The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast

A round table episode with the A team, so Katie Lamb and Benn Wheeler joining Aidan and Sam to ramble about some climbing or vaguely climbing related topics. Does climbing need grades? Why are we so obsessed with maintaining the grading scale when other sports (that are similar but generally considered to be cooler) like skateboarding or surfing don't need them. Is climbing being underserved...

Happy New Year! We're back with a bang with a return guest that we haven't had on since episode 6 of this podcast! Back then Will was a comp climber taking a break from competing and showing huge promise on rock. Since then... Well, he's done all the things and now his hat is in the ring when people talk about the strongest climbers of all time! We chatted to him about a bunch of th...

Merry Christmas/seasons greetings (delete as appropriate) dear listeners! Every now and then I like to take a break from making a climbing podcast and just try and wind up my mate Aidan for a bit. The first half of this episode is just that. I will be playing the part of Father Christmas/Santa (delete as appropriate) and I'll be challenging Aidan to help me save Christmas, unfortunately I don...

Does anyone read these?  Right, we've been having too much of a good time these past few episodes and lots of good rambles have fallen away into wails of (useless) mirth. Time for us to actually have a chat and remember that this is a job and we can stop pretending to like each other for five minutes and actually get some of this climbing stuff straightened out.  Sam makes up some words and u...

Niall Grimes, he's been around for a long while, he's part of the furniture here, but who is he? Where did he come from? What's he about? You may or may not find the answers to those questions somewhere within but he'll probably make you laugh at least once (no refunds). It was a great laugh having him on, he says what he thinks and he's got some great stories to tell.  We...

A classic round table episode with Katie Lamb and Benn Wheeler! We chat about some of the incredible climbing news that has happened in recent weeks, some of the internet storm in a teacup drama that has been born from it and we throw out a few hot takes. Keep listening to the end if you want to enjoy the story of when Sam got pelted with farm produce by some London youths.  If you're enjoyin...

We were psyched to have Dayan on the pod with us this week, the British climbing team are at something of a high water mark at the minute and Dayan is right in the thick of it. Lots of chats about the competition scene and the many challenges it presents the climbers that are fighting to keep up with the level that increases year on year! Also, can these climbers who have only ever climbed inside...

Just Aidan and me this week trying out a new format! Basically, it was recorded over two days so we could get Aidan's thoughts and opinions about trying a last day ascent of Mount Doom 9A, and then the second part was recorded a few days later to see how it went, and more importantly how his mindset might have changed before and after. We also ramble about Tutankhamun and the difficulties of...

We love chatting to Aussies, we've always had fun when given the opportunity and this week is no different. Ben is a highly requested crusher who's been heavily involved in the Australian climbing scene for quite some time now. We chat about the current state of the access issues, his first ascents, his battle with Action Directe and his famous line when topping out Groove Train (if you...

This week we have fan favourites Katie Lamb and Benn Wheeler back for some round table chat as well as playing a game described as 'quite brilliant' by it's own devisor. Has climbing got a Burden of Dreams problem? Did Aidan flash Bugeleisen? What would it mean if someone flashes a problem they have a 3D scanned replica for? All great questions as well as a game where Aidan, Katie a...

We reckon we've asked Eliot onto this podcast about 6 times since we started, clearly we aren't very good at taking the hint but hey, persistence won the day in the end. Eliot is quite a quiet voice on the British scene but he has been one of the most prolific first ascensionists and has repeated many hard classics at home and abroad. It was fun to finally sit down and have a chat with t...

We're playing a game! Choices choices for Aidan and Sam is playing an incredibly convincing Morpheus, offering Aidan a selection of choices, all Aidan must do is choose! If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to support us: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=70353823 Support the show

Mina is back on the podcast after quite some time! Since last time Mina has written a book all about nutrition for climbing! So we have a pretty long ramble about parenthood, whether you can maximise fun and achievement simultaneous and y'know general fear of death... All the fun stuff! I think we finally got to talking about the book after about an hour if you want to skip to that!  https://...

Home team episode, we sort of forgot it was recorded at times so gets a bit rambly but we did cover a few big topics, how do you pronounce Nike? How would Jerry cope with the Ace being campused by a chap in a protective boot? As well as some hypotheticals and life updates. Very much a recorded chat really.  If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to help us to keep it going then please...

Stefano, one of the world's best sport climbers has rapidly been becoming one of the world's best boulderers so we thought now was the perfect time to get him on our podcast! We chatted about a bunch of things, his processes with Excalibur, Silence and Burden of Dreams, the situation with hold fabrication in sport climbing, how the future of sport climbing rests in collaboration and his...

Joining us this week is one of the last (if not the last) board climbing specialist still on the world cup circuit! Adam is one of the strongest people around on a board and he's really started to show what he can do on rock, but he's fighting the siren call of the stone for a little longer because he's still competing internationally. We talk about his trip to Magic Wood, his four...

Charles definitely provides a different flavour for this week's episode. A man who truly goes his own way, he climbs without shoes, mostly without any gear and usually without crash pads. He climbs, he downclimbs, he jumps and sometimes lives a cave. On top of all these brilliant eccentricities he's also one of the strongest climbers in the world. Naturally we had a lot of questions for...

The other side of the coin from episode 150, it's another route setting deep dive pod, but this time with renowned setters Zoe and Ros, who were able to offer some different perspectives that four dudes can produce by themselves, who knew right?  Just a bunch of chats about route setting, some of it is specific to women in route setting and some of it is just general route setting rambling. ...

We had an absolute blast chatting to Benn this week. He's not just ebullient and funny he's also a heck of a climber. He makes YouTube content with his older brother and one of the best climbers in the world, Noah. It's a funny position to be in, to be one of the best climbers around but to have a brother who is even better so we did talk about that a bit but we talked about a range...

This week we answered a bunch of questions from our Patroon community on discord as well as rambled about a few extra bits and pieces as they came to mind. Pub chat stuff really, objective grading scales, when does gear become cheating, flash ethics, Aidan getting abused by trad climbers you know all the classics.  If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to support us please consider ch...

We like chatting to Ethan, he's got some great perspectives and he thinks deeply about his climbing. The base of the chat was around two recent segments in Ethan's climbing, one trip to Bishop where Ethan didn't really climb anything and a few weeks back in Squamish where Ethan climbed some incredibly hard things. It was interesting to hear how the former experience seems to have le...

One of the biggest names in climbing and a strong contender for being the best climber of all time, Adam Ondra joins us this week! Have you heard of him? We chat about a whole bunch of things:- Rock manipulation, Onsighting vs Flashing, Lexicon E11, goal-setting, competitions, The Olympics, B.I.G etc etc....  If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to support us, please consider checkin...

Back by popular demand, Katie Lamb joins us again this week for some round table discussions about pro climbing, legacy athletes and if we could be motivated to climb with no chance of any further progression. We also play a game at the end which is a fantasy climbing auction devised by Sam which turned out to be a pretty good laugh.  If you're enjoying the podcast and don't want to see...

We had another wad on the pod this week, Nicolai Uznik is a rare breed of climber who has somehow managed to climb the highest grades outdoors whilst also achieving some great results in the comps. We talk about that juggling act, what it's like to be a competitor in the current era of competitions, competition setting, Maltatal, and his experience with a candidate for the best looking 9As, M...

Yeah, it's one of those episodes this week. Nothing to learn and no great insights into the world of climbing, but we at least entertained ourselves trying to devise a new Modern Pentathlon after a chat about climbing films. Say what you want about the Careless Talk Climbing Podcast but at least they're making themselves laugh.  We'll be back soon with more climbing specific content...