When climbing was a fringe sport, the epic tales of achievement were told around the campfire. As the sport continues to grow, Alex Honnold and co-host Fitz Cahall grab the mic to share stories from the people who define climbing by pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo of the previous generation.
Full episodes and snippets from our conversations with some of climbing's biggest names.
I am a bit disappointed by Alex. The matter is so mainstream - who is the GOAT? I hate the term. No doubt she wins everything. But does it make the matter interesting? For sure we do not need Alex, who knows so much about climbing, to repeat again and again, how good she is. I would like to listen to more "nerdy" things. And Alex is a true nerd, thats why I like him. And please: no podcast with Janja...
For those who wants to see the video that Alex is talking about, the documentary featuring Janja : The Crux Episode 1 | Full Episode | National Geographic
She’s of course the GOAT, but I just wanted to point out that Brooke Raboutou really gave her a run for her money, it was actually a pretty tight race between them, so props to Brooke as well!
Wow, adventurous! Here is the video footage made by Soviet TV (Russ Clune's climb starts at 10:39): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aHyLNG-qynM.htmlfeature=shared Russ is described as a charming guy from Wyoming;)
I guess it's kinda expected since all three are from the US, but Janja is not Simone Biles, Janja is Nadia Comanecci. Nothing against Simone, she's a amazing and far away from her competition; but if you think about GOAT status in gymnastics and you are not from the US, you kinda have Nadia Comanecci as the gold standard.
Janja felt rattled before the finger incident - I think the pressure of being the GOAT, returning Olympic champion was slowly getting into her head. When she was walking out of iso for the lead final, she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Janja truly amazes… I haven’t seen her less than 100% focused and solid for ages, but I remember when I first started watching climbing ( obsessively 🤪), she had more “off” days… I mean off for Janja is still a gold, it seems, but yeah, it was a surprise in a way to see her a bit rattled… appreciate John’s comment about how the true champions can still rise above when everything isn’t flow state peaches and cream… and Janja did just that. She is human, AND she is totally Next Level! What amazes me almost as much is that she really seems to be a decent human being - confident, yes, but in a kind of matter of fact way, I honestly don’t get a lot of sense of huge ego from her. Curious if people who know her see her as pretty “down to earth”? Anyway, love the show ❤
Is it not reasonable for climbers, as a community, to agree that whenever someone attempts something significant - even solo - they set up some kind of filming?
I wanted the Americans and Sam Watson to win gold for speed climbing. I agree with Alex it’s life changing money for the winner. Sam won a medal still and due to him setting a world record Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco gave him $50,000 out of their pockets. Since they said any American that set a world record they’ll pay $50,000. He was on night cap recently and he received the money.
Brooke is an awesome representation of US climbing. Collin is a great climber, but his temper/attitude make it hard for me to root for him, unfortunately.
@Climbing Gold with Alex Honnold I love these hour long podcasts when Im bussy doing stuff. But like now, as soon as I want to sit down and look at something I turn this off and watch a podcast where I can see the pressenters. If you could put video on these longer episodes it would probably get you more views
Hey there! We appreciate that feedback, and we've given this some consideration. The thing with our full length pods is that often they are edited to tell a better story. This is easy to blend seamlessly in audio, but would create a lot of issues for our video editing to match. Since our primary platforms are by face Spotify and Apple Podcasts, we prioritize the audio production and added this RU-vid channel as a little extra treat for when we had extra content or behind the scenes clips to share. Hope this helps!
I'd noticed a lot of enthusiasm for speed climbing from quite a few Indonesian folks who I'd talked to about sports over the years. I was happy to see Veddriq win gold because I knew it would probably be really meaningful to their country. Really cool to hear that this win meant Veddriq's family could actually have a better life...now that really is achieving Olympic dreams in an amazing way :)
Toby was one of the favourites and stronger for winning lead (for me the top with Jakob. Soratu maybe top3-5 among the competitors) and with his latest boulder performances he was realistically a top4 to 5 for bouldering. Deserved win, and possibly great rivalry for years to come with Soratu and others. Wish Jakob had been a bit higher, the last years he has been the best and most well rounded climber
Really great podcast, though i have one gripe. I acknowledge i have a certain bias bring British, but you guys are lowkey doing Toby dirty in this podcast. Anraku is lauded (rightly), Schubert you guys are like 'Oh he climbed so well lets break down his mentality for the lead sections semi and final' and with Toby you're talking about his gold as though he just kindof fell into it. He outclimbed the rest of the field over the two events, kept his nerve where Anraku felt the pressure, bouldered where Schubert couldn't, and outperformed the rest in the _combination_ of bouldering, lead, and mental. A bit of proper praise for him rather than begrudging him the gold over your favourite climbers wouldn't be the end of the world.
I also feel like they are ignoring the fact that Toby has won OVER Sorato in many world cups. Yeah Sorato medals in like everything but he is beatable and Toby has performed better this season than Sorato. Especially in lead.
I think their take was mostly fair, on average Sorato beats Toby, but definitely not always. Both can be inconsistent, but Toby was seeded 2nd for a reason, so I don't think it's as much of a shock as some are suggesting.
Yeah that poster sized cutout of Bertone's kisser in the stands was ... weird to see, but cool too, somehow. And the camera shot of her just before coming out for the rope wall, closing her eyes & taking a deep breath ... Hey it was the Olys MAN. ;-) Pressure was on but hope in that split second she was able too to just soak it in how amazing it all was. Really proud of all 8 finalists, I was actually pulling for each one to top it. Paris lived up to expectations - and mine were high.
I think she mentioned one very important point at the end, bouldering is not exactly about competing against other people, but competing against the wall. Unlike the other sport like football or basketball, which have to exploit opponents weaknesses and beat them, bouldering/climbing is about you and the wall. The strategy you come up with to solve the problem of the routes, not to fight against your opponents.
It all depends on who makes up the audience. I believe that in sports that start with a sound signal, the audience should be silent, if they respect the competitors and the sport itself. Concentration at the start is essential for top results. Only when they start, then cheering can start and possibly push the athlete to go harder. In contrast to that, in European football, the crowd is called the 13th player, and it is normal for the crowd to interfere with the players when taking penalty kicks. Imagine that in the lead competition, fans from Oriana Bertone, or Brooke Raboutou, shout and insult Janja when it's her turn to climb. Competitive climbing would die for me... Greetings from Croatia. :)
imagine the pressure on her shoulders where anything but dominant gold is a failure. thats why she roared af when she finally realized she did it. the pressure was out of this world.
Janja is not only the best competition climber, but she's also one of the only ones who never climbs outside. I wonder if those are related, and if this is a hint of where comp climbing is headed. Maybe the level will get so high, and the style will diverge enough from outdoor climbing, that it will no longer be possible to excel at both.
She recently did a v15 boulder outdoors as well, sit start to a stand she had done before but she got it in a half hour session. I don't think there are any successful comp climbers who don't also climb outdoors.
thanks. :):):). so glad you guys put me on to her pre olympics. only watched the climbing. nothing else. janja is100% climbing gold. she's deff part spider for sure:):):).. Quality and way ahead.
Nice podcast. But you might have just edited out the "like", there must be at least a few scores of them per person, and they're like, you know, kind of, like, unnecessary. Well, at least we don't have to ask to see your passports to know you're American! ;-)
Weird you didn't talk about how Janja didn't top in lead as expected. In that, Ai Mori was better. Also was Ai Mori one of the few who beat Janja in the past
Yeah she did but she totally failed in boulder. And in semis they both tied lead. So at the end of the day, the fact that Janja is this good in both boulder and lead makes her way above ai mori who once in a while beats her in lead.
