hard days out. Or almost like crushing days
01:06:28:17 - 01:06:31:27
Kyle
Do you feel like it's a physical.
01:06:32:00 - 01:06:36:19
Kyle
Reaction or a mental reaction to the like the tiredness.
01:06:36:22 - 01:06:37:21
Kyle
Both.
01:06:37:23 - 01:06:51:21
Kyle
And so you would think that activities that drain you faster give you a better flow. So like I like longer big climbing days probably give you more of that feeling than like a longer run. That makes sense.
01:06:52:24 - 01:07:10:25
Connor
I think it would. But on a run, you can get yourself into more a deeper place to get to climb. Like I would not want to get myself into. As deep as I dig of a hole as I'm running. Like, that would just be so dangerous. Like when I run, I dig a deep hole. I dig a hole where I am.
01:07:10:25 - 01:07:17:11
Connor
There's nothing behind my eyes. Don't know what's out there. I have very few brain cells and that would be very scary.
01:07:17:17 - 01:07:17:29
Connor
Climbing
01:07:17:29 - 01:07:19:21
Kyle
Interesting. Okay. That makes sense. That would.
01:07:19:21 - 01:07:21:22
Kyle
Be dangerous. You were able to go deeper because you.
01:07:21:22 - 01:07:26:21
Kyle
Don't have to protect your life. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. Interesting.
01:07:26:23 - 01:07:27:02
Kyle
Barely
01:07:27:02 - 01:07:31:04
Connor
even have to, like, steer like you have something behind you. Or even if you're a low and you're like, you just look at a
01:07:32:03 - 01:07:32:20
Kyle
Like.
01:07:32:22 - 01:07:36:05
Kyle
It's like black out for a little bit.
01:07:36:07 - 01:07:36:22
Kyle
What about.
01:07:36:23 - 01:07:46:13
Kyle
So we're talking about this, like endurance in this blissful state. What about when things get hard? Because obviously it's not like this. At least I'm projecting here.
01:07:46:13 - 01:07:48:02
Kyle
But there's there's got to be.
01:07:48:02 - 01:07:58:00
Kyle
These, like, dips, whether it's because you forgot to eat or you're bonking like, and then you've got this mental taxing situation where you're like having to come back out of the hole.
01:07:58:12 - 01:08:08:19
Kyle
Have you experienced that? Kind of like, disparity? The crushing kind of, like, blow to morale when you're alone. And how do you, like, how do you handle that?
01:08:08:19 - 01:08:09:13
Kyle
How do you get out of it?
01:08:09:21 - 01:08:10:14
Connor
I feel like.
01:08:11:28 - 01:08:25:28
Connor
There's different ways I never eat properly on these long runs. And so at a certain point, I will always bonk or just have a low point in the run. And so just like, always having to, like, okay, I haven't eaten.
01:08:25:28 - 01:08:27:05
Connor
Anything in 12 hours.
01:08:27:07 - 01:08:45:21
Connor
Like, I feel like crap. Like I should start trying to eat now. And it's just like digging yourself out of a hole because I feel like I always have to dig the hole first before I can realize, oh, like, should have probably eaten before this. Or, like, I've been out of water for the last few miles, like,
01:08:45:23 - 01:09:12:17
Connor
But the scariest I've ever been in the mountains was through one of those crushing blows. I was almost finished with the world, if you know what that is, it's the Wasatch Ultimate Ridge link up. It just you link up all the peaks around Little Cottonwood Canyon and I was doing it solo on site, and I've never been in the Wasatch before, and it was like 2 a.m. in the morning, and I'm just up on a random peak that I have no clue where I am and just completely lost.
01:09:12:20 - 01:09:29:11
Connor
And it's like, well, I haven't eaten anything, haven't done anything. I can't call Search and Rescue because I don't even have a phone right now. Like, and so you kind of just have to like, pick up your pieces and run out of there. And it's really hard in the moment. But then when you look back at it's the best memories, in my
01:09:29:18 - 01:09:34:29
Kyle
Yeah. That's the whole, like, coin type to fund or whatever. It's like terrible in the moment. But also when you get out of it.
01:09:34:29 - 01:09:35:15
Connor
Yeah.
01:09:35:15 - 01:09:40:27
Kyle
But it doesn't seem like the again, you talk.
01:09:40:27 - 01:09:54:03
Kyle
About that obviously it's after the fact. So it's like that was really fun. But like how I guess in that moment, like how desperate was it, like how much of the despair or fear, like, are you really good at keeping that away?
01:09:54:11 - 01:10:13:15
Connor
I am really good at keeping it away. But in that moment in time, I threw up, decided, okay, I should take a nap. I was on the top of a peak peaks. I took a nap, stood up instantly, like, started to lean over the edge of the cliff, was like oh God. Stopped myself, threw up again and just started walking.
01:10:13:20 - 01:10:17:08
Connor
Just was like, all right, we're walking out of here. Like,
01:10:17:19 - 01:10:23:08
Kyle
Almost like, not doing anything. It's like just signing yourself up for death. Just like sitting there.
01:10:23:10 - 01:10:24:03
Kyle
Yeah.
01:10:25:23 - 01:10:38:02
Connor
But I feel like you just have to just have the mental capacity just to battle and just to go into battle. Some of those times that doesn't mean all these long days I'm going into, like, this deepest hole. But some days that you really want to.
01:10:38:04 - 01:10:39:07
Connor
Or.
01:10:39:09 - 01:10:45:07
Connor
Shit goes awry, you kind of just have to, like, burn down and just one foot in front of the other and get yourself
01:10:45:07 - 01:10:46:21
Kyle
out of it.
01:10:46:23 - 01:10:51:13
Kyle
And it seems like you're. Maybe not looking for it.
01:10:51:20 - 01:10:53:04
Kyle
But anticipating it.
01:10:53:07 - 01:10:53:16
Connor
Yeah.
01:10:53:16 - 01:10:53:28
Kyle
It's like.
01:10:53:28 - 01:10:54:09
Kyle
It's.
01:10:54:09 - 01:10:55:28
Connor
it. But hopefully you not don't find it
01:10:55:28 - 01:10:58:26
Kyle
It's like part of the experience. You know it might come.
01:10:59:00 - 01:11:00:14
Connor
But you just hoping it doesn't. But it
01:11:00:14 - 01:11:01:21
Kyle
It probably will.
01:11:01:21 - 01:11:09:25
Kyle
But again with the familiarization like you've been there before and you're like, oh God, I'm here again. Time to time to bare down and put one more foot in front.
01:11:09:25 - 01:11:10:07
Kyle
Of the other.
01:11:10:10 - 01:11:10:27
Connor
Yeah.
01:11:10:27 - 01:11:11:07
Kyle
Yeah.
01:11:11:12 - 01:11:19:15
Kyle
That's wild man. Yeah. The long endurance stuff is is really inspiring. Such, like a mental challenge.
01:11:19:20 - 01:11:19:28
Connor
Yeah.
01:11:19:28 - 01:11:29:14
Kyle
And I love the vision of it, too. You're just like, what's possible. What can I do? What can I do in 24 hours? What can I do in 48 hours? Like, how long can I just stay moving?
01:11:29:14 - 01:11:41:21
Connor
Stay in the pain cave. Stay. And also there's just like the beauty aspect of it where it's like, wow, I can traverse whole mountain ranges or I can do all of these routes. I can do all of the stuff in just a day. And that's just crazy to
01:11:41:29 - 01:11:44:23
Kyle
Yeah. That was one thing again like small potatoes.
01:11:44:23 - 01:11:50:12
Kyle
But just even that linkup, it's just the amount of ground you could cover if you just like.
01:11:50:12 - 01:11:53:00
Kyle
Put your mind to it and think that it's possible.
01:11:53:02 - 01:11:55:02
Kyle
And the efficiency is so key.
01:11:55:04 - 01:11:59:04
Kyle
Like a I have a quote that I've been following is enjoyment is and or.
01:11:59:06 - 01:12:01:27
Kyle
It's either enjoyment is efficiency or efficiency.
01:12:01:27 - 01:12:13:04
Kyle
Is enjoyment. And it's so true. Like when you're dialed and everything like there's no, there's not a single step in the process where you're wasting time. You're just like, flowing and you're moving.
01:12:13:04 - 01:12:16:20
Kyle
Everything is dialed. Like, oh, man, it feels so good.
01:12:16:20 - 01:12:18:05
Connor
I don't speed climb, I climb efficiently.
01:12:18:09 - 01:12:19:01
Kyle
Yeah.
01:12:19:01 - 01:12:21:08
Connor
that's, that's the good feeling. You're not like
01:12:21:15 - 01:12:22:09
Kyle
Yeah.
01:12:22:09 - 01:12:23:03
Connor
following
01:12:23:03 - 01:12:24:00
Kyle
Yeah.
01:12:24:02 - 01:12:33:00
Kyle
Like, that was definitely something I climbed a half dome in a day recently, and I approached the bottom. We were trying to pass somebody, so there was a bit of a rush.
01:12:33:07 - 01:12:39:11
Kyle
But I was just like. Like sprinting up the thing. The first, like, we similar to the first.
01:12:39:16 - 01:12:43:14
Kyle
Like, I did a similar pitch one through three and a half.
01:12:43:16 - 01:12:44:06
Kyle
The hardest.
01:12:44:09 - 01:13:02:04
Kyle
I know. And I was like just sprinting up the thing and I was just like, I got to like P4 and I was gassed and I like we were able to stay up and go for it. But then I was climbing the other day and I was climbing just as fast, but way chiller. I was like, okay, this is it.
01:13:02:07 - 01:13:07:27
Kyle
This is sustainable. This is what you look for. Like smooth. This fast.
01:13:08:00 - 01:13:23:18
Kyle
Yeah. And that was really, really cool. That that feeling for sure is addicting. Yeah. Even for me. More so than, like, climbing something super hard. Like climbing over a bunch of terrain. Like covering 1000ft in an hour. It's like, that's sick.
01:13:23:21 - 01:13:35:00
Connor
I feel like though that's the two things that like have made me addicted to the sport is either like flowing through thousands of feet of climbing or the flow state you get from just the movement or perfection of
01:13:35:21 - 01:13:36:29
Kyle
And it is cool that there's both.
01:13:37:00 - 01:13:38:15
Kyle
Yeah. Both that you can chase
01:13:38:15 - 01:13:44:04
Connor
come in at the same point of like, yeah, they're both are perfection of movement through training.
01:13:44:10 - 01:13:45:01
Kyle
For sure.
01:13:45:01 - 01:14:03:09
Kyle
Quick aside. If you're anything like me, you want climbing gear that's durable, stylish, and actually comfortable. No one wants to deal with blown seams, tight hip mobility, or fabric that deteriorates after a single chimney lives and makes the most stylish and durable outdoor apparel on the market. And their Eco Trek Trail pants are literally the best climbing pants I've ever worn.
01:14:03:10 - 01:14:27:14
Kyle
They're comfortable, flexible and packed with thoughtful features a built in drawstring, a phone pocket, an innovative leg roll up system, and stitching designed specifically for movement. Plus, there's a 30 day money back guarantee so you can buy them, try them, and if you still don't like them, they will give you your money back. Right now, you can get 15% off your next pair of Eco Trek trail pants by using the link in the description below and using code TCM 15 at checkout.
01:14:27:17 - 01:14:36:24
Kyle
That's a link in the description below, and using code TCM 15 at checkout. And remember, every dollar spent and lives in is a dollar spent supporting this podcast.
01:14:36:24 - 01:14:42:06
Kyle
So there's like this fallacy I believe. That hard trad.
01:14:42:06 - 01:14:46:19
Kyle
Lines have to be inherently bold, dangerous reckless and unsustainable.
01:14:46:22 - 01:14:53:14
Kyle
No, I just don't think it's true. I think that there's some people that believe that. Yeah.
01:14:53:17 - 01:15:01:15
Kyle
Why do you think that? There is a general belief that as we climb harder, trad grades, it is inherently more dangerous.
01:15:01:19 - 01:15:21:12
Connor
I feel like we just look at like the pros who are out there climbing just these insanely bold routes because those are the ones that get the photos, those massive run outs, those get us excited. So that's what we're seeing on the feed every day. But hard trad routes don't always have to be dangerous at all. I know this one.
01:15:21:12 - 01:15:44:02
Connor
I'm working on, the cams above my head. Like it's safer than any fall I take any day. I have two cams backed up, 0.7 fives in amazing rock above my head. Like it's not. Not dangerous at all. Super safe. You can choose to go and did more dangerous routes. Just like you can choose to go into more dangerous five tens.
01:15:44:04 - 01:15:46:10
Connor
But it's a choice. It's not necessity.
01:15:46:10 - 01:15:46:18
Connor
At any
01:15:46:18 - 01:15:46:24
Kyle
point.
01:15:47:19 - 01:16:13:15
Kyle
Yeah I definitely agree with you. I think that it's like a limit to a self-limiting belief. Yeah. It's like you, it's almost like a reason not to try hard. Yeah. And I just, with my Instagram I get like a large, like, swath of different kind of people commenting. And so I get to kind of see, like, this consensus mentality of, like how people think about climbing, especially, when you start to get into, like the, the general population of people that don't climb.
01:16:13:17 - 01:16:17:19
Kyle
It's really interesting to see how like, general population thinks of.
01:16:17:19 - 01:16:21:16
Kyle
Us, like people think we're crazy, like reckless, like
01:16:21:23 - 01:16:22:05
Connor
Adrenaline
01:16:22:05 - 01:16:30:26
Kyle
adrenaline, like we're addicted to getting high. Like someone's like, go do drugs. It's safer. Like, I'm like, I don't think that's good advice. Yeah.
01:16:31:27 - 01:16:50:14
Connor
I think it's also like bringing it back to the danger aspect. Falling on five seven is super super dangerous which people don't understand. Once you get into 511 falling isn't as dangerous. And I feel like it's the same thing for trad routes where on that five seven you're not placing as much as someone would be on 513 trad routes.
01:16:50:21 - 01:16:52:14
Connor
On 513 routes, you're placing every few
01:16:52:24 - 01:16:54:01
Kyle
Well not only.
01:16:54:03 - 01:16:58:13
Kyle
Are you not placing as much but the falls, you're probably gonna hit something.
01:16:58:15 - 01:17:00:05
Kyle
Whether the pieces at your hips or.
01:17:00:05 - 01:17:01:25
Kyle
Not, you're most likely going to hit something.
01:17:01:26 - 01:17:02:01
Kyle
Yeah.
01:17:02:01 - 01:17:02:06
Kyle
I
01:17:02:06 - 01:17:21:29
Connor
don't think I've ever been into, like, ground fall or ledge fall potential on any of my harder trad routes I've led. Maybe the gear might be bad, but it's not like going to hit anything. And you're also expecting the fall. That's the other key aspect to it. Like on the five seven, when you do fall, you're not expecting it, and things are going to go awry for that.
01:17:22:02 - 01:17:26:29
Connor
But on the harder trad routes, you're expecting to fall and you've already.
01:17:27:02 - 01:17:28:23
Connor
Prepared for it. Yeah.
01:17:28:23 - 01:17:33:15
Kyle
Do you. Okay. What about like this. So there's this whole mentality of like.
01:17:33:17 - 01:17:47:28
Kyle
If you're not falling you're not trying that whole like that mantra or what's the word anyway. How have you like process that in, in your progression as a climber. Like has falling ever been something that has.
01:17:47:28 - 01:17:48:28
Kyle
Like scared you.
01:17:48:28 - 01:17:57:03
Kyle
Or have is always just been a part of the sport and you've been able to compartmentalize it and know when it's okay to fall. Like, have you progressed in that kind of understanding of the sport at all?
01:17:57:10 - 01:17:57:15
Kyle
Yeah,
01:17:57:15 - 01:18:16:14
Connor
actually just talking to a friend about this today. I went hundreds of pitches without flying from when I first started. And then after that, I became super confident. Super aware, following. And I can take false a lot. And I've taken a lot of big falls that, have rattled me in the past, but I feel like, I was able to, like, work through it.
01:18:16:14 - 01:18:37:17
Connor
And now I fall a lot, and I can, like, mentally prepare myself for each individual fall. But a few years ago, I did have some issues because I was climbing a lot of R-rated pitches, and I couldn't, like, turn. Then I'd be like, okay, now I'm climbing sport. And so now it's like totally free to fall whenever I want and then turn back and be like, okay, now you're on an R-rated pitch where you cannot fall.
01:18:37:19 - 01:18:54:14
Connor
And I had a hard time with that for a while, where I'd be like almost climbing inside, and I'd get scared because you're just like, oh my God, I can't fall, I can't find you're like, no, I'm I'm safe now. Now is when I can fall. And so I feel like it's just being able to know when you can fall, when you can't fall, and being able to judge that appropriately.
01:18:54:29 - 01:18:57:28
Kyle
Yeah. I mean that's the key for sure.
01:18:58:01 - 01:18:58:23
Kyle
Hard to do.
01:18:58:23 - 01:19:24:07
Kyle
Sometimes. And it's also like, subjective human error. Because you could think that you're okay and you're ended up, not me. Yeah. And that's the hard thing, too. And I guess for me, and it's I know it's a limiting belief, but it's what's been a it's weird because it's been what has allowed me to progress as a climber is basically like, climb like I climb like a soloist.
01:19:24:14 - 01:19:33:20
Kyle
And my movement, I'm very controlled, very precise. Like I don't ever just go for a move if I don't think I can go make it.
01:19:33:23 - 01:19:38:15
Kyle
And I always try to have the gear, but basically, I guess what I'm saying is like, if I get to a spot or.
01:19:38:15 - 01:19:45:27
Kyle
I'm like, 98% sure that I'm going to come off trying to make the next move and I have the opportunity to place and take, I'll just place and take.
01:19:46:28 - 01:19:49:00
Kyle
I don't really care about like.
01:19:49:03 - 01:19:53:09
Kyle
To me, I'm so certain that I'm not going to be able to pull off the move that I would rather.
01:19:53:09 - 01:19:58:25
Kyle
Just place and take, shake out and then execute the move with rest and.
01:19:58:27 - 01:20:01:24
Kyle
Like, do it flawlessly. Then just like throw.
01:20:01:24 - 01:20:03:28
Kyle
Myself at something and then potentially.
01:20:03:28 - 01:20:05:11
Kyle
Whip just because.
01:20:05:11 - 01:20:08:27
Kyle
I wanted to try to to go for it.
01:20:08:27 - 01:20:22:20
Connor
I have a different mindset going into it. I feel like I would rather place and not take would be like, all right, I know I'm going to fall, but let's just see what happens and then be able to, like, push myself to the limit knowing I have that gear right there that I could have taken on.
01:20:22:27 - 01:20:27:11
Connor
But I'm just going to just okay, I'm probably going to fall, but I don't really care. I'm just going to see. Yeah.
01:20:27:11 - 01:20:36:24
Kyle
I guess for me like I the human error aspect of it because. Are you familiar with my accident. Yeah. And so I think that's like laid a foundation of mistrust.
01:20:36:29 - 01:20:37:19
Connor
Really?
01:20:37:22 - 01:20:38:16
Kyle
In my gear.
01:20:39:00 - 01:20:39:21
Kyle
To the.
01:20:39:21 - 01:20:47:01
Kyle
Point where, like, I climb above gear, I feel like I know how to place gear. I wouldn't be climbing if I didn't think I could trust myself.
01:20:47:01 - 01:20:56:09
Kyle
But there's a weird thing of, like choosing to fall or choosing to put yourself in a position of falling. It's almost like you're stacking the.
01:20:56:09 - 01:21:00:22
Kyle
Odds against you over time, rather than just like minimizing the risk.
01:21:00:22 - 01:21:04:03
Kyle
It's like, okay, if I just take here, it's not never going to
01:21:04:03 - 01:21:04:15
Connor
Yeah.
01:21:04:15 - 01:21:06:02
Kyle
You know, the pieces are going to blow with me.
01:21:06:02 - 01:21:18:05
Kyle
Just sitting there on it. And so, yeah, I don't know. I definitely understand that it's a limiting belief now. And then if I were trying to like grow and progress, I'm going to have to eventually kind of move past it.
01:21:18:05 - 01:21:22:06
Connor
many pitches do you say that you have since the accident?
01:21:22:14 - 01:21:29:07
Kyle
Oh my gosh, dude. Probably like 900, 800.
01:21:29:20 - 01:21:32:27
Kyle
Like a large volume. Large volume of climbs.
01:21:32:27 - 01:21:33:11
Connor
it?
01:21:33:11 - 01:21:37:09
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not like, again, like I.
01:21:37:09 - 01:21:40:12
Kyle
Said it, the mentality is actually allowed me to progress.
01:21:41:05 - 01:21:45:19
Kyle
It's allowed me to put myself in positions where I'm like, man, that's really like rainbow Wall.
01:21:45:27 - 01:21:54:01
Kyle
I would never have gone after that without the ability of like, oh, I can just place and take. Yeah. And so it's been it's been cool. I harp on this a lot on the podcast, so I don't want to go on too much.
01:21:54:04 - 01:21:54:08
Kyle
I.
01:21:54:08 - 01:21:56:26
Kyle
Just think it's so important because there's. So I feel like a lot of.
01:21:56:26 - 01:22:08:01
Kyle
People hold themselves back and they are scared of the risk or scared of falling or whatever. And I think that's a valid it's like fucking scary. And that's and that's where you can injure yourself. It's just so like.
01:22:08:03 - 01:22:10:15
Kyle
The ability to place and take.
01:22:10:17 - 01:22:15:04
Kyle
I think isn't talked about very much because like, I think ingrained in the sport is performance.
01:22:15:04 - 01:22:20:05
Kyle
It's like I want to see what happens. Like I could push it to the edge. But I think for some people.
01:22:20:05 - 01:22:21:14
Kyle
It's not the time yet.
01:22:21:14 - 01:22:26:07
Connor
Yeah. You can change climbing. Climbing doesn't have to be anything that you don't want it to be.
01:22:26:11 - 01:22:27:10
Connor
It can be absolutely.
01:22:27:13 - 01:22:43:14
Connor
Anything you want. You can do whatever you want. You can propel into every climb you want and just fiddle around or swing on ropes like I love when I watch, like, little kids Climb and the whole fun of climbing it for them, just like swing on ropes. And that's like the best day ever. And so what happened to us?
01:22:43:14 - 01:22:52:29
Connor
Where it's like, I have to do this exact rule, or else it's not perfect. Like, you can do whatever you want. It just whatever finds you like whatever you find joy in or whatever you can progress in.
01:22:53:24 - 01:22:58:04
Kyle
Yeah. Whatever you find fun. Yeah. Yeah. And is are safe doing at the same time.
01:22:58:04 - 01:23:00:13
Kyle
what about the concept of luck.
01:23:00:16 - 01:23:08:24
Kyle
Do you find that you a lot like, does luck play a role in your risk assessment? Have you found luck play a role in your survival up to this point?
01:23:08:24 - 01:23:09:21
Connor
not.
01:23:10:17 - 01:23:10:20
Kyle
I
01:23:10:20 - 01:23:17:04
Connor
luck is a really bad thing to rely on. Like, sure, that's awesome if you get it. But that's really bad to rely
01:23:18:09 - 01:23:30:07
Kyle
I think that I love the phrase like luck favors the prepared. And I think that like for someone like you who's risk averse and everything's calculated and everything like that is the kind of person that luck plays a role in.
01:23:30:18 - 01:23:34:04
Kyle
It's like the core shot. You know, obviously you had a backup, but.
01:23:34:04 - 01:23:36:25
Kyle
Like, there's luck that the other four didn't break.
01:23:36:25 - 01:23:37:09
Connor
break.
01:23:37:09 - 01:23:42:00
Kyle
Yeah. And so it's like there's weird like maybe if you didn't have a backup rope
01:23:42:03 - 01:23:42:17
Connor
It would have
01:23:42:17 - 01:23:43:03
Kyle
then it would.
01:23:43:03 - 01:23:44:15
Kyle
Have happened and you would have died.
01:23:44:28 - 01:23:46:12
Kyle
You know, it's like weird shit like that.
01:23:46:12 - 01:23:46:26
Connor
01:23:46:26 - 01:23:55:15
Kyle
Where it's like. It's. Yeah, you got to be prepared and then luck will be on your side. But if you're reckless and then luck sometimes goes the other way.
01:23:55:15 - 01:23:56:08
Connor
thought about that. That
01:23:56:11 - 01:23:56:21
Kyle
Yeah.
01:23:56:21 - 01:24:14:04
Connor
No definitely. I would just not want to rely on that. Like I've seen a lot of people get lucky and I'm just always I feel like I always try to climb or at least like adventure in the mountains flawlessly and never having to call, sorry, never having to. I can say I've never been in an accident, like, ever.
01:24:14:04 - 01:24:16:23
Connor
I've never broken any bones. Stuff like that.
01:24:16:23 - 01:24:17:11
Kyle
that.
01:24:17:13 - 01:24:25:02
Kyle
And you attribute that to your level of preparation and visualization of the objectives that you're putting yourself in.
01:24:25:02 - 01:24:34:06
Connor
definitely. Yeah. And just the. Yeah, building the base level, not jumping ahead of time knowing I have thousands of pitches standing behind what I'm about to do
01:24:34:06 - 01:24:40:00
Kyle
do. Yeah. Then how do you how do you like throw yourself.
01:24:40:00 - 01:24:45:27
Kyle
At objectives that you find like wild and like groundbreaking for yourself.
01:24:45:27 - 01:24:52:23
Connor
the thing. I don't feel like anything I do is groundbreaking, because everything I do is just a half a step past what I
01:24:52:23 - 01:24:53:29
Kyle
past what you've done.
01:24:53:29 - 01:25:05:01
Connor
before. Yeah, because I know specifically, like, when I was really trying to see, like, what harder aid means to me, it's like, okay, cool. I just did a big well with one, a three pitch.
01:25:05:01 - 01:25:23:18
Connor
Now my next step is I'm going to do a big one with two way, three pitches, and I'm going to do a big wall with maybe two, a two pitches and then in a three page like it, just such a small progression. But that progression is happening two times a week that it's like, okay, I only took one step forward, but eventually only what people see is they're like.
01:25:23:18 - 01:25:27:01
Connor
Oh, we didn't need three. Oh, it didn't pay for, oh, he's doing this like he's soloing all.
01:25:27:01 - 01:25:31:17
Connor
These big walls. And it's like, not really. I'm doing like small micro stepping
01:25:31:25 - 01:25:34:05
Kyle
So what do you say.
01:25:34:05 - 01:25:40:01
Kyle
To someone who doesn't have as much time allowed to be dedicated to climbing? The weekend warrior.
01:25:40:13 - 01:25:55:04
Kyle
And all they get is the one day a week or something like that, and they're feeling pressured to maybe jump steps because they don't have the time. Yeah. What advice would you have for somebody like that is still like wanting to progress, but feeling the pressure of time.
01:25:55:04 - 01:26:14:00
Connor
You just you need a mentor or pay for a guide. Like it's not that much money to pay a dirt bag to teach him. Would there ways for a little bit of time. And then you can definitely jump steps. But you just got the insider knowledge from thousands of pitches and you can be like, okay, I kind of understand this now.
01:26:14:00 - 01:26:24:07
Connor
I can like maybe jump up a little bit and start pushing it because I understand the systems better. I just learn from his mistakes that he made and I can better myself now.
01:26:24:14 - 01:26:28:24
Kyle
Yeah. What are you. So you do some instruction to write. What is your.
01:26:28:24 - 01:26:41:05
Kyle
Thought on the evolution of mentorship in climbing. Because I feel like in the, in the beginning mentorship was like almost a requirement because there weren't enough climbers like you had the mentorship, the people around you to even have climbing partners in the first place.
01:26:41:14 - 01:26:46:15
Kyle
And now it's almost like flipped the other way. It's now there's too many climbers and not enough mentors.
01:26:46:17 - 01:26:53:12
Kyle
How have you seen the role of mentorship play in, like, your life and the climbing community as a whole?
01:26:53:12 - 01:27:13:03
Connor
All through like middle school. High school. I had amazing mentors who taught me how to climb or paying for guides that would teach me, and better me. And then when I moved to college, I just saw so many people just going out and figuring it out. All of my college friends, they all had so many accidents listed in their books.
01:27:13:03 - 01:27:27:12
Connor
And just like, oh yeah, we just went and tried a big wall and we didn't make it, or we fell off this, or I broke my ankle or broke my back like, but they're just lacking mentorship. And I see so many people who are coming in who are like, oh, I want to learn how to aid climb or want to learn how to do this.
01:27:27:15 - 01:27:49:02
Connor
And I love being able to do that because I feel like I'm definitely helping them move through the accidents and skip this accident prone phase. When, on your first few years of climbing, because I just think that's like really scary to see people on that phase of climbing where they're just like, I'm just going to go see if I can do it and then get hurt in the
01:27:49:02 - 01:27:50:10
Kyle
This is.
01:27:50:12 - 01:27:54:01
Kyle
I think that's where luck plays a huge role as people like that. I was one of them.
01:27:54:20 - 01:27:57:20
Kyle
And the beginning, I was one of them that would just go out and just like, let me figure it out.
01:27:57:20 - 01:27:58:03
Connor
that you're.
01:27:58:03 - 01:27:58:17
Connor
On.
01:27:58:17 - 01:28:01:21
Kyle
And, yeah, I mean, I I'm here. But yeah, that's cool, man.
01:28:01:21 - 01:28:03:26
Kyle
I think that it is huge and I.
01:28:03:28 - 01:28:08:17
Kyle
But whether it was good or bad, I even during that time, I was kind of like mentoring the people around me. I was like, come.
01:28:08:17 - 01:28:12:26
Kyle
On, let's go. Let me show you what I know. Like, I don't know shit, but I know more than you
01:28:12:26 - 01:28:14:01
Connor
one day and then you teach it the
01:28:14:01 - 01:28:20:02
Kyle
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. But, I mean, I think that just the, the the discipline.
01:28:20:02 - 01:28:22:24
Kyle
And the mentality of, of teaching people.
01:28:22:26 - 01:28:27:26
Kyle
I think it hones your own skills. And it makes you, you're forced to be articulate.
01:28:27:26 - 01:28:30:24
Kyle
About what you know, and you're, like, testing what, you know, like, do I actually know.
01:28:30:24 - 01:28:32:11
Kyle
What I'm talking about? You know?
01:28:32:17 - 01:28:56:01
Connor
Like, I was teaching a rock rope and rescue course and I was like, oh, I haven't done this in years. Like, in theory, I still know it, but I mean, like, actually brought this skill out in years and it kind of like, reaffirmed as like, okay, I actually need to like, think about this more often and need to work on it more often, not just the once a year or once when something bad happens, because that's the worst thing to be like.
01:28:56:01 - 01:28:56:21
Connor
Oh, I.
01:28:56:21 - 01:29:02:28
Connor
Think I know how to do this, but not really. You kind of want to be like, oh, I practiced this two weeks ago. I could pull this out.
01:29:03:08 - 01:29:03:23
Kyle
Yeah.
01:29:03:26 - 01:29:05:13
Kyle
What do you, what do you teach.
01:29:05:15 - 01:29:07:13
Kyle
What kind of like clinics or groups.
01:29:07:13 - 01:29:20:06
Connor
don't really teach anything like permanent. I just teach whatever comes up, like any jobs that come up. But in the past, I've taught eight climbing rock, rope and rescue classes or just normal guiding opportunities that come my way.
01:29:20:11 - 01:29:21:03
Kyle
Are you a guide?
01:29:21:03 - 01:29:22:17
Connor
Right now. Yes.
01:29:22:22 - 01:29:24:11
Kyle
Okay. What do you mean by right now?
01:29:24:11 - 01:29:26:06
Connor
whenever, whenever jobs come my way.
01:29:26:09 - 01:29:27:14
Kyle
No, but are you certified?
01:29:27:14 - 01:29:28:01
Connor
No.
01:29:28:01 - 01:29:29:20
Kyle
Okay. Okay.
01:29:29:22 - 01:29:34:01
Kyle
Now, how does that work? Like, you don't have to be an AMG accredited guide, right?
01:29:34:06 - 01:29:38:17
Connor
If you're doing it for, like, local companies and local businesses, they don't really.
01:29:38:20 - 01:29:41:27
Kyle
Okay. They have this cert, and then they say they train you.
01:29:42:03 - 01:29:57:22
Connor
exactly I have well, if you say like I'm a credit guide, I'm actually kind of an accredited guide for like four different guiding companies for their own unique, different certification that I had to get. And all of them are good certifications at all. They're all just like, do you know how to do
01:29:57:22 - 01:29:59:17
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
01:29:59:20 - 01:30:01:23
Kyle
That's kind of like I was talking to, you know, Kevin Heinrich.
01:30:02:00 - 01:30:02:22
Connor
I've heard of them but
01:30:02:27 - 01:30:12:17
Kyle
Okay. Yeah. The most recent episode he was talking about the difference between, like, an AMG accredited guide versus that kind of guide, and there's, like, a definitely a difference.
01:30:12:19 - 01:30:20:20
Kyle
But then you can have sleepers like you who are like, crushers and have tons of knowledge. And it's just like, maybe like there's some huge knowledge there to learn. Yeah,
01:30:20:20 - 01:30:30:10
Connor
seen some scary things, though, with guides. I think they're doing the thing I was guide in, in Moab, and on the first day I had, My fellow guide just, like, walked off a
01:30:30:10 - 01:30:30:16
Kyle
off of.
01:30:30:16 - 01:30:31:18
Kyle
With what?
01:30:32:12 - 01:30:32:27
Kyle
And died.
01:30:32:27 - 01:30:33:22
Connor
It. No, he.
01:30:33:22 - 01:30:34:02
Kyle
Oh.
01:30:34:02 - 01:30:34:07
Connor
got.
01:30:34:07 - 01:30:38:05
Connor
Caught from a carabiner that was clipped onto a rope.
01:30:38:07 - 01:30:38:25
Kyle
What?
01:30:39:13 - 01:30:40:13
Kyle
Talk about luck.
01:30:40:18 - 01:30:41:23
Connor
Talk about luck.
01:30:41:23 - 01:30:42:09
Kyle
Wow.
01:30:42:25 - 01:30:43:18
Kyle
Wow.
01:30:43:18 - 01:30:44:13
Connor
Super, super.
01:30:44:15 - 01:30:44:24
Connor
Just.
01:30:44:24 - 01:30:46:06
Kyle
And he was the guide for the day.
01:30:46:06 - 01:30:48:24
Connor
Yeah, he was going to be a guide for the entire summer.
01:30:48:27 - 01:30:49:13
Connor
Yeah.
01:30:49:13 - 01:30:49:27
Kyle
Wow.
01:30:49:27 - 01:30:51:07
Connor
Yeah it was.
01:30:51:07 - 01:30:53:07
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah, that's an interesting one.
01:30:53:17 - 01:30:54:22
Kyle
Yeah,
01:30:54:22 - 01:30:59:25
Connor
a guy. That's someone that you rely on. But they just walked right off a cliff.
01:30:59:25 - 01:31:01:00
Kyle
Yeah.
01:31:01:03 - 01:31:01:22
Kyle
That's scary.
01:31:01:22 - 01:31:02:27
Kyle
What do you think.
01:31:02:27 - 01:31:15:09
Kyle
About like, you know how, like, knowledge passes down generations, right? I feel like back in the day, it was very much like, mentor to peer. That was like knowledge transfer.
01:31:15:12 - 01:31:17:01
Kyle
Yeah. And now it's.
01:31:17:01 - 01:31:27:19
Kyle
Been fragmented in so many different ways with, like, YouTube and Instagram and all these different kind of books. And it's like this overwhelming overload of information.
01:31:27:25 - 01:31:37:14
Kyle
In terms of, like, absorbing information, I guess outside of like a direct mentor or guy that you hire, where would you steer people to kind of get the best information to learn?
01:31:37:19 - 01:31:55:08
Connor
I mean, YouTube is awesome. And that's how I mean, I did learn a lot from YouTube at the beginning years, but it's not just watching one video on how to do it and be like, okay, I can lead climb because I watched a ten minute video. It's like, you actually have to consume a lot of it. You have to watch a ton of YouTube and actually go to where it counts.
01:31:55:08 - 01:32:05:14
Connor
Go to people who actually know how to do it. The problem is, on YouTube, anyone can put it out and be like, oh, I'm an expert in this. I learned in Red rocks and did the five five there. Now I can.
01:32:05:21 - 01:32:06:13
Connor
Post this on.
01:32:06:13 - 01:32:13:21
Connor
YouTube, but it's like actually been able to digest a ton of it and learn from that way. That's
01:32:13:21 - 01:32:20:08
Kyle
and you're like okay I heard this guy say this or I heard this guy say this like this one I like let me do some critical thinking here.
01:32:20:08 - 01:32:28:15
Connor
it's also starting slow being like, I learned all this now I'm going to bring this to the five three and I'm going to go and learn it and then watch some more.
01:32:28:15 - 01:32:34:14
Connor
And then okay, now I feel comfortable with that five four and just going at it slowly. Yeah.
01:32:34:14 - 01:32:49:13
Kyle
Yeah. I think one thing I, you know, I was Rossi, I talked to him, and one thing I really loved was the difference between, memorization and conceptualization. And I think that's what you're kind of alluding to here is like, don't just watch one YouTube video and memorize what they told you do and then go do it.
01:32:49:16 - 01:32:52:19
Kyle
Yeah. Watch 50 or, or ten.
01:32:52:22 - 01:32:57:18
Kyle
Conceptualize what you're trying to do, and then you.
01:32:57:18 - 01:32:59:05
Kyle
Can apply the skill.
01:32:59:05 - 01:33:00:14
Kyle
Set to the.
01:33:00:14 - 01:33:06:16
Kyle
Problem you're trying to solve. Yeah. I think that's the big key there. It's very easy to just be like, well, he told me to do this.
01:33:07:01 - 01:33:09:04
Connor
It works. No you got to actually like
01:33:09:09 - 01:33:12:11
Kyle
How not to said my ropes. Fine.
01:33:12:11 - 01:33:13:26
Connor
and then I'm sitting over here with like four quarter
01:33:13:26 - 01:33:14:24
Kyle
Yeah, yeah,
01:33:14:24 - 01:33:18:00
Connor
how not do did not tell me this like.
01:33:18:10 - 01:33:19:17
Kyle
Do you free solo?
01:33:19:17 - 01:33:20:25
Connor
a single bit
01:33:20:25 - 01:33:21:08
Kyle
Yeah.
01:33:21:08 - 01:33:21:27
Connor
I
01:33:21:27 - 01:33:23:05
Kyle
Have you ever been tempted to.
01:33:23:05 - 01:33:23:19
Connor
No.
01:33:23:21 - 01:33:24:18
Connor
Not once
01:33:24:18 - 01:33:25:04
Kyle
Yeah.
01:33:25:04 - 01:33:47:15
Connor
like I my rule, I have a really good rule for myself about free soloing. If I can convince myself I'm scrambling, I can do it if I like. I have free soloed, technically up to 510, but I can. I could convince myself that I was scrambling, but I definitely have been freaked out on some five fives because I'm like, I'm not scrambling.
01:33:47:16 - 01:33:49:15
Connor
I am definitely soloing.
01:33:49:17 - 01:33:54:10
Connor
But it's just like, if I'm scrambling, I'm good. I don't need a rope, but I can't scroll
01:33:54:10 - 01:33:55:11
Kyle
do you?
01:33:55:13 - 01:34:00:29
Kyle
I guess there's a huge difference between, like, choosing to go on a huge run out.
01:34:01:19 - 01:34:06:03
Kyle
Versus actually being free solo because choosing to be.
01:34:06:03 - 01:34:07:28
Kyle
On a big run out, you could always stop and then.
01:34:07:28 - 01:34:09:02
Kyle
Place.
01:34:09:05 - 01:34:11:01
Kyle
But you don't have that choice when you're free soloing.
01:34:11:01 - 01:34:14:06
Connor
even if it's not by choice, I am so comfortable.
01:34:14:08 - 01:34:14:21
Connor
With.
01:34:14:28 - 01:34:30:06
Connor
20m of rope out and I'm just sitting there just climbing around like okay. Yep I understand, but if you were to take that rope away it doesn't really matter. But I would be in shambles. I would be so scared. But I would rather free solo with a rope attached.
01:34:30:08 - 01:34:31:11
Connor
That's always end with.
01:34:31:11 - 01:34:32:24
Connor
A ton of rope drag. That always makes it better,
01:34:32:24 - 01:34:32:26
Kyle
it.
01:34:32:26 - 01:34:41:29
Kyle
Better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the, the big thing there is that you have the option to protect yourself if you get to a place where you want it. Yeah.
01:34:42:02 - 01:34:56:02
Kyle
And, I mean, like, I, like you said, I'm fine with 60m of rope down there and just chillin like a cucumber. But I also know that if I get scared, I put a piece in and then I'm like, okay, we're good now. Yeah, maybe. Maybe three pieces because it's been 60m.
01:34:56:02 - 01:34:56:13
Connor
I'm.
01:34:56:19 - 01:35:02:26
Connor
That first of all like be really bold and run it out extremely far. And then it just yeah ten in a row and you're like our own saving.
01:35:04:13 - 01:35:13:02
Kyle
Exactly. So back to these pillars. So we talked about, I guess, right. These pillars in.
01:35:13:02 - 01:35:14:02
Kyle
Order of importance.
01:35:14:13 - 01:35:21:22
Kyle
So just to remind, there's, performance, adventure, spirituality and relationships. Like, if you were to rate the performance as the climber you are today.
01:35:21:22 - 01:35:23:07
Connor
Oh.
01:35:23:09 - 01:35:34:25
Connor
I feel like relationships. We talked about that with me and James and I, and I think that's like, has to be the top, even though I do probably 60% of my adventures solo.
01:35:34:25 - 01:35:38:10
Kyle
Yeah. So what's the how do you, like break that.
01:35:38:10 - 01:35:47:12
Kyle
Down for me? Because you're saying relationships is number one, but you find yourself like solo climbing a lot. Do you feel like there's a part of the climbing experience that you're missing when you're solo?
01:35:48:07 - 01:36:10:06
Connor
100%. But also, there's a part that I'm gaining by being more like by being alone and by being, like, work through the problems alone. But then when you get a partner and just the flow state of it and not just a partner, someone like an actual relationship, just like what you're saying, how you have these two people that you just are like super confident with, and I love that.
01:36:10:06 - 01:36:29:08
Connor
And then for me, also, adventure is definitely top notch for me. And that's the whole reason why I can like if I just had to climb in the gym or like wait in lines to go into pitches, I probably wouldn't be a climber. Spiritually, I don't really click with as much. That just never has been me.
01:36:29:08 - 01:36:29:27
Kyle
For me.
01:36:29:27 - 01:36:30:25
Kyle
I think like the I.
01:36:30:25 - 01:36:43:04
Kyle
Guess so I've gotten some pushback on this one. And to me it's not like in a religious sense. It's like a connection to nature, a connection to yourself. And for me that's like a connection to something bigger, right?
01:36:43:15 - 01:36:44:29
Kyle
I'm able to like.
01:36:45:02 - 01:36:47:03
Kyle
It's part of that whole.
01:36:47:06 - 01:36:54:22
Kyle
Like we were talking about that process of like learning who you are self processing. Like to me that is like kind of like that spiritual realm, at least for me.
01:36:55:06 - 01:36:55:26
Kyle
So it's.
01:36:55:26 - 01:37:00:26
Connor
when you're like just out in the big days out there you're be able to like connected to that spiritually.
01:37:01:03 - 01:37:03:22
Kyle
For sure. I also, too, it's weird.
01:37:03:23 - 01:37:16:14
Kyle
Like, my grandfather died from colon cancer. And when I was super young, and I was, I'm like one of 17 grandchildren, and he was the only one I met. And so he also loved hummingbirds. And so I'm.
01:37:16:17 - 01:37:17:19
Kyle
Like, fully.
01:37:17:21 - 01:37:30:18
Kyle
In the belief that he can, like, show up in the form of a hummingbird and like, I should you not, dude. Like, I don't know what it is, but in the mountains I'll be like 800ft up and a hummingbird is like, like right next to my head.
01:37:30:21 - 01:37:35:17
Kyle
And like, what's up, pops? Like, I'm good, man. Like, oh, I guess I'll put a piece in here. You know?
01:37:35:17 - 01:37:37:27
Connor
Did you see, I mean, when you broke ankles.
01:37:38:09 - 01:37:40:23
Kyle
No, no. He. Now you know.
01:37:40:26 - 01:37:44:15
Kyle
Yeah, I don't know. I think he was out for that one. He must have been taking a break.
01:37:44:17 - 01:37:46:28
Kyle
But yeah. So just like, weird stuff like that. Like it just it.
01:37:46:28 - 01:37:50:15
Kyle
Connects me to something bigger. And so that's why I include that one.
01:37:50:15 - 01:37:52:12
Connor
Feel like I'm just having fun in the mountains.
01:37:52:14 - 01:37:52:20
Connor
Yeah,
01:37:52:20 - 01:37:53:25
Kyle
yeah. That's cool. Yeah.
01:37:53:25 - 01:37:58:22
Connor
I might spiritually learn something about myself, but I feel like everything. I'm just having fun in the mountains.
01:37:58:22 - 01:37:59:02
Kyle
yeah.
01:37:59:02 - 01:38:03:05
Kyle
Yeah that's cool man. For the relationship one specifically.
01:38:03:05 - 01:38:05:21
Kyle
Describe your ideal climbing partner.
01:38:05:21 - 01:38:06:23
Connor
Oh.
01:38:06:25 - 01:38:11:16
Connor
I don't know. I feel like my ideal climbing partner is anyone who. I've just climbed so many days with
01:38:11:26 - 01:38:16:19
Kyle
But you would not climb with someone over and over again unless they met some sort of criteria.
01:38:16:19 - 01:38:37:16
Connor
True, true. I would say it has nothing to do with strength. Nothing to do is strength. Maybe a little bit to do speed, but nothing to a strength. But just like fluidity and confidence in their systems, in the safety aspect of it and how nothing that happens gets them riled up like anything can happen. You're like, well, yep, that's normal.
01:38:37:16 - 01:38:51:06
Connor
I've, I understand what just happened and I can proceed with whatever we're doing now. Like anything that happened, it's like, yep, we're good. We got that. And I would yeah, I would definitely choose that. The climbing partner that I would just keep going back and back to.
01:38:51:14 - 01:38:55:15
Kyle
What are some hard line like never climbing with you again things.
01:38:55:15 - 01:39:09:27
Connor
Oh, I've seen a few of them or I've heard of a few. I've not personally seen any. But like someone who just is like taken I heard someone recently just took someone off belay as the person was climbing because it was twisted.
01:39:10:00 - 01:39:11:06
Connor
Like not.
01:39:11:06 - 01:39:21:16
Connor
Anything wrong. Just like their belay loop was twisted in a circle, which I mean, we've all done it and I'm just like, okay, whatever. You just have to play like that. It's kind of annoying that they just took it off belay, looked it back on.
01:39:21:16 - 01:39:22:08
Kyle
01:39:22:10 - 01:39:26:06
Kyle
Without saying anything to the person. Yeah that's fucked. I've done that.
01:39:26:06 - 01:39:30:24
Kyle
But I like hey Bryce are you good. And he's like yeah I'm good. I'm like are you fucking good.
01:39:31:02 - 01:39:34:22
Kyle
You know like maybe like go and direct like, because I need to switch this real quick.
01:39:34:22 - 01:39:34:28
Connor
yeah.
01:39:35:04 - 01:39:35:09
Connor
Or
01:39:35:09 - 01:39:36:01
Kyle
Communication.
01:39:36:01 - 01:39:53:00
Connor
Communication. Yeah. That's definitely a huge aspect of it. Just like communicating like, oh hey I just, I did this like what's communicated. I'm also super hard on myself about like making mistakes. And I feel like I am also on my partners and it's like, oh, you're totally allowed to fall. You're totally. I do some stuff, but then there's other stuff.
01:39:53:02 - 01:39:57:23
Connor
It's like, you're not allowed to drop the rope, you're not allowed to do stuff like that.
01:39:57:25 - 01:39:59:24
Kyle
Yeah. Like cardinal sins.
01:39:59:27 - 01:40:02:23
Connor
yeah. You're not allowed to commit some of that. Not. You can't just be like, oops.
01:40:02:23 - 01:40:03:11
Connor
Is
01:40:03:11 - 01:40:04:09
Kyle
Yeah, sorry, I.
01:40:04:09 - 01:40:05:23
Kyle
Dropped my Gregory.
01:40:05:23 - 01:40:06:12
Connor
yeah
01:40:06:12 - 01:40:07:09
Kyle
Or. Yeah, like I.
01:40:07:09 - 01:40:08:17
Kyle
Dropped the end of the rope.
01:40:08:17 - 01:40:09:25
Kyle
Or what are some other.
01:40:09:25 - 01:40:12:13
Kyle
Ones? You just want to bail really bad.
01:40:12:17 - 01:40:12:22
Kyle
Yeah,
01:40:12:22 - 01:40:15:05
Connor
have some people who like you get out there and they're like, we got to.
01:40:15:05 - 01:40:16:00
Connor
Bail. You like,
01:40:16:11 - 01:40:17:04
Kyle
Oh.
01:40:17:06 - 01:40:19:05
Kyle
With no reason, no justification.
01:40:19:05 - 01:40:19:21
Connor
out.
01:40:19:23 - 01:40:20:23
Connor
Right? Yeah.
01:40:20:25 - 01:40:23:01
Connor
Or people who bail on me before we even get out there.
01:40:23:01 - 01:40:23:04
Kyle
there.
01:40:23:05 - 01:40:24:00
Kyle
That's fucked.
01:40:24:00 - 01:40:30:24
Connor
I have a rule where if a climbing partner bills on me two times in a row without actually going out and climbing, I delete their contact name.
01:40:30:26 - 01:40:32:29
Connor
And so then it just is a random person texting me.
01:40:32:29 - 01:40:39:16
Connor
And if I like want to climb with a rando that day, then I'm like, okay, I'll climb with you. But if you bail twice in a row, start deleting letters off your
01:40:41:24 - 01:40:42:10
Kyle
Yeah.
01:40:42:10 - 01:40:43:02
Connor
a letter.
01:40:43:08 - 01:40:44:26
Kyle
Yeah. Instead of Andrew, it's just,
01:40:44:26 - 01:40:45:10
Connor
Yeah,
01:40:45:10 - 01:40:49:08
Kyle
You're like, I don't want to climb with again. Yeah.
01:40:49:09 - 01:40:56:15
Kyle
For me, tardiness is a pretty big sin. Like, if you say you're going to be at the CRI or be at the parking lot at seven and it's like seven.
01:40:56:15 - 01:41:01:28
Kyle
15 or whatever. Like, it's just just fucking disrespectful.
01:41:02:06 - 01:41:16:23
Connor
Big days out. When you're like, they're like 4:00 in the morning and they're like, oh, oh, sorry, I overslept. You're like, okay, so are we going to be like climbing in the dark tonight or am I just like, I just woke up at the crack of dawn for no reason and just to sit in a parking lot, like, that's not that.
01:41:16:23 - 01:41:17:02
Connor
Fun.
01:41:17:02 - 01:41:18:29
Kyle
No. And I think that really boils.
01:41:18:29 - 01:41:20:26
Kyle
Down to, like, just. I don't know how.
01:41:20:26 - 01:41:23:25
Kyle
In it you are. How dedicated you are. It's like, let's be. We got to be on the.
01:41:23:25 - 01:41:29:15
Kyle
Same page there. I can't be, you know, because then it just that kind of mentality, like, carries through the entire day is.
01:41:29:15 - 01:41:34:00
Kyle
Like, then you're the one that's flicking the rope while they're smoking a vape, or
01:41:34:00 - 01:41:34:11
Connor
sun.
01:41:34:11 - 01:41:40:27
Kyle
you're the one that's like, you know, doing all the communicating, you know, it's like it's got to be this, like, back and forth.
01:41:40:29 - 01:41:44:01
Kyle
I guess, I guess I'm answering my own question here, like for me, it's communication.
01:41:44:08 - 01:41:45:07
Kyle
And like.
01:41:45:10 - 01:41:46:17
Kyle
I love like.
01:41:46:19 - 01:41:48:26
Kyle
Bryce and I, he's like my main climbing partner now.
01:41:48:29 - 01:41:50:28
Kyle
It's like we're always communicating.
01:41:50:28 - 01:41:54:10
Kyle
With each other. It's like, like, for example, I don't even.
01:41:54:10 - 01:42:10:18
Kyle
Know, like, if he's leading, I'm like, hey, you know, you know, watch the rope here, or are you back left here? Or, like, I'm able he's able to be receptive to, like, feedback from me. And it also shows that I'm watching him. It's like we're together. And the same thing for him. He's like, hey, you know, you know, whatever.
01:42:10:18 - 01:42:19:26
Kyle
Like just that constant feedback back and forth. It's a team effort. It's not just a you're leading and I'm fucking just like, you know, like spacing out, lollygagging or whatever. Like we're both connected. We're both like.
01:42:19:26 - 01:42:22:29
Kyle
Tackling this objective together regardless of the job that we have.
01:42:22:29 - 01:42:38:14
Connor
like when you're like that far along with a climbing partner that almost you guys can stop talking, at least with me and James like, we don't have to say a word. And we, we have the best communication without ever saying a word. Like whistling. Like I got everything
01:42:39:21 - 01:42:40:14
Kyle
Cool.
01:42:40:14 - 01:42:43:18
Connor
like a single look of the eyes and you're like, yep, got it all.
01:42:43:18 - 01:42:50:09
Connor
Like, I don't even. You don't even need to speak like just a single how you look at me? Like whistling like anything a point like we're good.
01:42:50:16 - 01:42:51:24
Kyle
The whistles. Cool.
01:42:51:26 - 01:42:54:15
Kyle
Yeah, we I don't think we've gotten that far.
01:42:54:18 - 01:42:56:06
Kyle
But I'd say we're.
01:42:56:06 - 01:42:58:18
Kyle
Definitely not over communicating. I.
01:42:58:18 - 01:43:00:11
Kyle
Think I think we do like it a little bit.
01:43:00:13 - 01:43:09:07
Kyle
Especially. I think probably the best example for this is like simul Gregory rapping. I love the collaboration. That's that simple. Rapping requires, you know.
01:43:09:10 - 01:43:10:03
Kyle
That you just.
01:43:10:05 - 01:43:24:18
Kyle
Oh man, it's just like knots in knots out. Pull and pull and left were pulling right up or threaded. Boom. You know like 123 pull up okay. Unclip like this, this like flow that you get of like, oh man, you can zip down.
01:43:24:18 - 01:43:29:29
Connor
In so safe too. That's the thing of how safe you are. Because not so tight on both ends of the rope.
01:43:30:02 - 01:43:30:11
Connor
All.
01:43:30:11 - 01:43:38:17
Connor
The time. Everything is getting pulled. You are, you know, each person is clipped in because they just said clipped in, like, everything is so perfect.
01:43:38:17 - 01:43:39:01
Kyle
Perfect. Yeah.
01:43:39:01 - 01:43:40:00
Kyle
Right. 123 on.
01:43:40:00 - 01:43:53:01
Kyle
Wait I sit down. Oh man. It's so good. Yeah. And it's synchronized. Yeah. Like, there was this one time we were just rapping off of drifting and like, we got to the ballet and this is actually funny. Like no communication.
01:43:53:09 - 01:44:02:06
Kyle
We both like, simultaneously like, loaded our Gregory's and locked and clipped and pulled, like, I think at the same time.
01:44:02:12 - 01:44:10:26
Kyle
And like this, this Gregory was making the same sound at the same time. And then we just, like, finished and like, look at his head. He started laughing. It was just like, so dialed in, so synchronous.
01:44:10:26 - 01:44:12:20
Kyle
Yeah. Oh my gosh, it feels so good.
01:44:12:20 - 01:44:26:29
Connor
like the perfect cap. Because you just, like, finished this, like, amazing flow of a climb. Similar climbing. And then you're like, all right, now you can just, like, flow down the wall and feel super safe about it. If you if that's what you love, go to Potrero. Like that is betrayal right there.
01:44:27:02 - 01:44:27:28
Connor
Yeah,
01:44:28:17 - 01:44:29:11
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
01:44:29:14 - 01:44:37:12
Kyle
Yeah. I think, we did. We wrapped rainbow in 30 minutes, and I think we were drifting in 15, like 12.
01:44:37:14 - 01:44:38:19
Kyle
Oh, man, it's so sick.
01:44:38:19 - 01:44:41:13
Connor
130. You just like. And the thing is, it's not like you're going fast.
01:44:41:15 - 01:44:44:01
Kyle
Know, that's the thing. Yeah. Yeah.
01:44:44:01 - 01:44:44:04
Connor
Yeah.
01:44:44:04 - 01:44:44:25
Connor
It's just so
01:44:45:01 - 01:44:48:07
Kyle
Smooth. Yeah. And I feel like all the guides are always like.
01:44:48:07 - 01:44:50:11
Kyle
It's not faster. It's not faster. It's like,
01:44:50:16 - 01:44:51:02
Connor
Yeah.
01:44:51:02 - 01:44:53:05
Kyle
I think I would beat you.
01:44:53:05 - 01:44:53:15
Connor
Yeah.
01:44:53:15 - 01:45:00:04
Kyle
I think my me and my partner would beat you even if you were Peruvian ATC rebels. I think I'd beat you. Yeah, and I wouldn't be racing.
01:45:00:15 - 01:45:02:15
Connor
And you'd be safe and you're with each other. You're not like,
01:45:02:15 - 01:45:05:08
Kyle
That's the thing. Yeah. It's like. Oh, bye. It's like,
01:45:05:19 - 01:45:07:24
Kyle
no, let's. We're gonna vibe the whole way down.
01:45:07:24 - 01:45:09:17
Connor
you're watching them load. They're. Greg,
01:45:09:24 - 01:45:11:27
Kyle
Yes. Self accountability.
01:45:12:01 - 01:45:13:14
Connor
it's not like you're up there like, oh.
01:45:13:14 - 01:45:18:23
Connor
I think he's loading this Greg right now. Like, I can feel the rope getting pulled up, like stuff like that.
01:45:18:23 - 01:45:22:10
Kyle
You're, like, holding the rope just in case. Like a fireman. Or you're like,
01:45:22:10 - 01:45:35:04
Connor
my lesson not to do that because James bombed my arm once. Because I'm just standing there holding the rope. Just like giving me, like, a loose fireman's like that never hurts. Just to, like, hold the end of a rope just in case something happens. You're good. You just bombed by
01:45:36:05 - 01:45:37:04
Connor
like, oh.
01:45:37:14 - 01:45:38:11
Kyle
You're like never again.
01:45:39:13 - 01:45:42:06
Connor
start walking away from this. Like, every time I can.
01:45:42:06 - 01:45:45:27
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. That's cool man. No I,
01:45:46:00 - 01:45:50:14
Kyle
Just that flow. It's so good. And the partner makes it makes everything back to the partnership.
01:45:50:14 - 01:45:53:20
Kyle
So it's like you can't do that with everybody. Gotta.
01:45:53:20 - 01:45:55:08
Kyle
You gotta find the right partner to do that.
01:45:55:08 - 01:45:57:26
Kyle
And then it's sad how rare it is. I think.
01:45:57:26 - 01:46:14:00
Kyle
That's the one thing that sucks is, like, most of the people I talk to struggle with climbing partners. I guess I'd say that's one of the larger questions I get on my Instagram. And from people that I don't know is like, how do you climb with so many people? Like how how do you find so many partners? And I'm like, for one, I don't climb with a bunch of different people.
01:46:14:00 - 01:46:16:25
Kyle
It's pretty much one person. But yeah, I don't know.
01:46:16:25 - 01:46:17:10
Kyle
It's just a.
01:46:17:10 - 01:46:20:11
Kyle
Bummer, that it's such a struggle for so many people.
01:46:20:11 - 01:46:32:05
Connor
And once you like find one that you like, it's like a relationship. It really is a relationship. Once you find one that you guys click you guys just like kind of flow for a year or so together in the same thing. And then maybe once you split you got to find another one.
01:46:32:09 - 01:46:32:17
Kyle
Yeah.
01:46:32:19 - 01:46:33:21
Kyle
It's cool how like two.
01:46:33:21 - 01:46:41:18
Kyle
People can come with like slightly different systems and then like eventually your systems kind of start to merge and then once you're like doing the same thing together and there's no.
01:46:41:18 - 01:46:45:02
Kyle
Differences. You have the same Geary of the same steps, you have the same systems.
01:46:45:02 - 01:46:47:24
Kyle
It's like that's when everything starts to get super harmonious.
01:46:47:28 - 01:46:48:04
Kyle
Yeah.
01:46:48:04 - 01:47:07:11
Kyle
Winter is here and you need to start thinking about your base layers. Choosing the right base layers is critical, and hot chilies has been the leader in technical base layers for over 30 years. They are made from an innovative blend of spandex and polyester, designed to feel buttery soft like cotton, yet provide all the benefits of performance materials, striking the perfect balance between warmth, comfort and flexibility.
01:47:07:12 - 01:47:29:25
Kyle
I recently climbed rock Warrior in Black Velvet Canyon, a wall that gets next to zero sun this time of year, and my hot chilies micro base layer system kept me super warm at the blaze and cool enough to stay focused on my lead. And believe me when I tell you, these things are soft like crazy soft. Plus, there's a 60 day moneyback guarantee so you can buy them, try them, and if you still don't like them, they will just give you your money back.
01:47:29:25 - 01:47:42:13
Kyle
Right now, you can get 15% off at Hot Chili's by going to the link in the description below and using code TCM 15 at checkout. That's the link in the description below, and using code TCM 15 for 15% off at checkout.
01:47:42:13 - 01:47:49:19
Kyle
So this next kind of, like, chapter that I want to dive into is, like, kind of that whole mentality of how.
01:47:49:19 - 01:47:52:27
Kyle
You're kind of like a silent crusher and how that's been by.
01:47:52:27 - 01:47:59:29
Kyle
Choice. Right? So, you're not a sponsored athlete. You work a regular job. You save for trips.
01:48:00:02 - 01:48:03:11
Kyle
Just to continue your adventures, whether that be climbing or whatever.
01:48:03:11 - 01:48:09:22
Kyle
Else you do. I feel like that level of humility is kind of rare.
01:48:10:00 - 01:48:11:03
Kyle
In today's climbing.
01:48:11:03 - 01:48:13:25
Kyle
Scene. Yeah.
01:48:13:28 - 01:48:18:17
Kyle
And you've, like, resisted the sponsorship route, whether, like, I mean, people haven't.
01:48:18:17 - 01:48:21:16
Kyle
Come in, approached you specifically for sponsorships, have they?
01:48:23:10 - 01:48:25:22
Connor
If they do it's often like chalk companies
01:48:25:26 - 01:48:26:14
Kyle
Okay?
01:48:26:16 - 01:48:29:07
Kyle
And they're like, hey, here's some free chalk or something.
01:48:29:09 - 01:48:29:19
Kyle
Okay.
01:48:29:23 - 01:48:32:07
Kyle
No, like bigger brands or anything.
01:48:32:09 - 01:48:38:01
Kyle
Okay. It does feel like you could have easily.
01:48:38:03 - 01:48:41:20
Kyle
Gone that direction with the kind of climbs that you've done.
01:48:42:07 - 01:48:54:00
Connor
Probably. But it's more I would actually have to pursue it and like be churning out social media or be giving something to the company, which I feel like I don't really provide anything to a
01:48:54:27 - 01:48:58:18
Kyle
And that is very much a requirement of an athlete these days.
01:48:58:18 - 01:49:00:25
Connor
Definitely. Yeah. You definitely have to spray what you
01:49:01:21 - 01:49:03:05
Connor
for better or for worse.
01:49:03:13 - 01:49:22:04
Kyle
And that requires somebody else taking content of you. Which to me is the hardest point. The hardest part. Like you have to. It's like yeah it's it's I'm like just stepping into that world with this whole podcast thing and, and lives in and. Yeah, like I have to like I have someone taking pictures. It's like there's a whole logistical thing to that.
01:49:22:06 - 01:49:28:18
Kyle
And for me, the biggest thing has been like, I refuse to go around and be like, hey, take pictures of me like.
01:49:28:20 - 01:49:35:21
Kyle
Hey, hey, you want to come and take pictures of me? I'm just like, no, here's money. Like, this is a business transaction.
01:49:35:27 - 01:49:44:29
Kyle
When I pay you as an independent contractor. I'm going to pay you as a photographer. Yeah. And then I'm going to use this the stuff. So that's been like my big thing with stepping into this world is I like.
01:49:45:06 - 01:49:47:22
Kyle
It's a business. I'll treat it that way.
01:49:47:25 - 01:49:53:17
Kyle
I'm going to pay people and hopefully build like this foundation around the.
01:49:53:17 - 01:49:54:15
Kyle
Work that I have.
01:49:54:15 - 01:50:09:07
Connor
Yeah. It's hard though when you're just like for me everything I do is like everything really big I do is usually solo though. My just going to be taking like selfie videos shows like I don't think anyone really wants to see a selfie video of me. Just like sweat stained like mile 50.
01:50:09:07 - 01:50:11:12
Connor
Like no one really cares. Like no one wants.
01:50:11:12 - 01:50:11:25
Connor
To see me
01:50:11:25 - 01:50:15:13
Kyle
you're running. You're like, sponsored by Gnarly Nutrition. Yeah. Yeah.
01:50:15:28 - 01:50:16:29
Connor
I just threw it up.
01:50:16:29 - 01:50:18:18
Connor
Like.
01:50:18:20 - 01:50:19:19
Connor
No one really cares.
01:50:19:19 - 01:50:21:19
Kyle
yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting.
01:50:21:26 - 01:50:33:05
Connor
I've worked like a little bit with our, local climbing, shop, the Desert Rat. And I remember, I, like, sent a video to the, to the manager, and I was, like, showing off, like.
01:50:33:09 - 01:50:40:10
Connor
I love these trekking poles even though I broke them. I love this even though, like, I snapped it in, like, mile 200. Like, he was like, we can't use this.
01:50:40:12 - 01:50:42:07
Connor
One's like, oh yeah, you're right.
01:50:42:09 - 01:50:45:22
Connor
He's like, you better stop making our ropes look cheap and like, you can break them
01:50:45:22 - 01:50:49:14
Kyle
yeah, you're like, course shutting our roads all the time. Yeah. That's interesting.
01:50:49:14 - 01:50:50:25
Connor
that doesn't really look
01:50:50:25 - 01:50:51:20
Kyle
It's not commercial.
01:50:51:25 - 01:50:52:03
Connor
Yeah.
01:50:52:05 - 01:50:52:15
Connor
No,
01:50:52:15 - 01:50:58:15
Kyle
Yeah. No, it is interesting. The, I guess it maybe it's always been that way.
01:50:59:10 - 01:51:01:16
Kyle
Like, you have to, there's like a.
01:51:01:17 - 01:51:07:00
Kyle
There's boxes, you have to check and it's not just climbing hard. It's not just going on adventures.
01:51:07:00 - 01:51:14:11
Connor
maybe I think it might used to been, like, used to, like when Shama and all that. I was just like, yeah, if you just send 14, you get a sponsorship
01:51:15:04 - 01:51:17:11
Kyle
But then it's, you're that good to.
01:51:17:11 - 01:51:20:29
Kyle
The point where the company is sending their photographers out.
01:51:20:29 - 01:51:21:26
Kyle
To you.
01:51:21:26 - 01:51:22:18
Connor
To get
01:51:22:22 - 01:51:27:07
Kyle
And all you're doing is climbing and there's, oh there's someone out there taking pictures like now it's like.
01:51:27:14 - 01:51:29:11
Kyle
You have to do all of it.
01:51:29:14 - 01:51:31:20
Kyle
And then the sponsors like, oh where's my stuff?
01:51:31:21 - 01:51:39:21
Kyle
It's like, well where's your photographer? Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. But yeah, back to your, like, specific situation, I guess. Like.
01:51:39:21 - 01:51:41:20
Kyle
I guess, like, a lot of people glorify.
01:51:41:20 - 01:51:55:22
Kyle
This whole, like, path to sponsorship. It's like it's what you see the pictures of. It's like, well, that's what I've got to do to make it. Have you ever been like, tantalized by that kind of allure, or has it always been just not in your wheelhouse?
01:51:56:00 - 01:52:19:16
Connor
I feel like I just never thought I was good enough for it. And I know that that's super not true because there's a lot of sponsor climbers who are fighting climbers and who are making a living from climbing the five tens, but I just feel like I was just never good enough or could never, like, showcase it enough to get sponsors to be interested in what I do.
01:52:19:23 - 01:52:20:27
Kyle
So you just, you knew.
01:52:20:27 - 01:52:25:22
Kyle
What was required, and you're just like, I, I'm not willing to to do what it takes.
01:52:25:23 - 01:52:25:26
Kyle
I'll
01:52:25:26 - 01:52:27:13
Connor
I'll do the climbing side, but I won't do
01:52:28:03 - 01:52:28:27
Connor
other aspect
01:52:28:27 - 01:52:32:10
Kyle
Talk to me more about that imposter syndrome that you just kind of spoke about.
01:52:32:10 - 01:52:34:05
Connor
Yeah, I just.
01:52:34:08 - 01:52:57:27
Connor
I just cannot fathom being able to like, reach out to a company or being able to be like, oh, I just did this rad thing. Like, everyone can should celebrate this. Like, I feel like that's so hard for me. And I it's like, I love when I see other people do it, but I can't do it myself like, I yeah, I scroll through Instagram and I'm like, oh, this person did this.
01:52:57:27 - 01:53:10:19
Connor
That's so grad, but I cannot post on Instagram at all. I just cannot do it. My Instagram is totally run by friends, 100% friends run and they'll look through my photos.
01:53:10:19 - 01:53:16:17
Connor
Be like, oh, that was a cool trip, you should post these photos. And I was like, dope. I'll post those photos like, that's it.
01:53:16:17 - 01:53:17:18
Connor
I cannot do it by
01:53:17:18 - 01:53:19:20
Kyle
The best way I've been able to like.
01:53:19:26 - 01:53:26:02
Kyle
Process it is like, I think Tanner varnish is a really good, good example of this. He like, uses it as like a journal.
01:53:26:07 - 01:53:26:25
Kyle
Yeah.
01:53:26:28 - 01:53:32:10
Kyle
I really like that aspect to it. It's like it's like a log. Not just for his audience, but for him.
01:53:32:19 - 01:53:39:24
Connor
Yeah, I wish I could do that. That is like. That would be awesome. Just to be like. Yep, this is what I'm up to. Like, not trying to
01:53:39:24 - 01:53:41:05
Kyle
I'm not spraying. Yeah.
01:53:41:05 - 01:53:41:20
Connor
This is just.
01:53:41:25 - 01:53:55:21
Connor
What I was up to today. And I would love to be able to do that, but I feel like I would need to start to do that before I could actually, like, I would just need to jump in like, okay, here's what I did and just like start from now and then I'll just start it now. But I could never really
01:53:55:21 - 01:53:55:28
Kyle
that.
01:53:56:00 - 01:53:58:19
Kyle
Yeah. You just haven't gotten to the point of taking that step.
01:53:58:21 - 01:53:59:26
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
01:53:59:29 - 01:54:01:08
Kyle
There's like a next objective.
01:54:01:12 - 01:54:09:01
Connor
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nothing. Like I said, nothing I do is that big. It's like I'm already sick and I finish and it's like, okay, what about in two days? For now I think I'm
01:54:09:01 - 01:54:10:25
Kyle
that. Do you have a logbook of.
01:54:10:25 - 01:54:14:07
Kyle
Everything that you've done. Yeah. That's cool. What color is the book.
01:54:14:28 - 01:54:15:28
Connor
It's in my notes app.
01:54:16:25 - 01:54:22:01
Kyle
It's digital. Okay. Nice. Password protected. You're like fuck yeah it is.
01:54:22:01 - 01:54:23:17
Connor
yeah. No, totally. I take photos of.
01:54:23:17 - 01:54:28:18
Connor
It whenever, like I think I have like every like 200. I take a photo just in case. Like if I had it
01:54:28:24 - 01:54:29:29
Kyle
Wow. Okay.
01:54:30:01 - 01:54:30:29
Kyle
That's cool man.
01:54:31:02 - 01:54:31:29
Kyle
I'm like, open my phone.
01:54:31:29 - 01:54:33:22
Kyle
It's cool. Yeah.
01:54:33:25 - 01:54:44:24
Kyle
That's cool. That's cool. Yeah. I think the, the like quintessential version of that is like the, the handwritten one where the old school person just, like, write everything down.
01:54:44:24 - 01:54:45:26
Connor
in the stacks
01:54:46:16 - 01:54:48:19
Connor
gotten to someone's house before it was like a stack,
01:54:48:19 - 01:54:49:10
Kyle
Wow.
01:54:49:10 - 01:54:50:05
Connor
pie of all of his
01:54:50:09 - 01:54:50:26
Kyle
Wow.
01:54:50:26 - 01:54:52:29
Connor
Like, that'd be cool. But then you would be able to look
01:54:52:29 - 01:54:53:01
Kyle
it.
01:54:53:02 - 01:54:53:20
Kyle
Yeah.
01:54:53:20 - 01:54:59:23
Connor
You'd never be able to be like, oh, like I need data for this exact route that I did two years ago.
01:54:59:27 - 01:55:01:05
Connor
Mean you're never
01:55:01:16 - 01:55:03:08
Kyle
I can't keyword search.
01:55:03:08 - 01:55:03:29
Connor
I know
01:55:04:05 - 01:55:06:28
Kyle
How much information are you putting in the journal?
01:55:08:08 - 01:55:13:02
Connor
As much as much as little. Like I will write full page is
01:55:13:05 - 01:55:14:22
Kyle
And that won't go on Instagram.
01:55:14:22 - 01:55:15:07
Connor
definitely
01:55:16:02 - 01:55:18:29
Kyle
You know. What kind of stuff are you writing?
01:55:18:29 - 01:55:20:01
Connor
01:55:20:04 - 01:55:25:22
Connor
Just my experience there. Something unique that happened to me for the day. If I'm really feeling artsy, maybe a little poem
01:55:25:22 - 01:55:26:14
Kyle
Cool.
01:55:26:14 - 01:55:27:11
Connor
crappy poem here
01:55:27:11 - 01:55:28:03
Kyle
That's dope.
01:55:28:03 - 01:55:34:25
Connor
just just whatever that struck me for that climb. Or legitimately. Just like the name of the climb. Flash.
01:55:36:08 - 01:55:37:14
Kyle
You should just start a Twitter account.
01:55:37:19 - 01:55:45:08
Kyle
Yeah. Just little, little tweets slash little poem. People would love that stuff man. I
01:55:45:08 - 01:55:47:22
Connor
I think if someone had to listen to my poems, they might,
01:55:52:01 - 01:55:57:12
Kyle
That's funny man. Well that's cool. I love that. Yeah. I think, creative expression is really important.
01:55:57:17 - 01:56:00:02
Kyle
In whatever kind of avenue you go.
01:56:00:06 - 01:56:10:06
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you're not chasing sponsorships. You're doing everything for yourself. You're super self-sustained.
01:56:10:08 - 01:56:11:29
Kyle
You know, you don't rely on outside money.
01:56:12:02 - 01:56:17:11
Kyle
Do our jobs to support your your, ambitions.
01:56:17:11 - 01:56:20:27
Kyle
Do you ever struggle with the lack of notoriety?
01:56:20:27 - 01:56:23:21
Kyle
do you think that meaning requires witness?
01:56:23:21 - 01:56:24:11
Kyle
Sometimes.
01:56:24:18 - 01:56:24:28
Kyle
Not
01:56:24:28 - 01:56:48:03
Connor
Not really. No. I feel like more than enough people know my name and know what I do like. Especially in our tight community. And like, Saint George and Zion, where, yes, the hard things I've done, the community knows it. And I don't mean to just go and spray about it. They just, like, figure it out that I've done something and that's all that really matters to me.
01:56:48:05 - 01:56:49:02
Connor
Yeah.
01:56:49:05 - 01:57:05:06
Connor
I feel like the only thing that I'm missing in that is like, I wish I could help other people. That's like the reason why I'm on the podcast is like, okay, like, I would love to help other people. I honestly wish people were like reaching out to me like, hey, can you help me with this again with that?
01:57:05:09 - 01:57:12:12
Connor
That's like the only thing I wish I could have, but I'm not about to go through the work of posting and spraying and building a platform or anything like
01:57:12:28 - 01:57:27:05
Kyle
Well, if anybody's listening, you just had an invitation. Hit up, hit up. Connor. He's chomping at the bit to help you out. What about balancing, like, ambition with sustainability?
01:57:28:01 - 01:57:58:12
Connor
I feel like my climbing has always been sustainable and my like, adventures like broadly have been sustainable for me. Just because I can switch between so much different stuff where it's like, I can go on these long 24 hour runs or long days out in the mountains and then instantly switch to the next day. I can just go chill climbing, or then maybe on my rest and I pick up an odd job, make some money, and be able to fund my next few weeks of climbing.
01:57:58:12 - 01:58:04:25
Connor
And then go climbing again. And so just like always switching. And I've never found a dull moment in that
01:58:04:28 - 01:58:06:19
Kyle
Cool. What about sustainability.
01:58:06:19 - 01:58:09:22
Kyle
In the sense like long term plans of like.
01:58:09:22 - 01:58:14:14
Kyle
Building a career or building money flow? Like, do you ever feel the pressure.
01:58:14:14 - 01:58:16:19
Kyle
Of like, I need to, like.
01:58:16:21 - 01:58:20:08
Kyle
Settle down and, like, build a career and, like, maybe all this.
01:58:20:08 - 01:58:26:21
Kyle
Stuff I'm doing is fun for now, but I'm going to regret it in the future. Like, do you ever have those thoughts? I know you're still super young.
01:58:26:21 - 01:58:44:13
Connor
I think my parents have like instilled like it's awesome to live this dream like this dirtbag dream. That's awesome. But like eventually your time will come and you got to put that aside. And I totally understand that since I'm not pursuing money in climbing, that the time will come that I cannot dedicate this much time to climbing.
01:58:44:13 - 01:59:01:00
Connor
I'm not about to be a redback that's going to live off of, like, free coffee and a McDonald's mayonnaise bun or whatever his story is. So eventually that time will come. And this, like, fairy land dream that I'm having, I'm just like, climbing every day is going to end, but I'm going to chase it as long as it's feasible.
01:59:01:00 - 01:59:06:05
Connor
And I don't really feel any pressure to settle down right now. No, I'm not close at all.
01:59:06:13 - 01:59:08:06
Kyle
It's one of those things you'll know when the time comes.
01:59:08:07 - 01:59:08:15
Kyle
Yeah.
01:59:08:15 - 01:59:09:04
Connor
Yeah.
01:59:09:07 - 01:59:26:15
Connor
I did, I mean, I, I pressured myself into getting a degree and I was like, I will get a degree and that'll be enough because if push comes a cut, if push comes to shove, I can just like fall back on that degree I have and that can carry me into a better paying job that can get me into it.
01:59:26:17 - 01:59:28:00
Connor
But other than that.
01:59:28:13 - 01:59:28:24
Kyle
Yeah.
01:59:28:24 - 01:59:36:00
Kyle
Let's see. This is like, we're getting a little philosophical here. What does a life well-lived mean to you?
01:59:36:27 - 01:59:37:21
Connor
Wow.
01:59:37:23 - 01:59:43:13
Connor
That is so hard. So I know, like, the broad answer that I can answer, but for me personally.
01:59:43:16 - 01:59:46:28
Connor
It's just.
01:59:47:00 - 01:59:51:16
Connor
It's just the memories I have by myself in the mountains. Or with that. That partner in the
01:59:51:16 - 01:59:53:15
Kyle
a life filled with experience.
01:59:53:15 - 02:00:09:14
Connor
I feel. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be written down anywhere. I could die and no one could say my name again and I'd be perfectly happy. But it's just having those experiences that I can look back on, or I can fall asleep to, I guess, like, oh yeah, that was the flow state.
02:00:09:14 - 02:00:17:11
Connor
That was just like the perfect day out, because I've had so many of those perfect days out and just like being like, all right. Yeah, that was good time
02:00:18:19 - 02:00:25:28
Kyle
I think that's, that's a big thing that I think the elderly struggle with at least. I mean I'm projecting here but I can imagine regret
02:00:26:10 - 02:00:29:15
Kyle
is a huge thing that I think other people deal with. It's like.
02:00:29:15 - 02:00:32:14
Kyle
You, you can't really do.
02:00:32:14 - 02:00:43:21
Kyle
As much as you used to. And so you're left like lamenting on the past. And I would hate to look back at my past and just be like, man, I wish I did this.
02:00:43:23 - 02:00:48:02
Kyle
Or I wish I had prioritized this.
02:00:48:05 - 02:00:51:26
Kyle
So yeah, I think I, I agree with you. I think experience is huge.
02:00:51:26 - 02:01:01:23
Connor
I'm doing my best to prioritize what I love. Any given moment of time and kind of not filling myself up with anything else except for exactly what I love.
02:01:01:23 - 02:01:03:16
Kyle
Do you ever struggle with negativity.
02:01:04:25 - 02:01:05:28
Connor
No. And how so?
02:01:05:28 - 02:01:17:14
Kyle
I think like like. No I don't even know what that means. I just think some it's sometimes it can be I guess easy to.
02:01:17:17 - 02:01:30:25
Kyle
Fall like there's, I mean to so many people that have negative mindsets that are kind of in negative bubbles, like they see the world in a negative light. And sometimes it's like something we have to pull ourselves out from.
02:01:30:25 - 02:01:35:03
Connor
you saying that from, like, more of a, like, social media aspect or like, when you're on the internet?
02:01:35:03 - 02:01:52:29
Kyle
could be anything. It could be alcohol, it could be vices. It could be things that we're doing that we know are in our true selves, like, I guess. Do you struggle? Do you have any, like, weaknesses? Do you have any vices? Do you have any like parts of your personality or identity that you battle or struggle with?
02:01:53:02 - 02:01:53:27
Kyle
No.
02:01:53:29 - 02:01:55:15
Kyle
Just foley and climbing. Yeah.
02:01:55:16 - 02:01:56:03
Kyle
Feel like
02:01:56:03 - 02:02:12:16
Connor
a lot of people, they obviously like have their flow of personalities that they go through and they raise up in like for as long as I can remember climbing, running like that's, that's all I can remember really. And that's been everything that has made me fulfilled in my life for since before elementary school.
02:02:12:16 - 02:02:18:05
Connor
Like first memories, I have climbing, running like that's it. And so I don't really have anything else
02:02:18:05 - 02:02:37:09
Kyle
For me it's like sometimes I get negative because I'm not where I want to be. And, and so there's like that you know depression is built from living in the past and anxiety is living in the future. Sometimes though, I get like, it's like not living up to your own expectations or as fast as you'd want to get to a certain place.
02:02:37:12 - 02:02:45:29
Kyle
I think that's where some of my weaknesses is like forgetting to enjoy the process and always chasing the carrot. Do you resonate with that at all?
02:02:46:13 - 02:03:06:20
Connor
No. Because I'm kind of always where I want to be. I have nothing keeping me from being there. Like okay. Like maybe like a perfect example is the desert. If you, because you have to stay here at your house during the dead heat of Vegas, I don't, I just leave like when Saint George and everything I love about Saint George gets too hot.
02:03:06:20 - 02:03:15:10
Connor
I'm gone in a second and I'm just out of there. I have nothing holding me back in. They're gone and I can travel. And I can stay away from that until Saint
02:03:15:10 - 02:03:16:10
Kyle
open back up.
02:03:16:13 - 02:03:17:00
Kyle
To you.
02:03:17:01 - 02:03:23:24
Kyle
You have the freedom to escape anything that would potentially cause a negative mindset. You know, just like,
02:03:23:24 - 02:03:26:00
Connor
yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:03:26:02 - 02:03:35:01
Connor
I can like, I live in my van in the desert by myself. Like I can escape from everything I want to escape from. And it's a pretty blissful life to.
02:03:35:01 - 02:03:37:20
Connor
Be able to do that.
02:03:37:22 - 02:03:44:02
Connor
And I know we'll never. It will not always be that way. But for. Right now, it's like I can just kind of flow
02:03:44:02 - 02:03:44:13
Kyle
go.
02:03:44:15 - 02:03:54:10
Kyle
That's cool man. Yeah. I think that that I mean, that's the epitome of, like, why people want that kind of lifestyle. I think I lived it for a little bit too, in my early 20s. Yeah. This. Fantastic.
02:03:54:10 - 02:03:55:15
Connor
it is. Yeah.
02:03:55:18 - 02:04:19:21
Connor
But if it comes crashing down it will come crashing down hard because everything that makes me me is like climbing adventure, the usage of my body. And I do often think about your ankles in breaking your, your crash. Like I would just. I don't know how to handle it. Like I would be awful because I cannot think of a single thing that really brings me joy.
02:04:19:23 - 02:04:23:04
Connor
That doesn't involve, like, being outside and using
02:04:23:15 - 02:04:30:20
Kyle
I mean it just gets to the point of like I'm going to get back there. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Every day is spent like I'm going to get back there. Yeah.
02:04:30:20 - 02:04:44:15
Connor
And that's like. Yeah. So I would just I think I'd have to focus on that or something like that. But that's like my greatest concern. And my biggest thing is like I cannot get hurt because if I get hurt then I won't be able to climb or I won't be able to run.
02:04:45:07 - 02:04:48:17
Kyle
Yeah. I mean I definitely feel that way now but I've lived through it.
02:04:48:18 - 02:04:50:14
Kyle
It's really nice that you have been able.
02:04:50:14 - 02:04:58:17
Kyle
To like absorb that mentality without having to learn it the hard way. I had to learn it the hard way. But now, yeah, I'm safe. I'm way harder of a climber.
02:04:58:29 - 02:05:06:09
Kyle
Way safer of a climber. And like, again, with that falsity of them being juxtaposed, like, you can do both.
02:05:06:11 - 02:05:08:21
Kyle
Yeah. 100%. Yeah.
02:05:08:21 - 02:05:12:12
Kyle
What do you feel like the climbing community as a whole.
02:05:12:12 - 02:05:13:24
Kyle
Is getting wrong these days?
02:05:14:04 - 02:05:29:05
Connor
Oh I think the climbing community has so many things they're doing right. They really are doing a lot of things right. And I just feel like there's not many other communities in sports or in anything that comes together so tight as climbing community.
02:05:29:18 - 02:05:32:13
Kyle
Do you feel like that's broad or secular? I feel like I.
02:05:32:13 - 02:05:38:05
Kyle
Agree with you, but in small groups. Yeah. I don't think like as a broad community it feels that way.
02:05:39:08 - 02:05:41:01
Connor
But like, how do you interact with that broad
02:05:41:01 - 02:05:42:09
Kyle
I guess it's on the internet.
02:05:42:09 - 02:05:48:08
Connor
is on the internet. Yeah, that's kind of hard just because there's just so many factors at play on the internet and all that.
02:05:48:12 - 02:05:57:10
Kyle
I guess I guess I guess we're talking about the internet now. I do feel like I've been exposed to different kinds of like groups of people on the internet.
02:05:57:12 - 02:06:01:14
Kyle
Climbers in particular on the internet are nasty.
02:06:01:28 - 02:06:02:22
Kyle
Yeah.
02:06:02:22 - 02:06:04:25
Connor
How so like are we saying like Reddit post
02:06:04:25 - 02:06:08:13
Kyle
Reddit, mountain project forums, Instagram?
02:06:08:13 - 02:06:27:05
Connor
I might be the one reading but I'm never interacting. And so it's like I never have a nasty experience because I'm always just reading like I'm not the one actually putting myself out, putting messages onto those boards or something like that. The only interaction that I will ever have really with climbers is a face to face, and it's always really good.
02:06:27:08 - 02:06:27:15
Connor
And
02:06:27:15 - 02:06:32:29
Kyle
I would second that for sure. I've never had like a unless the only time I've ever had bad experiences is like like a sport crag.
02:06:33:07 - 02:06:35:12
Kyle
Yeah. You know.
02:06:35:12 - 02:06:35:29
Connor
yeah.
02:06:35:29 - 02:06:37:12
Connor
But that's that's egos. That's
02:06:37:12 - 02:06:40:29
Kyle
egos. And there's like crowds. Everyone's getting competitive and like.
02:06:40:29 - 02:06:41:29
Connor
is eating your law and shit.
02:06:41:29 - 02:06:43:04
Connor
Like you're just like,
02:06:43:04 - 02:06:46:10
Kyle
Yeah. Like, get your dog out of my bed. Yeah. Yeah.
02:06:46:15 - 02:06:49:24
Connor
Or got I recently had one where the dog was on top of the cliff running
02:06:49:27 - 02:06:52:15
Kyle
Oh, kicking rocks down. Yeah, it is.
02:06:52:15 - 02:06:56:28
Connor
His legit running laps, like chasing all the squirrels, digging holes at the top, the cliff. And you're just.
02:06:56:28 - 02:07:00:11
Connor
Like, what is going on? Like.
02:07:00:13 - 02:07:03:02
Connor
The people are not anywhere to sit and.
02:07:03:02 - 02:07:05:14
Connor
Yeah. Or.
02:07:05:17 - 02:07:14:05
Connor
Three days ago I was in the phishers and there's these people going in climb ancient art and they brought their dog in. And then the dog ran.
02:07:14:08 - 02:07:18:10
Connor
Through all of the crypto for hours as these people.
02:07:18:10 - 02:07:34:13
Connor
Were up there just in and out of the trail, like running next to people walking the dog was nice, but like walking with all the people on the trail and then running around and then like, howling at the wall because they could see it. And then like, they were like on the top of pitch, like two, three or something like that.
02:07:34:13 - 02:07:37:03
Connor
Like yelling down to the dog, like, be quiet.
02:07:37:03 - 02:07:38:12
Connor
Yeah.
02:07:38:14 - 02:07:41:03
Connor
I was just like, what in the world is going on?
02:07:41:03 - 02:07:43:11
Kyle
That's a weird thing to like. It's like.
02:07:43:11 - 02:07:48:18
Kyle
Obviously they didn't choose that, but they're like, we have to climb, so sorry.
02:07:48:21 - 02:07:49:22
Kyle
They like living there.
02:07:49:25 - 02:07:50:22
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
02:07:50:22 - 02:07:52:14
Connor
and they're just like, no, we're going
02:07:52:14 - 02:07:54:14
Kyle
to sit here.
02:07:54:16 - 02:07:56:17
Kyle
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
02:07:56:26 - 02:07:58:06
Connor
But I don't know, I feel like
02:07:58:06 - 02:08:02:02
Kyle
But in general, your experience with the climbing community has been overwhelmingly positive.
02:08:02:18 - 02:08:03:08
Kyle
Yeah.
02:08:03:11 - 02:08:10:06
Kyle
That's cool. Yeah. I do think one of the cool things about climbing is that it requires so much of us. Yeah. Like, you have to.
02:08:10:06 - 02:08:13:09
Kyle
Be willing to take risk. You have to be willing to push yourself. You have to.
02:08:13:09 - 02:08:15:08
Kyle
Be willing to train. You have to have mental fortitude.
02:08:15:08 - 02:08:19:07
Kyle
You have to be interested in the outdoors, like so many different things that.
02:08:19:07 - 02:08:22:08
Kyle
Are required of you, that when you meet someone, it's just like you have so much in common right.
02:08:22:08 - 02:08:22:25
Kyle
Away.
02:08:22:25 - 02:08:26:25
Connor
Yeah. Do you think you have that bad experiences with like climbers in
02:08:27:29 - 02:08:30:26
Kyle
No. In public. Face to face. Super cool.
02:08:30:29 - 02:08:36:01
Kyle
Everybody's been really good. I was just online. I just like the internet trolls for climbers are really nasty.
02:08:36:04 - 02:08:37:00
Kyle
Yeah. I don't really.
02:08:37:00 - 02:08:37:21
Kyle
Think.
02:08:37:24 - 02:08:40:26
Kyle
Yeah I think that's that's the lesson there. Just stay away.
02:08:40:28 - 02:08:45:17
Kyle
I'm in. I can't though. I run a business, so I'm forced to deal with it.
02:08:45:20 - 02:08:50:04
Connor
especially like putting yourself out. You're inviting so much more back
02:08:50:04 - 02:08:50:15
Kyle
Yeah.
02:08:50:15 - 02:09:08:21
Kyle
I've gotten to a place where it doesn't bother me anymore. I'm honestly just surprised by it, but I also, like. I've kind of like. It's been such an evolution. This, the channel that I run, over the last decade or so. And I think what I found is that I, I'm proud and happy to be real.
02:09:08:23 - 02:09:18:19
Kyle
Yeah. And I think that that is something that is lacking in the digital space of climbing, like, it's always a skit or like some sort of personality or.
02:09:18:22 - 02:09:21:01
Kyle
Which are cool, but like, it's very rare that.
02:09:21:01 - 02:09:24:23
Kyle
You see someone just like, fuck raw as fuck. You know?
02:09:24:23 - 02:09:28:17
Kyle
And so I don't really care. Let's chat about it, you know, like.
02:09:28:17 - 02:09:35:08
Kyle
Everyone gets to have their opinions. So it's been a journey, but, I've learned a lot from it, and I hope, I hope a lot of people.
02:09:35:08 - 02:09:36:02
Kyle
Have, too.
02:09:36:02 - 02:09:37:10
Connor
I think.
02:09:37:13 - 02:09:50:11
Connor
The only time I've ever had a troll, like, show up on one of my pages is when I posted that core shot of, just like the four strands, I was, like, holding my rope with the baseball cap. Like, dramatic photo and like, in the comments, that dude's like, well, if you use 21st century ropes.
02:09:50:13 - 02:09:54:25
Connor
That wouldn't have happened. And I was like, this ropes brand new. It's sterling. Like.
02:09:54:27 - 02:09:55:01
Connor
What
02:09:55:01 - 02:09:57:15
Kyle
I think that's the big thing when it comes to like safety and risk.
02:09:57:15 - 02:10:02:01
Kyle
Everybody thinks they know better than you. Oh yeah. Everyone's an expert. Everyone's an expert. Yeah. Like.
02:10:02:01 - 02:10:10:08
Connor
you put yourself out there. It's all going to get judged because they're experts and you're the one who made the mistake. So they're right. You're wrong.
02:10:10:11 - 02:10:11:10
Connor
Yeah.
02:10:11:10 - 02:10:13:15
Kyle
So back to this like
02:10:13:18 - 02:10:16:29
Kyle
Topic of, like there's going to be a day where I have to, like, settle down.
02:10:17:01 - 02:10:18:15
Kyle
What?
02:10:18:18 - 02:10:22:27
Kyle
Have you visualized what that looks like on the other side?
02:10:23:08 - 02:10:24:19
Connor
No.
02:10:24:21 - 02:10:42:14
Connor
Not really. I try not to just because, like, let me say, I try to visualize, but I can't really see it. I can't see what happens. The one thing that I'm saying is, like, I've been in love with Zion for four years, and I cannot name a time other than the summers that I've spent more than three days away from Zion.
02:10:42:17 - 02:11:03:00
Connor
Like I have been so indulging in Zion that I'm like, do I ever need to leave? Like I'm kind of. I've already done all the classics. I've already done, like all the non classics like I what time do I need to leave? But where do I go? Like it's not like I can just like move on to the next big wall in Mecca, a place that I love, like there's only one Zion for me.
02:11:03:02 - 02:11:15:00
Connor
And so it's kind of just like trying to figure out what's next, but not really trying to focus on that more, trying to be like, all right, what brings me joy right now? And it's not really harming me. I'll just
02:11:15:07 - 02:11:17:09
Kyle
Maybe that just that Zion is home.
02:11:17:15 - 02:11:17:22
Connor
Yeah.
02:11:17:22 - 02:11:18:10
Kyle
Yeah.
02:11:18:12 - 02:11:19:22
Connor
Zion's home, but at least it's home
02:11:19:22 - 02:11:20:23
Kyle
Home for now.
02:11:20:25 - 02:11:23:07
Kyle
You're like well a home for now. Over now.
02:11:23:07 - 02:11:28:06
Connor
but when the heat comes, I run like I cannot climb in Zion. It's 115 degrees
02:11:28:06 - 02:11:30:01
Kyle
No. I'm miserable.
02:11:30:03 - 02:11:36:05
Kyle
Yeah. And you're. I mean, it's just like Vegas. You're close enough to all the other stuff. Just hop in the van for a couple hours. You're good to go. Yeah.
02:11:36:05 - 02:11:38:09
Connor
Or every summer I just go up to Canada or
02:11:38:09 - 02:11:39:01
Kyle
Okay, cool.
02:11:39:01 - 02:11:39:16
Connor
disappear.
02:11:39:16 - 02:11:41:00
Kyle
Nice. Do ice climb.
02:11:41:00 - 02:11:44:02
Connor
I'm a solid, like, five, seven ice
02:11:44:11 - 02:11:46:10
Kyle
Five, seven. Three.
02:11:46:14 - 02:11:47:14
Connor
Yeah.
02:11:47:17 - 02:11:48:04
Connor
Yeah.
02:11:48:04 - 02:11:49:22
Kyle
To alpine ice, too. Yeah.
02:11:49:28 - 02:11:56:13
Connor
super, super low level. Like I love it, but like, not good at it. And I'm okay with that. Like, I just love not being
02:11:56:13 - 02:12:01:00
Kyle
That's fair. So shifting this kind of conversation, I guess.
02:12:01:02 - 02:12:10:27
Kyle
Away from climbing. You know, you adventure is like a huge pillar for you. And it has bled into a bunch of other areas and other pursuits.
02:12:10:29 - 02:12:12:15
Kyle
You have a quote. It said, the.
02:12:12:15 - 02:12:14:13
Kyle
Best thing I do for my climbing is not climbing.
02:12:14:28 - 02:12:15:21
Kyle
Like, what.
02:12:15:21 - 02:12:16:03
Kyle
Does that mean to.
02:12:16:03 - 02:12:16:19
Kyle
You?
02:12:17:11 - 02:12:37:12
Connor
I just feel like the sometimes I do like take breaks and I go and some other form of adventure calls for me and then it just makes me like die to come back to climbing because I feel like I had some friends who like, lived the dirtbag dream, but they don't actually end up climbing that much just because they can always climb like you don't really need climb today, because you can climb tomorrow and you can climb the next day.
02:12:37:19 - 02:12:46:20
Connor
But for me, I have to climb today because tomorrow I'm going on this other thing and I'm doing this other thing, and it's just like, so I do so much different adventuring that just climbing is just like
02:12:46:20 - 02:12:47:10
Kyle
aspect.
02:12:47:13 - 02:12:50:20
Kyle
Yeah. What else has captured your attention in the adventure world these days?
02:12:50:27 - 02:12:52:05
Connor
Ooh.
02:12:52:07 - 02:13:13:07
Connor
So right now I've been really enjoying, like, gravel biking and long biking. And then I've also been rafting down the Colorado River. My goal is to do a source to see of the entire Colorado River from the headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park, all the way down to it's close to the ocean or the ocean as I can get.
02:13:13:09 - 02:13:30:20
Connor
And I'm trying to do that in two different sections. It would be impossible to do it in one section, just with like the freeze thaw cycle and like I would be if I were to try to do it, I would like be in the mountains during the middle of like January and like being on fourteeners in January and then going through the ice River or stuff like that, but it wouldn't work.
02:13:30:23 - 02:13:46:22
Connor
But, right now I've pushed it all the way down to like close to Moab and then waiting for like a Grand Canyon permit, which I have starting in a month. And then I'll be able to push that all the way down to, close or to the ocean. I don't know, really, really know what that means yet.
02:13:46:24 - 02:14:02:29
Connor
Just with all that. Because I would love to go. I would love to make it to the ocean. That'd be an awesome finish to the adventure. But the river doesn't really run to the ocean, in an amount of pack rafting abilities. And so I would be able to walk or do something to finally
02:14:02:29 - 02:14:05:19
Kyle
boogie board. Yeah.
02:14:05:19 - 02:14:09:20
Connor
follow the drops of, like, this massive mud hole. That's really what it
02:14:09:20 - 02:14:12:27
Kyle
It doesn't it turn out like this huge fan like Delta.
02:14:13:02 - 02:14:13:15
Connor
Yeah,
02:14:13:18 - 02:14:14:18
Kyle
Or something like.
02:14:14:18 - 02:14:35:09
Connor
the thing is, it used to run. So the Colorado River runs into the Delta, and there's this, like, whole law of the river that they have to be sending a certain amount of water to the delta at all times, but that's legitimately a trickle. And it's no longer in the original Colorado River bed. And so it's like you can't really make it through.
02:14:35:11 - 02:14:52:21
Connor
But my hope is that I'm going to be going at the exact time where the Colorado mountains are starting to, like, thaw out. And so I'm thinking that that might mean more water is getting through, but I might be able to, like, barely pack, raft through or walk through or somewhat. I get to the ocean, but I'm really worried about like crossing the border
02:14:53:04 - 02:14:54:20
Kyle
Yeah. Next to the Mexican border.
02:14:54:21 - 02:14:55:05
Kyle
Yeah.
02:14:55:05 - 02:14:58:14
Connor
yeah, just just the American side. I don't really care about the Mexicans that I'm.
02:14:58:16 - 02:14:59:27
Kyle
What I just mean that border.
02:14:59:27 - 02:15:00:22
Connor
Yeah, yeah.
02:15:00:22 - 02:15:05:05
Connor
I'm so worried about the American side. And the Colorado River actually sits on the border for a while,
02:15:06:13 - 02:15:06:29
Kyle
Okay.
02:15:06:29 - 02:15:07:10
Connor
bit of
02:15:07:26 - 02:15:10:24
Connor
And I'm super white. I've been on the American side of it.
02:15:10:28 - 02:15:13:18
Kyle
Like what? What are you afraid of? It's like.
02:15:13:18 - 02:15:14:24
Kyle
What the fuck you doing over here?
02:15:14:24 - 02:15:15:16
Connor
Yeah, yeah.
02:15:15:16 - 02:15:16:15
Kyle
got drugs on your raft?
02:15:16:21 - 02:15:17:11
Connor
Yeah, exactly.
02:15:17:11 - 02:15:17:25
Kyle
Yeah.
02:15:17:25 - 02:15:23:17
Connor
Yeah. I getting picked up by the US Border Patrol. I'd rather get picked up by the Mexican Border
02:15:25:06 - 02:15:27:29
Kyle
You're like cartel. You want to save me? No.
02:15:27:29 - 02:15:30:03
Connor
which way should I paddle between the two?
02:15:30:03 - 02:15:32:09
Kyle
Yeah. That's interesting.
02:15:32:14 - 02:15:32:26
Connor
Yeah.
02:15:32:26 - 02:15:35:03
Kyle
How are you getting past the huge dams?
02:15:36:12 - 02:15:59:01
Connor
All self-supported. So I'm walking around. All of them? Yeah. Walking around all of them. Putting it on my back. One load, two loads through all of them. The big dams, they're an issue, but usually there's way around it. But the thing is, it's usually the smaller dams, because the smaller dams you always enter into federal property and then you have to deal with like the trespassing and all
02:15:59:01 - 02:15:59:04
Kyle
that.
02:15:59:07 - 02:16:02:14
Kyle
Yeah. Like I would imagine Hoover is kind of a. Have you been there?
02:16:02:16 - 02:16:04:19
Kyle
It's not that bad. It's, like, so rugged back there.
02:16:04:25 - 02:16:11:06
Connor
Yes, but there's a road that leads you in and out, like a trail or dirt road thing that leads you
02:16:11:14 - 02:16:12:11
Kyle
Okay.
02:16:12:13 - 02:16:15:06
Kyle
Now, do you have to, like, touch one side of the dam and then touch the other?
02:16:15:06 - 02:16:17:07
Connor
I think you get arrested if you go to the dam,
02:16:17:17 - 02:16:18:06
Connor
would definitely
02:16:18:06 - 02:16:18:24
Kyle
For sure.
02:16:18:24 - 02:16:19:22
Connor
if you go all the way to the
02:16:19:22 - 02:16:19:29
Kyle
Yeah.
02:16:19:29 - 02:16:35:06
Connor
But it's the small ones I've had, like dam owners put guns on me for the upper sections, or I was having some big problems on the very high section of the Colorado River before it was an actual, like, respected river.
02:16:35:09 - 02:16:37:21
Connor
Because all the farmers just pissed that I was
02:16:37:21 - 02:16:39:04
Kyle
Where are you starting?
02:16:39:04 - 02:16:59:11
Connor
So I started on Specimen Mountain and Rocky Mountain National Park. Well, my trip started at home because I was like, I want to do my source to see. So at my house. And then I bike to Rocky and I climbed Long's Peak, and that traversed the canyon divide for five days to Specimen Mountain, which is like the true headwaters of the Colorado River.
02:16:59:13 - 02:17:02:16
Connor
And so I was able to, like, actually follow like the first drop
02:17:02:22 - 02:17:06:01
Kyle
Wow. So you're not actually rafting from the beginning?
02:17:06:09 - 02:17:08:03
Connor
No, no. Like it was like legitimately
02:17:08:03 - 02:17:09:06
Kyle
trickle.
02:17:09:08 - 02:17:10:12
Connor
yeah, a
02:17:10:12 - 02:17:11:07
Kyle
Wow.
02:17:11:07 - 02:17:14:07
Kyle
And then the second it gets big enough, then you get on the water.
02:17:14:09 - 02:17:16:28
Kyle
Wow. So it is, like, true source to see.
02:17:16:28 - 02:17:20:02
Connor
Yeah, for like many days I was just walking beside a river
02:17:20:02 - 02:17:21:03
Kyle
Wow.
02:17:21:03 - 02:17:23:26
Connor
no bigger than your average little
02:17:24:00 - 02:17:24:11
Kyle
Yeah.
02:17:24:11 - 02:17:26:11
Connor
And it's legit, just a gully. But it is
02:17:26:11 - 02:17:28:07
Kyle
Wow, dude. Wow.
02:17:28:07 - 02:17:37:00
Connor
Yeah, that was really cool to start because I've only seen the Colorado River would see the Grand Canyon. You see the Hoover Dam like this big massive force.
02:17:37:03 - 02:17:38:15
Connor
But it was like, no, it's
02:17:38:15 - 02:17:46:06
Kyle
starts like this. Yeah. Wow. That's really cool. How long as you think it's going to take you to piece it together.
02:17:46:06 - 02:17:48:25
Connor
I think it's gonna take me like four months of actually, like
02:17:48:25 - 02:17:50:19
Kyle
moving.
02:17:50:22 - 02:17:51:25
Kyle
Wow.
02:17:51:28 - 02:17:53:25
Kyle
Wow. Has anybody done this before?
02:17:54:17 - 02:18:16:07
Connor
I would love to hear if anyone's done it, I would. I know people have done like ish source to see, but I don't know how high or how low they've gone because everyone's done, like the Grand Canyon section. And I know people have started in Colorado and gone through the Grand Canyon, but like, I don't know if someone's really gone from like 14,000ft to the ocean.
02:18:16:16 - 02:18:17:01
Kyle
That's cool man.
02:18:17:07 - 02:18:17:13
Kyle
Yeah,
02:18:17:13 - 02:18:33:15
Connor
yeah, I did watch. There is one person I'm really blanking on his name, but he biked it and he biked, like to like Fort Collins, which is pretty close. So I don't know. I think that was pretty cool, but it wasn't on the river, so I feel like it's
02:18:33:15 - 02:18:33:28
Kyle
Yeah.
02:18:34:05 - 02:18:36:10
Kyle
Well it's quite the objective.
02:18:36:16 - 02:18:36:23
Connor
Yeah,
02:18:36:23 - 02:18:37:06
Kyle
Yeah.
02:18:37:06 - 02:18:37:18
Connor
yeah.
02:18:37:18 - 02:18:38:10
Kyle
That's crazy.
02:18:38:16 - 02:18:42:03
Connor
Something that just, like, caught my imagination recently, and I've just kind of run with it.
02:18:42:08 - 02:18:42:26
Kyle
Yeah.
02:18:42:26 - 02:18:44:15
Kyle
other than giving you space.
02:18:44:15 - 02:18:51:10
Kyle
To come back to climbing and make it more enjoyable? How has your adventure outside of climbing benefited climbing?
02:18:52:05 - 02:18:52:24
Connor
Well, obviously, like.
02:18:52:24 - 02:19:09:26
Connor
Running helps climbing, for sure. Like, definitely gets you stronger for climbing. But I feel like it just, like, opens up my mind to a ton of different things. And, like what climbing can become, because climbing doesn't really have to be the sport crag that you go to every day. Climbing can be just like those big days in the mountains.
02:19:09:28 - 02:19:23:19
Connor
Or like recently I did this thing where I like packed up all my ropes and gear into a running vest and ran into these big like remote route mountains or running into the bug abuse and then climb and then running out like stuff like that,
02:19:24:04 - 02:19:25:16
Kyle
Just fitness.
02:19:25:16 - 02:19:26:16
Connor
see the
02:19:27:22 - 02:19:34:22
Kyle
Fitness. And also like how you can apply the skills in other mediums. Other places. Yeah. That's cool man.
02:19:34:24 - 02:19:36:11
Kyle
And you're about to leave for New Zealand.
02:19:36:18 - 02:19:37:10
Connor
Yep, yep.
02:19:37:15 - 02:19:43:23
Connor
But just spend hopefully around like a month, month and a half biking across New Zealand.
02:19:43:29 - 02:19:45:26
Kyle
Cool. Where are you starting? Where are you going?
02:19:46:29 - 02:19:51:04
Connor
Starting at Christchurch, going to wherever I want to
02:19:51:04 - 02:19:55:08
Kyle
Nice. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Just point and shoot.
02:19:55:08 - 02:19:55:21
Connor
Point
02:19:55:21 - 02:19:56:20
Kyle
Okay.
02:19:56:20 - 02:19:57:02
Connor
point.
02:19:57:02 - 02:19:57:19
Kyle
Wow.
02:19:57:19 - 02:20:00:12
Connor
leave really soon. I still haven't planned out my itinerary.
02:20:00:15 - 02:20:02:03
Connor
And I should.
02:20:02:05 - 02:20:13:17
Connor
But, like, got on the computer today and like, opened up Google Earth and I was like, well, I want to go there and I want to go there. And then I like looked at it and I was like, oh, that's like thousands of thousands of miles. So I was like, I might not be able to do all
02:20:13:26 - 02:20:16:04
Kyle
Are you going to go are you going to go visit the Shire?
02:20:17:22 - 02:20:17:25
Connor
the.
02:20:17:25 - 02:20:18:14
Connor
Wrong island.
02:20:18:14 - 02:20:19:12
Kyle
Oh, it's the wrong island.
02:20:19:12 - 02:20:19:23
Connor
Yeah.
02:20:19:23 - 02:20:20:06
Kyle
Okay.
02:20:20:06 - 02:20:23:04
Connor
I was like, that was one of those things. I was like, I could go
02:20:23:04 - 02:20:23:16
Kyle
Yeah.
02:20:23:16 - 02:20:23:23
Connor
But
02:20:23:23 - 02:20:24:29
Kyle
Oh, you go bike through the Shire.
02:20:24:29 - 02:20:25:09
Connor
yeah,
02:20:25:09 - 02:20:26:17
Kyle
Yeah. That would be sick.
02:20:26:17 - 02:20:26:26
Connor
that would
02:20:26:26 - 02:20:27:12
Kyle
That would be sick.
02:20:27:12 - 02:20:28:07
Connor
I've heard it's a tourist
02:20:28:07 - 02:20:29:06
Kyle
Oh, of course.
02:20:29:06 - 02:20:39:10
Connor
But but yeah, I mean, it's the Shire. You got to do it. But but no, I think I'm going to spend like, most of my time in like, maybe the fjord lands and like, maybe a mountain around Mount Cook area,
02:20:39:10 - 02:20:41:15
Kyle
Yeah. You should head up, Nathan Longhurst.
02:20:41:24 - 02:20:42:20
Connor
Yeah.
02:20:42:23 - 02:20:43:13
Connor
That would be awesome.
02:20:43:13 - 02:20:51:27
Kyle
He's. I mean, I mean, that guy knows exactly where everything is. He probably could give you a good beta on. Kind of like, at least in the in the, Mount Cook area.
02:20:52:08 - 02:20:53:12
Kyle
Like places to go.
02:20:53:12 - 02:21:04:25
Connor
Cook, but I know it's like a little bit hard to be like soloing up on cook. And so it's like, I don't know. Also, am I like going to bring an ice action like bike with my ice ax in my crampons on the, on my bike all month long, like.
02:21:05:01 - 02:21:08:24
Kyle
Just for one objective. Yeah. Yeah. You can always rent him or something, couldn't you?
02:21:08:24 - 02:21:18:08
Connor
true. Yeah. Or I also like want to like canyoning or down there. That'd be super fun. But it's like, oh, am I going to fit all of this? And, such short time.
02:21:18:21 - 02:21:22:12
Kyle
How do you like, for an objective like that going solo.
02:21:22:14 - 02:21:29:16
Kyle
Like climbing obviously when you're like lead rope soloing, there's a way to mitigate the risk. What about like, I don't know, how do you.
02:21:29:16 - 02:21:32:02
Kyle
Like, in Canyoneering or, like, big hikes in.
02:21:32:02 - 02:21:35:04
Kyle
The middle of nowhere? Like, how are you planning for randomness?
02:21:35:26 - 02:21:49:00
Connor
I think the most dangerous thing I do is road biking by far, because that's the only thing that I really feel like I don't have a 100% control of. Like everything else, I can act like I have 100% control. But when you're road biking,
02:21:49:00 - 02:21:50:23
Kyle
cars can just hit you.
02:21:50:23 - 02:21:59:12
Connor
control over anything. But I feel like the bad answer of how I can prepare for randomness is just my strength and my ability.
02:21:59:15 - 02:22:02:12
Connor
Knowing that, like, really, if she hits a fan, I can just walk
02:22:02:12 - 02:22:04:21
Kyle
here. Yeah. Just turn around.
02:22:04:24 - 02:22:12:22
Kyle
Turn around. I guess that's the key is knowing it's almost like the solo mentality.
02:22:12:22 - 02:22:18:21
Kyle
Like never make a move. You can't down climb. Don't put yourself in a situation where like either you forget which way you came
02:22:18:25 - 02:22:19:02
Connor
Yep.
02:22:19:02 - 02:22:23:06
Kyle
or like that you've gotten yourself into a position where you can't get out of where you got into. Yeah.
02:22:23:06 - 02:22:25:22
Connor
Just like, yep. I can just like, lean back on the experience and just get
02:22:25:22 - 02:22:25:27
Kyle
here.
02:22:25:29 - 02:22:28:11
Kyle
Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.
02:22:28:14 - 02:22:34:01
Kyle
Okay, so closing this up. You know, you had said.
02:22:34:03 - 02:22:37:08
Kyle
The main reason here was to, like, help others, inspire others.
02:22:38:07 - 02:22:41:21
Kyle
For someone who is inspired by your story.
02:22:41:24 - 02:22:43:24
Kyle
Who.
02:22:43:27 - 02:22:46:23
Kyle
Like. I guess I'll just leave it at that. Someone who's inspired by your story. Like,
02:22:47:06 - 02:22:50:26
Kyle
do you have advice for for someone who might be like.
02:22:50:28 - 02:22:52:08
Kyle
Trying to live the.
02:22:52:08 - 02:22:53:15
Kyle
Connor Batty dream?
02:22:56:05 - 02:22:59:02
Connor
I don't know.
02:22:59:04 - 02:23:19:09
Connor
I don't know. That's so hard. I would say. Just don't fill yourself with anything you don't want to do. Like, if you don't want to do it, then just don't do it. But that doesn't mean don't chase objectives like you definitely have to do stuff that's hard. You'd have to have to like, I hated studying, but I sat in that library closed to study to get my degree.
02:23:20:11 - 02:23:25:24
Connor
But just like, chase your big objectives and don't give in to anything that you don't really want to do.
02:23:25:24 - 02:23:27:25
Kyle
Hell, yeah.
02:23:27:28 - 02:23:40:14
Kyle
Once we did, you know, I, I usually close this out by, like, giving you a chance to let people know where to follow you and follow your story. Instagram. Pretty much whenever you decide to post or whenever you have a friend post for you.
02:23:40:14 - 02:23:43:09
Connor
Yeah, 100%. I think that's about
02:23:43:19 - 02:23:45:23
Kyle
Okay. Maybe the Twitter one day.
02:23:45:23 - 02:23:48:04
Connor
maybe the Twitter. I do have a Twitter, but it's not actually my real name.
02:23:48:12 - 02:23:50:02
Kyle
Okay. Even more sneaky.
02:23:50:04 - 02:23:50:21
Connor
Yeah. Even more
02:23:50:21 - 02:23:51:12
Kyle
Yeah.
02:23:51:12 - 02:23:55:07
Connor
just didn't want to use my real name because I was like on all the, like, partner finders.
02:23:55:07 - 02:23:55:21
Kyle
Okay,
02:23:55:21 - 02:23:56:11
Connor
I don't know
02:23:56:11 - 02:24:06:01
Kyle
well, if you ever end up being active and you start to post your poems and stuff, let me know, and then I'll like, it'll be just a secret climbing majority thing. And so people can follow you on Twitter if they want.
02:24:06:01 - 02:24:08:24
Connor
good. I honestly don't even know my Instagram handle
02:24:09:12 - 02:24:10:07
Connor
it.
02:24:10:11 - 02:24:11:02
Connor
Connor baby.
02:24:11:02 - 02:24:17:25
Kyle
probably probably, I don't know, I I'd have to look. Let's see. Let's, let's give people the actual Instagram handle.
02:24:17:25 - 02:24:19:00
Connor
Okay.
02:24:19:11 - 02:24:23:21
Connor
It's kind of lame, but I really have no clue what it is. I think it might be baby.
02:24:23:21 - 02:24:31:07
Kyle
It's Connor, baby. C o and o r batty. There it is. You heard it from him. There it is.
02:24:32:15 - 02:24:33:18
Kyle
Cool, man.
02:24:33:18 - 02:24:34:24
Connor
one of the 100 followers.
02:24:34:24 - 02:24:35:25
Kyle
I think you have a thousand.
02:24:36:00 - 02:24:36:10
Connor
I do.
02:24:36:10 - 02:24:39:22
Kyle
Yeah, you've got, 1500.
02:24:39:25 - 02:24:40:21
Connor
Wow.
02:24:40:23 - 02:24:40:29
Connor
I'm
02:24:40:29 - 02:24:41:20
Kyle
You're famous.
02:24:41:25 - 02:24:42:18
Connor
That's crazy.
02:24:42:18 - 02:24:46:21
Kyle
A lot of pressure now. Yeah. Well, cool. Man, I, I know you.
02:24:46:21 - 02:24:53:11
Kyle
Drove down here from Saint George. I really appreciate you coming into this in person. I appreciate you like popping your podcast, Jerry.
02:24:53:15 - 02:24:54:05
Kyle
Yeah.
02:24:54:07 - 02:24:56:03
Kyle
I feel honored. So thanks for coming down.
02:24:56:03 - 02:24:57:10
Connor
Yeah. No. Thank you.
02:24:57:10 - 02:24:58:16
Kyle
Yeah. You do?
02:24:59:12 - 02:25:02:02
Kyle
Hey, you! You made it to the end of the episode.
02:25:02:02 - 02:25:17:09
Kyle
Thanks for being one of the view. A quick favor to ask you. I really want to be Alex Honnold show climbing gold by number of ratings and only have 1300 more to go. So if you haven't already, please head on over to Spotify or Apple Podcasts to give this show five stars.
02:25:17:12 - 02:25:27:18
Kyle
I hope you had a stellar year and wish you the best going into 2026. Until the next time, stay safe, have fun and as always, thanks for being a part of the climbing majority. I'll see you in two weeks.
