The Mum’s Gone Climbing Podcast

Girlfriends are chicken soup for the soul, and quite frankly, so is our chat with the incredible Selena Pang.  Selena is a climbing guide, yoga teacher, realtor, and single mom. At 53 years old she has over thirty years of climbing experience racked up, alongside a full pack of life wisdom.  Our conversations traverse the challenges of being an older athlete, the importance of holding tight to thi...

Competitive climber, trainer and coach, Cirrus Tan talks to us about her pregnancy journey.  Cirrus has such a beautiful perspective of the experience, as she chats to us during the 35th week of her first pregnancy.  What shines through is her ability to be very open to the unknown of what's to come, while still showing up each day and meeting her body exactly where it's at.  We also talk about th...

Cirrus Tan is a national level competitor, personal trainer and coach. At 34 weeks pregnant with her first baby, she chats to us about navigating the physical and mental challenges of being a pregnant athlete. Cirrus has continued to climb and train through her whole pregnancy, sharing her journey and adaptions through instagram @chicksnchalk Her down to earth perspective, and acceptance of the un...

Climbing legend Lynn Hill chats to us about the coaching, training, climbing around the world, and her perception of risk after becoming a mother.  We talk about her incredible new training video 'The Fundamentals of Climbing'  She explains why she wanted to create this project, and steps us through the techniques and theories that are covered.  It was a real honour to have such a candid conversat...

Lynn Hill is one of the most influential climbers of our time. Her achievements will forever remain a part of climbing history. Her tenacity redefined what was possible for female climbers.  She is also, an absolutely beautiful human. It was such a privilege to sit down with Lynn for chats that felt like a catch up with an old friend. She speaks openly and honestly about climbing, motherhood, and...

Dr Rebecca Wiliams chats about accepting what is out of our control, honouring where we are at, on any given day, and valuing our own desires in climbing. In short, we cover a lot of very important topics.  We explore these topics through the lens of Rebecca's own life experience; A challenging beginning to motherhood, long term illness, and muscling her way into the "bro zone" bouldering cave.  T...

Dr Rebecca Williams delves into the concept of fear, and how it impacts our climbing. She discusses the different root causes of fear (no it's not all about falling), and why pinpointing this can be key in making progress.  As a Clinical Psychologist and Climbing Instructor, Rebecca has a unique perspective on the mental skills we utilise as climbers. She has a beautiful way of validating many fea...

Professional UK climber Mina Leslie-Wujastyk talks to us about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and what the future looks like now she is a mother.  Mina had a rockstar team to support her transition into motherhood, and explains why that was important, and how it shifted her idea of when you "should" reach out to professionals for help.  She also talks candidly about her birth experience, which invo...

Mina has lived and breathed climbing for over 20 years. Competing at an elite level and travelling to many climbing areas worldwide, with ascents ranging from f8c spot routes to boulders up to Font 8B. In 2021 Mina became a mother, adding a new element to her life as a professional climber, nutritionist, and coach.  Our conversation meanders from Flow State, to dual identities, and onto the joy fo...

Bree Jameson is passionate about diversity in the outdoors, the steps that need to be taken to create equity and make access possible for everyone, and the work we all need to do to create an inclusive outdoor space. We welcome the epic energy that is Bree back to the podcast to have some really important conversations, that are peppered with good vibes and a whole lot of laughs.  Bree talks about...

Our conversation with Bree Jameson was the perfect reminder of how powerful Mother Nature is.  Bree is a realtor from Texas, she is also a climber, caver, skier, and mom to 12 year old twin boys. Along side all of this Bree works with a range of non profit organisations that facilitate outdoor experiences for minority communities.  It's hard to summarise this chat, because we cover so many topics,...

Emily Elgar is back on the podcast to talk about one of her passions, health behaviour.  Everyone can relate to the fact that despite having all the knowledge and tools at our fingers tips, taking action to reach our health goals can seem an uphill battle.  Emily is a pelvic floor physiotherapist, who resides in Sheffield, UK. In an effort to help her patients take positive action and reach their...

Emily Elgar is a pelvic floor physiotherapist based in Sheffield, UK. She runs post-natal workshops out of The Climbing Hangar in Sheffield, and has worked with elite climbers through pregnancy and postpartum.   Honestly we are just stoked to have Emily on the podcast. Her passion, depth of knowledge, and humour made this conversation one of our absolute favourites. In this episode Emily gives a f...

We chat to Tiffany Melius about the unpredictability of postpartum, and the importance of caring for mothers during this period.  Tiffany is a competitive climber and performance life coach. During this episode she candidly shares her challenging recovery from birth injuries, and her experience as a new mother.  We discuss the apparent gap in care for mothers in the postpartum period, and the feel...

An Olympic bid, the pandemic, and preparing for motherhood; we talk to Tiffany Melius about navigating journeys full of challenge and change.  Tiffany is a Brisbane born competitive climber and performance coach, currently living in Vancouver. In this episode we chat about Tiffany’s decision to go for a spot in the 2020 Olympics team at a time when she had actually decided to retire from competiti...

Dierdre Wolownick has had a unique parenting journey, as mom to avid adventurers Stasia and Alex Honnold. Alex is the most established free soloist in the climbing world, and Stasia has taken on many thousands of miles biking expeditions. When asked whether she intentionally instilled this love of adventure in her children, Deirdre says she just always wanted them to be curious.  Our conversation...

Dierdre Wolowinck is a published author, professor, conductor, plays several instruments, and speaks seven languages. She is also the oldest woman to scale El Capitan in Yosemite valley… and happens to be Alex Honnold's mom.    It was a privilege to welcome such an accomplished woman, who has had so many rich life experiences, to the podcast.  Nell and Eva felt like they couldn’t possibly sponge u...

SURPRISE we've had some fun and created a bonus episode to celebrate the end of Series One!! oh, and share some exciting news about the upcoming series. Nell and Eva look back at their favourite snippets from the last ten episodes, and share just how ridiculous things get behind the scenes.  Featuring Amanda Watts, Joy Black, Dr Kari Swank and Rachel Māia.  Content Warning: occasional strong langu...

Rachel Māia is a mum to three amazing kids, a lower limb amputee, and World Cup Paraclimbing silver medalist.    In this episode Eva and Nell talk to Rachel about her path to World Cup competition. She shares how this dream started as a seed, a spark, but bringing it to fruition was the accumulation of countless small steps in the direction of her big goal.   Rachel also shares some insight into t...

Rachel Māia is a mum to three amazing kids, a lower limb amputee, and World Cup Paraclimbing silver medalist.   In this episode we chat to Rachel about why she doesn’t just want to be some climber girl people think is inspiring. She explains the power of turning inspiration into action, and challenges individuals to make changes that impact their world.   Rachel’s story is quite an incredible jour...

We welcome Dr Kari Swank back to the Mum's Gone Climbing Podcast for some candid chats about her journey into motherhood. Kari is a former elite level gymnast, accomplished climber, physical therapist, and mom to a gorgeous 8 month old.  The experience of pregnancy and postpartum often differs from the grand plans of expectations. Our conversation with Kari explores the impact of bounce back cultu...

Dr Kari Swank has been practicing as a physical therapist for over a decade, treating climbers through skilled PT interventions, education on self care techniques and climbing specific exercises. She is also a strong climber, with a passion for adventureous sport and trad routes, and mama to a gorgeous six month old. In this episode Nell, Eva and Kari get back to the basics of being a new mum. The...

Joy Black is a trainer and coach, who specialises in working with climbers through pregnancy and postpartum. In this episode she joins our hosts, Eva and Nell, to talk about pregnancy loss. This is a topic close to her heart and something that affects so many people in our community.  Joy shares her own experiences of pregnancy loss, and the understanding she has gained navigating grief through li...

Cue the hardcore fangirling as Eva and Nell welcome to the podcast, trainer and coach, Joy Black!! Joy talks breath mechanics, and everything epic you didn't know about breathing. We chat about our fascinating physiology, the impact of pregnancy and postpartum, and how we can utilise our breath in recovery, training and climbing. The reason we adore this pocket rocket of strength SO much, is her p...

content warning: infrequent strong language Sports Dietitian, climber, and crag mama Amanda Watts returns to the MGC podcast. She shares her experience of discovering climbing during her teenage years at a time when indoor climbing existed solely to train for real rock, outdoor climbing meant trad routes, boulder matts were predominately homemade and women at the crag were a rare sight.  Amanda ta...