The Mum’s Gone Climbing Podcast

Professor Katharina Luttenberger, psychotherapist and climbing coach, is back to talk to us about how bouldering psychosocial support  sessions are improving the wellbeing of refugee youth.  In 2022 Katharina collaborated with the incredible organisation Climb Aid, to research how their YouClimb program is impacting youth in the Beqaa Valley region of Lebanon. She speaks to us about her experience...

Prof. Katharina Luttenberger chats about why fear is so beneficial, what exactly is Bouldering Psychotherapy, and her journey researching the role climbing can take in treating mental health conditions.  Katharina is a psychological psychotherapist, bouldering therapist, and climbing coach. She has spent a decade researching the impact bouldering psychotherapy can have on depression, anxiety, and...

Our favourite Pelvic Health Physio, Emily Elgar, returns to the podcast to chat prolapse, pessaries and perimenopause. Emily shares some basics around pelvic floor anatomy, different types of prolapses, along with diagnosis and treatment.  This conversation also provided space for Eva, one of our co-hosts, to share her own experience with prolapse. Her story weaved its way through everything Emily...

Pelvic Health Clinical Specialist and absolutely delightful human, Emily Elgar, is back on the podcast.  Our conversation explores why creating a space for women's health, and more specifically pelvic health, is so important and needed. Emily also shares her struggles with burnout as a healthcare worker. We discuss the importance of knowing the tell tale warning signs of overwhelm, why doing more...

Trainer and Coach, Joy Black, is back on the podcast to debunk some commonly held myths about the pelvic floor, and enlightens us with essentially incontinence knowledge. Joy specialises in working with climbers through pregnancy and postpartum, from elite athletes to every day climb mamas. It's a job title that gets a lot of deer in the head lights reactions, but Joy's passion for working with wo...

Trainer and Coach, Joy Black, is back on the podcast with all the beta for climbing through pregnancy and postpartum.  Joy has worked with professional athletes and everyday climbers around the world as they navigate the journey into motherhood and beyond.  She shares her top tips for mitigating risk, that are a whole lot more helpful than 'don't bump your bump'. Along with the more nuanced assess...

Northern Rocks gym director, Sarah Hay, chats about taking things day by day. Whether facing challenges, or building motivation, it's about making those first steps.  Trigger Warning: We discuss infant loss and stillbirth in this conversation.  Part two of our conversation with Sarah delves into her motherhood journey. Her decision to have children wasn't straight forward, Sarah worried that her d...

Sarah Hay embodies dedication and persistence in all she sets her sights on. She is a coach, a route setter, and the owner and director of Northern Rocks gym in Auckland.  A climbing trip to Europe sparked Sarah's dream of opening a gym back in New Zealand. But it would be many years, and many set backs before that became a reality.  Sarah chats to us about the importance she places on creating op...

Beth Rodden has navigated incredibly difficult experiences through her life and climbing career. She has accomplished some of the hardest routes in the world, competed at elite levels, and survived a kidnapping in the far reaches of Kyrgyzstan.  Through all of these experiences Beth also battled a pervasive inner dialogue. One that was often cruel, and pushed her to seek the perfection that contin...

Beth Rodden is renowned for her determination, grit and ability to unlock some of the hardest lines in the climbing world. She is a trail blazer for female climbers wanting to push the boundaries of what was once thought possible. In a community that is often fuelled by bravado, Beth has also created space for a softer strength. One that is open, and vulnerable, and connects us deeply through the...

Gym owner and world class route setter Carlie LeBreton is back on the podcast to share her experience as a mother, a climber, and paving the way for the next generation of female and gender diverse route setters.  Carlie shares her own struggles with guilt, failure, and the mental load so many of us struggle with no matter what level of climbing we are at.  Huge thanks to our sponsors for supporti...

Carlie LeBreton discovered climbing as a teenager in the mid 90's, and since then she has become an integral part of the story of climbing in Australia.  She shares how a school trip to Hangdog in Wollongong paved the way to multiple national titles, and becoming the first female chief setter at a World Championship event.  Huge thanks to our sponsors for supporting this episode and series 5 of th...

The wonderful Amanda Watts joins us for a vulnerable chat about the chemistry of friendship.  We stray away from our usual focus on climbing and motherhood, to explore the dynamics surrounding platonic relationships. How we value friendship, how we choose who we surround yourself with, and why a friendship that has drifted away can bring so much heartache.  Learn more about Amanda as a sports diet...

Amanda Watts has a dream to change the narrative around ageing, she returns to the podcast to chat about our beliefs and attitudes to growing older.  Her experiences as a sports dietitian and ageing athlete shine light on the later stages of life, when we've grown into a fine wine, yet often feel defeated or written off.  Amanda shares her thoughts on a limiting verse expansive mindset, and some k...

Our conversation with Erynne Gilpin continues, as we delve into the power our ancestry has while looking to the past and future.  Erynne is a mixed Michif (the Pás MB, Citizen of Manitoba Métis Federation) Filipina and Celtic educator, film maker, rock climber and mama. She is also co-founder of Indigenous Womxn Climb. Erynne shares the integral role climbing has in her connection to land, and how...

Erynne is a mixed Michif (the Pás MB, Citizen of Manitoba Métis Federation) Filipina and Celtic educator, film maker, rock climber and mama. She is also co-founder of Indigenous Womxn Climb. Our conversation with Erynne weaves around stories that are full or heart and magic. She is someone who feels and thinks deeply about her place in the world. Erynne's insightful reflections on the portal into...

Majka Burhardt has us questioning the illusive ideals of 'balance' and rewriting the narrative of motherhood. As a twin mom, professional climber, author, film maker, founder and executive director of global non-profit Legado, Majka is no stranger to wearing many hats (all in one day, in varying fashions). Majka shares how much Legado has grown, and how motherhood transformed the way she approache...

Majka Burhardt is a master of sharing the raw messy maelstrom of motherhood, with the most heartfelt integrity and wisdom.  Majka is a professional climber, author, film maker, founder and executive director of global non-profit Legado, and an all round badass twin mom.  Our chats reflect her approach to life, as we attempt to dig into the truth of our soaring highs and deepest lows. We speak abou...

We sink our teeth into 'Intuitive Eating' with non-diet dietitian, and body image coach, Chiara Jorristma.  Trigger Warning: Eating disorders, restrictive dieting, diet culture.  This episode is an ode to listening to your body. Listening to the cues we are instinctively given, and exploring this relationship through food, through emotion, and through rest.   Chiara shares common traits of disorde...

Chiara is a non-diet dietitian and body image coach, who had us questioning everything we didn't know we believed about our bodies and food.  Trigger Warning: Diet culture and eating disorders.  There is so much of value in this conversation. Chiara helps us explore the ideas around the body positive movement, and discuss how parts of this can be detrimental. She also explains why diet culture has...

Climbing coach, Leah Crane, talks to us about training as a mother and the cart that doesn’t stop rolling. Her perspective, drawn from over 30 years of experience on the wall, is seriously refreshing. Centering curiosity and fun, with an awareness that life changes can exist alongside long term passions.  Huge thanks to our sponsors for this episode and Series 4, Urban Climb and Climbing Anchors ....

We kick off series 4 of the podcast with the ever so wonderful Leah Crane. Climber, coach, and mum to one incredibly endearing bubba. Leah has spent most of her life climbing and competing. She won multiple British Bouldering Championships, and was a honed competitor on the World Cup circuit before stepping into the role of coach. Leah's approach to coaching is refreshing, and downright fun. Years...

Melba Seto has spent years taking steps toward her dream of opening a pottery studio, and along the way created a business that brings adventure and community together. Melba created Calgary's Famous Adventure Soap, Bowness Soapworks, in 2021. She shares with us how her adventures outdoors inspire every single one of her soaps. Woven into each bar are landscapes, foraged ingredients, and stories....

If you need motivation to get out of bed each day, and try cool shit, Melba Seto is your woman. Melba is the owner of Calgary's famous adventure soap company, Bowness Soapworks, and an avid explorer of life. She shares perspective on the many, many, hours she has committed to learning new skills, and why sharing the journey is so important to her. Being skilled, knowledgeable, and successful takes...

The wonderful Selena Pang chats about being a guide who is also a women, an older person, and member of the BIPOC community.  She shares thought provoking insights into the complexities surrounding access, inclusion, and carving a place for yourself.  We also get let in on a bigger dream she is working towards, and talk about why creating projects and spaces like these is so rewarding.  You can fo...