RunOut #128: Activism and Climbing with Miranda Oakley

Hobbs Kessler is a 21-year-old professional runner who ran a 3:34 in the 1500m in his senior year of high school. He has also climbed as hard as 5.14c with an ascent of Southern Smoke in the Red River Gorge. Hobbs just returned from the Paris Olympics, where he competed in both the 800 and 1500m races. But first, your curmudgeonly hosts roll their eyes at one of climbing’s most bitter personas: the climbing curmudgeon. It’s like we’re looking in the mirror! Today’s final bit is a mother-daughter violin performance of the Appalachian Waltz. The musicians behind this composition are my good friend Kate McGinnis, a nurse from Atlanta who is one of the most talented and strong climbers I’ve ever met, and her 13 year old daughter Annie, who is crushing rock climbs just like her mom. Show Notes Follow Hobbs on Instagram “Hobbs Kessler Climbs 5.14+ and Runs a Sub 4-Minute Mile. And He's Just 17.” Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Amity Warme is a professional rock climber and dietician, who has not only free climbed El Capitan five times, but has done so each time in true ground-up style. This ground-up style is captured in an awesome new film that tells the story Amity and Brent Barghahn’s ground-up free ascent of El Niño via the Pineapple Express Variation on El Capitan. Our conversation ranges from big-wall style and ethics, to her philosophy and approach to nutrition. But first we dive into what the American Alpine Club is calling the greatest access issue in climbing: expensive day passes to climbing gyms. Last, Gunky and Professor Wayne Burleson brings us his livingroom version of the Dead's Franklin's Tower. Show Notes Amity Warme on Instagram Amity Warme website Amity Warme and Brent Barghahn free climb El Niño. Watch Amity climb Book of Hate “Can Climbing Outrun Its Own Elitism With Inclusive Gym Pricing?” on Climbing.com Pay What You Can Toolkit on the AAC

Out #131: Drew Ruana Climbs Hard and Thinks Ahead Drew Ruana started climbing on the slabs of Smith Rock, and has since become one of America’s most prolific boulderers, with over 100 V14 and harder problems ticked. He’s currently a student at the Colorado School of Mines, and thinking ahead of what kind of career he wants in life, and how climbing fits into it all. But first, yr friendly podcast hosts debrief on their Olympic fever, and talk about where Paris soared, and where it fell short. Today’s final bit is from the all-girl punk band Fire Party, who was part of the DC punk scene in the late 1980s. In true punk fashion, the members of Fire Party — including the lead singer, badass climber and friend of the pod Amy Pickering — rejected the label of being an all-girl band. Show Notes Watch Drew Ruana climb the Ice Knife Follow Drew on Instagram Follow Amy Pickering on Instagram

Thomas Huber is our favorite Huber brother—no offense to Alex. He needs little introduction, and is one of the most prolific climbers of the last 30 years thanks to a resume that includes establishing some of the best free climbs on El Capitan and across Europe, to winning the Piolet d’Or for his bold alpine ascents, to being a member of the beloved Stone Monkeys. His new book Freiheit, In the Mountains There is Freedom, is now available in English from DiAngelo. But first, yer hosts consider the question of giving and receiving encouragement while climbing. Why do we feel the need to yell, “You got it!” at people who clearly Do. Not. Have. It.? And is a little peace and silence too much to ask around here? Last but never least, our final bit is another awkward collision between climbing and mainstream media, as the news tries to capture the heroism of a dramatic, life-saving rescue. Show Notes Buy Thomas Huber’s book Follow Thomas Huber on Instagram Read an excerpt from Huber’s book on Evening Sends Follow Jordan Cannon Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Allyson Gunsallus is a climber and lawyer who serves on the board of the American Alpine Club. She is also the producer and director of Hand Holds, a new film interview series providing resources for climbing parents. Our conversation explores how climbing parents navigate the risks inherent to our sport with the demands of their new identity, not to mention the little person in their lives. But first, we’ve got a tepid Olympic fever and the only cure is more speed climbing. We give the run-down on who to look for in the Olympics, and why it’s only Sam Watson. Last but never least, the great Steph Davis onsights an off-the-couch piano performance of the soundtrack of Interstellar. Show Notes Hand Holds is six free-to-watch episodes featuring interviews with well-known climbers, including Beth Rodden, Majka Burhardt, Eddie and Anna Taylor, Jon and Jess Glassberg, Kris Hampton, and Chris Kalous. Visit handholdsfilm.com for more information. Follow Allyson Gunsallus / Hand Holds on Instagram Follow Steph Davis on Instagram Who is in the Olympics? Watch Sam Watson set the world record Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Miranda Oakley is an AMGA certified rock climbing guide, who set the record for being the first woman to rope solo the Nose in a day. As a Palestinian-American, she recently made headlines by hanging a political banner on the side of El Cap. We discuss this unlikely nexus between climbing and activism, and imagine how it can go right or wrong. But first, fresh off a week of climbing in America’s new favorite sport crag, Kalous has some observations he wants to share. For our final bit, we’re stoked to share the Salt Lake City progressive rock climber band Better in Color with their track “The Imprisoned One.” Show Notes Follow Miranda Oakley on Instagram Climbers Hang “Stop the Genocide” Banner from El Capitan Movement Lessons from Climbers With Palestine’s Yosemite Banner Hang Better in Color Follow Better in Color on Instagram Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Today’s guest is climbing coach Justen Sjong. Justen is known for his first free ascents of Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a) and The PreMuir (VI 5.13c/d) on El Capitan, and redpoints of 5.14 sport climbs. His approach to improvement in climbing is far more cerebral than most standard training fare, and his intuitions and sensibilities as a coach have helped numerous climbers mine their untapped potential by clearly mental barriers and finding the present. But first, your egotistical hosts talk about the infamous climbing ego: the ways it can hold us back, and how it might be embraced so as to fully excel. Our final bit comes from a late evening in a dusty desert hill, as the campfire embers cooled and all the little boys and girls had already turned in to their sleeping bags. One of our favorite climbers and musicians, Lisa Hathaway, plays us a tune with Chris Kalous on the ukulele. Show Notes Climbing Sensei — Book a coaching session with Justen Follow Justen Sjong on Instagram Training with Justen, Part 2 — Evening Sends Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Today we have a double-header. Two guests, same great show. First up is Rajiv Ayyangar—an entrepreneur, CEO, and host of The China Beach podcast, a show about his obsession with arguably the best sport climb on earth (at least according to him!). Rajiv might have the most niche podcast on earth, and we dive into where his obsession with this one route comes from. Next is OG Stonemaster Rick Accomazzo, who has just completed a new book on Tobin Sorenson. In the 1970s, Tobin completed some of the most audacious climbs, bringing a a kind of fearless courage that both left his partners in awe and shaking with fear. His 1977 season in Chamonix might just be one of the best seasons any climber has had in that range, ever. Tobin perished in the mountains at the young age of 25, but his legacy is now being told for the first time in a way that lives up to his achievements, skill, and vision. Our final bit is a poignant recording from our archive with the late, great Paul Nelson. Show Notes Follow Rajiv Ayyangar and the China Beach Podcast China Beach Podcast Watch Nina Williams climb China Beach Stonemaster Books Pre-order Tobin, The Stonemasters, and Me 1970-1980 by Rick Accomazzo Read “The Day I Sent Colorblind” by Paul Nelson Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

After Rock and Ice and Climbing magazines stopped printing issues, a hole was left in the climbing media landscape. Enter Michael Levy, a writer based in New York City and a former editor at Rock and Ice. He has recently revived Summit Journal, and reimagined it as a heavy stock climbing magazine for climbers today. We talk about climbing media and the viability of print, and what it takes to make it in today’s digital world. But first, yr crooked-helmet wearing hosts talk about Gumbies. What are they? Who are they? Why are they? And why does Alex Honnold think Gumby is such a joyous term. Strap in for the definitive lesson in how to not be such a Gumby—even though you’ll never not be one. Last, we’re psyched to share the music of climber / producer Smith Curry, a session player and producer for Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift, Maren Morris, Dolly Parton, Pharrell Williams, Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and 200+ more. Show Notes Summit Journal Follow Summit Journal on Instagram Follow Michael Levy on Instagram Follow Smith Curry on Instagram Smith Curry Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]

Last fall, Jesse Grupper took home the gold medal at the Pan Am games, securing his spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Now just a few months out from the Games, we caught up with Jesse to hear about how he is preparing and getting psyched to represent our country in lead and bouldering at the Olympics—all while balancing life as a mechanical engineer pushing the limits of soft robotics to improve people’s lives. But first, yr sticky, sweet podcast hosts get into a debate about glue and when it’s appropriate to use it to fix boulder problems that break. This discussion comes after one of Colorado’s oldest and most historic boulder problems broke, and locals put the question to the community for a vote. Buster Jesik, IFMGA / AMGA mountain guides, lays down a sick drum track for today’s final bit. Show Notes Jesse Grupper Wins PanAM Follow Jesse Grupper on Instagram Mental Standard Has Broken — Instagram Mental Standard — Mountain Project Mountain Project Thread Follow Buster Jesik on Instagram Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcastContact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. [email protected] // [email protected]