Written in Stone: Climbing History

Paul Piana and Todd Skinner Free the Finest Rock Climb On Earth (Part 2)

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
After causing a ruckus in Yosemite Valley and Index, Todd Skinner didn’t slink away. He looked up. Way up. At El Capitan.
He and Paul Piana had been dramatically influenced by an article written by Mark Hudon called Long, Hard and Free, and the dusty disappointment of the Valley Demi-Gods wasn’t going to hold them back. 
Using tactics borrowed from the future, Skinner and Piana got to work on their big objective, free climbing the Salathé Wall. Many great climbers had made free attempts. Each contributed to the mystique. Several claimed it would never go free. The two cowboys from Wyoming didn’t believe that - they had been collecting skills that made them uniquely suited for this route. The flaring cracks of Vedauwoo. The runouts of The Needles. The pin scars of City Park and The Renegade. The dynamic climbing of Hueco Tanks.
It would be, all at once, a notice of change and a love letter to the past.They weren’t going to take no for an answer, even if it killed them. It nearly did.
BIG WALLS, SIGNED BY PAUL PIANA: https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/store/p/big-walls
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Paul Piana and Todd Skinner Partner Up and Push the Boundaries (Part 1)

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
By the middle of the 1980s, the shift to sport climbing was in full swing. Two Wyoming cowboys, Paul Piana and Todd Skinner, recognized that the strength they’d gained from sport climbing would give them an advantage on projects left behind by the previous generation. However, that previous generation wasn’t so quick to embrace the changes. Particularly in Yosemite Valley, resistance was massive – they wanted their walls preserved in a time that was already in the past.
It would take a new age maverick to push through the noise, but that maverick would need a calming and realistic voice beside him. 
BIG WALLS, SIGNED BY PAUL PIANA!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Rob LeBreton on Snowbird and Australian Sport Climbing in the 1980s

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Rob LeBreton wears a lot of hats. First, he’s a long time friend of the show, but he’s also a dad, husband, gym owner, former president of Sport Climbing Australia, and absolute climbing legend - the first Australian to establish climbs of 31 and 32 (13d and 14a) in Australia. 
After the Snowbird episode came out, Rob sent me a video of the finals that he had recorded onto VHS back in 1988, which resulted in several things. First, I got excited to see the famous Edlinger moment at the top of the wall. Second, I posted it on YouTube and have been blown away by how many people are excited to see it - the link is in the shownotes - and third, it made me realize how much someone across the world can be impacted by a story and the media created around that story. So I asked Rob to come on the show so I could better understand where Australian climbing was in '88 and what seeing this television broadcast meant to him.
Watch the Snowbird Finals Video at https://youtu.be/Gl0spp0S34Q
 
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Alan Watts on Setting for Snowbird, the Drama that Unfolded, and the Comp's Importance to American Indoor Climbing

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Alan Watts is widely recognized as the father of American sport climbing and a leading developer at Smith Rock. However, most don’t know about his impact on the indoor climbing industry in the US or the fact that in 1988 he set for the very first international climbing competition in the country - Snowbird.
In this episode we discuss his role as route setter and judge, and how that meant he had an up close and personal view of the drama that unfolded during semi-finals. We also speculate as to what might have happened had the original rules held rather than the World Cup rules. What if Didier hadn’t been disqualified? What if Destivelle had remained out or if that huge move in the middle of the finals route had been a little smaller?
Watch the finals of Snowbird 1988!
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Showdown(s) At Snowbird | Edlinger vs. Tribout and Destivelle vs. Hill

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
In 1985, 19 of the top French climbers signed a manifesto against competition climbing. But competitions came anyway. Quickly, most of those same signees defected - becoming the climbers to beat at every event. As happens in every competitive sport, rivalries were formed, and would play out in the vertical theater. 
In 1988, America would host its first International competition at Snowbird in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon. The 115 foot artificial wall would become a battlefield.
Competition versus climbing. The organizers versus Didier Raboutou. Catherine Destivelle versus Lynn Hill. And for the crown, Jibe Tribout versus Patrick Edlinger. 
It was going to be a showdown. Several of them.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Ted Kingsnorth on the Influence of Jerry Moffatt and Chasing History

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
A big part of my research for any UK climber ends up being first, climbing-history.org run by Remus Knowles, but then immediately after I start reading endless threads on UKclimbing.com. While there, I often bump into an authoritative voice who obviously absolutely LOVES climbing history. Ted Kingsnorth. 
I first came across Ted’s name when he made an extended effort to climb Just Do It at Smith Rock - a route whose history we detailed last season and I’m sure Ted’s descriptions of the route influenced the episode. Ted made multiple trips to Smith from the UK over 3 years before succeeding, and it’s that determination and belief that made me take notice. 
I could have reached out to a lot of people to talk about the influence of Jerry Moffatt, but as you’ll hear in this conversation, Ted was absolutely the right person. 
Follow Ted on YouTube and Instagram.
Image credit: Sam Lawson
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Jerry Moffatt Climbs Everything, Everywhere

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
In 1984, Jerry Moffatt was quite possibly the best climber in the world. A year later, he was out of climbing entirely, with severe elbow problems. During his couple of years off, climbing moved on without him - and it moved fast. Bolts became the norm, yo-yo ascents were all but gone, replaced by redpoint tactics, difficulty had skyrocketed from 13c to 14b, and the best climbers were all competing. To make it that much more daunting, Jerry couldn't even climb his old warmups. 
But he wanted to be the best. So he got to work.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
 

Mark Anderson on Wolfgang Güllich, The Campus Board, and Climbing on Your Heroes' Routes

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Beyond being a top athlete, Wolfgang Güllich was also a training nerd and developed the campus board. Because of this, I knew I needed to talk to Mark Anderson. Mark is one of the twin Anderson Brothers - both great climbers and pioneers in the training space. They wrote The Rock Climbers Training Manual, developed the Rock Prodigy Hangboard and Training Method, and Mark made a pilgrimage to The Campus Center in Nuremberg to see the original campus board. He climbed some routes in the Frankenjura while there too, of course. In this episode we get into the campus board, Wolfgang’s impact, over-romanticizing the routes of your heroes, and more.
The original campus board measurements and specs.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Wolfgang Güllich is a Wolf on Wallstreet

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
After establishing Punks in the Gym, the first 14a (8b+), Wolfgang Güllich was looking for a change. First he accepted an invitation to a competition in Bardonecchia, Italy. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Over the next year, after doing a few more hard routes, he experimented with bold climbing on gritstone and free soloing, culminating in his free solo of Separate Reality in Yosemite. After that, he established his second 14a, Wallstreet, in the Frankenjura. Being in his home area, this one was special. So when someone enlarged the crux pocket, he took it personally.
 
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

Back To The Regular Season Plus An Announcement

Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Thanks for listening. We're back next week with our regular season. 
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Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab. 
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.