Written in Stone: Climbing History

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Kris sits down in Wyoming with two absolute legends from the '80s, Jibé Tribout and Arnould T’Kint, to talk about Patrick Edlinger and the birth of sport climbing as we know it.  Belgian climbing legend Arnould T’Kint did the third 8a in the world, and the first outside of the US, as well as reportedly being the first to onsight 8a.  Jibé Tribou...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! There is no icon of 1980's climbing with the starpower of Patrick Edlinger. Known as Le Blonde, it's estimated that by the mid 1990's, Edlinger was responsible for inspiring 80% of France's climbers to join the sport. Not only was he one of the first to embrace sport climbing, he defined the style and movement of the era. But the life of the roc...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! As the end of the 1970’s neared, climbers, more and more, the world over, were wondering the same thing. “How hard can we climb? In this setup episode we look at the factors that coalesced right there at the end of the 70's and beginning of the 80's to help pave the way for what we now call sport climbing.  New equipment, new tactics, and most i...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Climbing, in the 1990s, as you’ve already heard, was all punk rock and new wave, rising standards and superstar climbers pushing each other forward through friendly – and not so friendly – rivalries. And it was huge. But all of that bravado started somewhere. It wasn’t some Big Bang event. Instead, January 1st, 1990 was a product of the previous...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Remus Knowles runs https://climbing-history.org/  , and since he's a fan of the show, I asked him to come on and tell me which climbers and ascents we missed in Season 1. He showed up with a great list of climbers including Leo Houlding, Klem Loskot and more. I do my best to defend my choices, but Remus makes some great points. Become a Patron a...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Matt Samet is a legend of the climbing magazine world, having worked for Climbing, Rock & Ice and Alpinist as an editor, writer and general voice of credibility. Not everyone in the industry is core to the climbing lifestyle, but Matt definitely is. He loves this. In this episode we discuss the role of the magazines then and now, the demise...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Sometimes you need time away to realize what you were in the midst of.  In this episode Kris reflects on the season, where the true cultural shifts in climbing came, and the lessons that climbers can take away from examining climbing history this way. Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE. ---------------------------------- Thank you to our part...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Eva Lopez is one of the top Spanish climbers in history. While she is largely known as one of the world’s foremost researchers on training for climbing, she’s also a crusher. She was the 5th woman to to climb 8c and in 2013, at 42 years old, climbed her first 8c+, a route she bolted called Potemkin.  In this episode, Eva and Kris discuss the sta...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Basque superstar Josune Bereziartu first tied in as the 80’s were changing into the 90’s, after seeing a documentary showing two women climbing in the Verdon. Within those first few months of Josune learning to climb, Lynn Hill did the first 14a ever climbed by a woman. By the middle of the 90’s Josune became the 5th woman to equal the feat, whi...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Chris Schulte is a boulderer who is obsessed with the lines and shapes of climbing. He fell in love with Fontainebleau many years ago based on a photo of Fred Nicole climbing Karma and has cultivated a relationship with the forest and climbed many life-list boulders there. In this episode, Kris asks Chris to describe the forest in his poetic way...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Throughout the 90s, Catherine Miquel was the undisputed queen of bouldering. Surprised you haven’t heard her name? I was too, but we aren’t alone. Not many of the people I’ve talked to know of her or her incredible resume.  Climbing in Fontainebleau, she entered the decade as the only woman to climb V8, and then it was off to the races. Again an...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Josie McKee is a climbing guide, former YOSAR member, all-around big wall super badass and a climbing coach through her company Mind Athlete. She’s climbed El Cap over 20 times, set several speed records, has free climbed damn near every Valley classic, and her Yosemite resume rivals just about anyone’s. In this episode, Josie walks Kris through...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! If you were following Chris Kalous and The Enormocast in the early days, then you are well aware that he’s climbed Freerider. And if you follow his new show, The Runout, you know how interested he is in the history of one specific pitch of The Free Salathe - Pitch 19 - the pitch that Alex Huber subverted by climbing the Monster Offwidth, thus la...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! In 1998, Alex and Thomas Huber climbed the first ascent of Freerider on El Capitan in just over 15 hours. Their climb ushered in a new era of big wall free climbing, and there’s no question it was a hugely important moment in climbing history.  But the way we credit it, most often simply to Alex Huber, ignores the rich history of the route.  The...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Today, we're featuring a great conversation between our friend Ryan Devlin, host and creator of the Struggle Climbing Show and member of the Plug Tone Collective, and Jordan Cannon.  In this bonus episode, Jordan takes us on the unbelievable adventure of tackling one of the toughest high-altitude big wall ascents in the world, the Cowboy Direct...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! In his book, Beyond the Summit, Todd Skinner wrote, “Mike Lilygren had a schoolboy face and Dennis the Menace hair, an irritatingly endless sense of humor, and a tinkerer’s mind for detail. He would turn into “the closer” on the expedition, the one who kept getting stronger as the burden increased, the keystone that bridged the way to the summit...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! In 2023, Yosemite big wall free climbing ace Jordan Cannon joined Matt Segal and Jesse Huey on a trip to Pakistan to test their mettle against Trango Tower. Specifically, they were looking at the unrepeated Cowboy Direct, established in 1995 by Todd Skinner, Mike Lilygren, Bobby Model and Jeff Bechtel.  In this episode, Kris and Jordan discuss t...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! In 1995, Todd Skinner began assembling a team for an audacious ascent in the Himalayan Karakoram. He’d been shown photos of a golden, rocket-ship-shaped tower that looked like it could be sitting in Yosemite, except it sat at 19,000 feet and was surrounded by some of the greatest mountains on earth. But he didn’t gather a team of experienced alp...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Jonathan Siegrist isn’t just one of America’s best and most prolific sport climbers, having climbed over 25 5.15’s. He’s also someone who thinks deeply about what climbing offers us, and works to make sure we stay on track.  In this episode, Kris and Jonathan discuss one of the most controversial topics in climbing, grades. How grades come about...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Seb Bouin is one of only three climbers who have climbed 5.15d (9c). Following in the footsteps of leading French climbers, he established his testpiece, DNA, in 2023 in the Verdon Gorge. It may not be a coincidence that this came shortly after his Vintage Rock Tour, in which he climbed all of the firsts in France from 7c+ to 9a+, including the...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Fred Rouhling was a good climber, but 5.15b? At a time when 14d was the hardest grade, Fred suggested that his half boulder/half route hybrid, Akira, was much harder than any other climb on the planet. Not many people believed the quiet, usually reserved French climber. Many of the top pros at the time; Ben Moon, Jibe Tribout and Alex Huber, wou...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Nina Caprez is a weapon. Known as the ‘Swiss Machine’, and easily one of the most accomplished big wall free climbers on the planet, she had her eyes on freeing The Nose, and she had partnered up with none other than Lynn Hill. What could possibly stand in her way?  The same thing that nearly stopped Lynn. Changing Corners. In this episode, Kris...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Lauren DeLaunay Miller is a climber, former YOSAR member, and award winning author of Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing. From her first moments in Yosemite Valley, hearing the stories of the inspiring women who not only climbed hard things but built the community, she knew that a book was necessary. She just...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! In 2001, Chelsea Griffie topped out on Lurking Fear on the far left side of El Capitan and became the first black woman to climb the world famous formation. But she didn’t realize that until years later. She was just looking for things to challenge her. In this episode, Kris and Chelsea discuss the path of her climbing that led to El Cap, what b...

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s! Bobbi Bensman was one of the most dominant competition climbers of the 1990s, winning the Phoenix Bouldering Contest 13 years in a row and 20 National Championships. She’s still going strong, adding every year to a 5.13 ticklist that’s now over 250 routes long. In this episode, Kris and Bobbi discuss her years as a competition climber, her great...