The RunOut Podcast

Lynn Hill needs no intro. She’s best known as the individual who completed the first free ascent of the Nose of El Capitan, as well as the first person to free El Cap in a single day. The ascent broke gender barriers and progressed the sport. Today, Lynn is returning to the fundamentals, through a new video series that is designed to help climbers learn how to move as naturally, efficiently, and e...

Thomas Huber is one of the most accomplished and beloved climbers of all time. Along with his brother Alex, Thomas helped pave the way for modern free climbing on El Capitan with FreeRider, Golden Gate, and host of other first free ascents. He’s a Piolet d’Or recipient for his first ascent with Iwan Wolf of the north pillar of Shivling. And his new book is “ In Den Bergen ist “ Freiheit ” — “In th...

New Year, New Us. We connect for the first podcast of 2023, and Chris shares his aspirations of becoming a climbing warrior while Andrew is back on his usual bullshit of planning for another year of truly unimpressive mediocrity. Hazel Findlay comes to the rescue, with an inspiring conversation about her approach to mental training through her Strong Mind training program. She offers her wisdom on...

What’s the best way to belay with a GriGri? How should you build an anchor? Is that CE-certified piece of webbing really strong enough for real-world climbing? The internet has an opinion on this and more! Walk with us through the muck of know-it-alls offering their two cents on everything. Next, one of our favorite writers Jeff Smoot returns to the show to plug his new book All and Nothing: Insid...

We kick it with Alex Honnold, the rock climber who was once on 60 Minutes. He has even done a few other impressive things since then … you know, like free soloing El-fucking-Cap. It’s been a big year for Honnold, from traversing the polar regions of Greenland in search of a 4,000-foot unclimbed sea cliff while doing extreme climate science, to going deep into the pain cave on his epic HURT travers...

We’ve got a double-header today with two amazing guests. Our first guest is Scott Johnston, a coach, trainer, and co-author of Training for the New Alpinism, with over 200,000 copies sold. Scott recently left his perch at Uphill Athlete to continue his work at Evoke Endurance . We talk to Scott about a healthier approach to training for comprehensive fitness, whether on the rock or in the big moun...

Last month, an 8-year-old boy and his dad “climbed” El Capitan with the help of two other anonymous climbers who presumably guided the father-son team, fixing all the ropes so they could jug up the wall. We look at the media attention this ascent received, and discuss our concerns over claiming these kinds of records. Our main guest is a woman who Lynn Hill once called, “the greatest female sport...

If there is one thing you can say about this show, it’s that we are the most fair and balanced climbing podcast in the world. Following last episode’s discussion about Yosemite’s proposed overnight permits for big-wall climbers, we are speaking to two guests from the opposite side of the debate: Jesse McGahey is Yosemite National Park’s head climbing ranger. And Timmy O’Neill is a longtime profess...

The Yosemite National Park is attempting to make its Covid-era rule in which climbers are required to have a permit to spend the night on a big wall permanent—and predictably, climbers aren’t happy about it. We spoke to two of the most active big wall climbers in Yosemite in recent years about the current state of affairs in the Valley: Gena Wood is a former climbing ranger and a veteran of more t...

Who doesn’t love booty? Finding gear on a route can make a climber’s day, but what are the best practices for finding the owner’s gear? Court’s in order for your friendly podcast hosts as they debate the finer points of booty while litigating one listener’s story of being accused of not doing enough to return booty to its “rightful” owner. Our main guest today is Jeff Jackson, aka “Jefe.” Jeff is...

Jonathan Siegrist, one of the world’s best sport climbers, returns to the show to share the news of his recent send of Rifle’s hardest route. We catch up on the latest in the climbing world in a casual conversation that traverses freely and honestly across the climbing landscape. But first, your friendly neighborhood podcast hosts explore what climbing may — or may never — mean for our kids, and h...

Our guest today is Seb Bouin, one of the best rock climbers on Earth and the author of DNA, one of three 5.15d rock climbs established thus far. We talk to Seb about grades, how he measures success, the benefits of climbing outdoors vs. training indoors, and where the future of rock climbing is heading next. But first, we take a somber look at a recent accident on Half Dome, in which a young woman...

To start, we grimly remark on the latest round up of avalanches, landslides, and glacier collapses and what that means for mountain travel in the future. Our main guest today is Cody Townsend, a self-proclaimed “rock climbing gumby” but a true all-mountain badass, free skier, ski mountaineer, and extreme-sports ambassador. Cody offers a wonderful outsider-looking-in perspective on our self-serious...

Connor Herson returns to the show, a few years older, a few inches taller, and more than a few impressive ticks under his belt. One of his latest ascents is “Empath” on gear—potentially one of the harder gear leads ever recorded. Carlo Traversi first climbed Empath and proposed 5.15a. After quickly sending the route as a sport climb, Connor had the idea of trying it on gear. In this episode he sha...

Hard, scary trad climbing is all fun and games until someone breaks their back. That’s what happened to Molly Mitchell on Crank It, a 5.13+ sport climb in Boulder Canyon that Molly was attempting to headpoint on gear. Nevertheless, Molly sought redemption and returned to the climb years later and ultimately sent it on gear. But what she discovered about her self, and her health, ended up being the...

We begin with a conversation with Ben Hanna, the newest member of the prestigious USA Climbing National Team. At 23 years young, Ben is a longtime crusher from Santa Fe who we’ve watched go from being a young grommet at Rifle to throwing down at World Cups with the world’s best. Ben talks to us about what the current comp scene is like, a short-lived controversy with the IFSC, and how living in a...

Carlo Traversi is having one of the best climbing years of his life. He’s sending V-insane, 5.15b sport, and 5.14c trad — all while managing a successful business that immeasurably improves the lives of climbers in his own community. He’s got a healthy perspective on the sport, everyone respects him, and he’s also super smart and has interesting opinions on everything. Yeah, we h...

What’s better: cragging it up in a full-on scene filled with gumbies and noobs, spray bros and crusher queens? Or going off to some obscure choss pile in the middle of nowhere and enjoying the quiet solitude of nature all by yourself? We debate the pros and cons of scenes vs solitude and come to the conclusion that, no matter which one you choose, either way the only person laughing at your jokes...

Will a new film from Reel Rock encourage climbers to engage in risky behavior and not use their rubbers on the rock? We discuss Barefoot Charles and his conspicuously well-coifed mane of hair. Next we speak to Lauren DeLauney Miller, a writer and climber who has released a wonderful new book of first person essays from the significant women, both well known and perhaps lesser known, who have made...

After not watching the Oscars because who cares, we talk about the thing everyone was talking about and recall some of the more famous slaps that have been seen at crags around the world and throughout history and lore. Our main guest is Matt Segal, professional climber for The North Face, coffee entrepreneur, and publisher of the newly released Brine Magazine—a printed zine that looks at the inte...

A new climbing management plan in Joshua Tree National Park redefines bolts as installations. We pore through this ominous plan to try to figure what the hell is going on in J-tree, and what this may mean for climbing in Wilderness locations around the country. Then, we sit down with Dr. Jared Vagy, AKA The Climbing Doctor, a physical therapist based in Los Angeles who specializes in treating clim...

Ned Feehally is one of the few climbers ever to have flashed V14 (8B+). He is also one of the founders of Beastmaker, a U.K. climbing company that ushered in an era of fine wood hangboards that you just don’t mind grabbing cause they’re just so cushy. His new book is ”Beastmaking: A fingers-first approach to becoming a better climber,” and is a comprehensive look at training techniques that anyone...

Friend of the pod and crusher of granite Jordan Cannon returns to the show with an update from his life on the road. We dive into a range of topics across the climbing spectrum, while trying not to be old-shamed by our young friend. But first, tragedy strikes in Patagonia as the climbing world loses one of its best: Corrado “Korra” Pesce, who died while descending Cerro Torre on January 28th. His...

Are you listening to The RunOut or TMZ? It may be hard to tell as we catch up on the latest celebrity gossip: weddings, babies, and who we are wearing this season. Next, we are joined by Dorian Evers, a climber and couples therapist from Boulder, to talk about some of the typical red flags and relationship disfunction that she sees across the climbing world, beginning with how relationships are po...

Alex Lowe was considered one of the best climbers in the world in the 1990s. His feats in the mountains were as legendary as his infectious stoke for getting out and loving life on the edge every minute of every day. In October 1999, he and the cameraman David Bridges were killed in an avalanche on Shishipangma in Tibet. Their third partner, Conrad Anker, however, was miraculously spared the same...