Written in Stone: Climbing History

Will Anglin on Fred Nicole and New Ways of Seeing Climbing

Will Anglin spends a lot of time thinking hard about hard bouldering. And good bouldering. And of course, doing as much of both as possible.
As founder of Tension Climbing, Will has made sure his company - and his climbing - follows the philosophy “mastery over success”. Much like Fred Nicole, he measures his words and movements carefully, and has a reason for everything - often unspoken.
In this episode, Kris and Will discuss the singular style of Fred Nicole, his true and most lasting contributions, what downgrades really mean, and what the legends like Fred mean to us now, in an era of easy access to our top climbers.
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Fred Nicole Dances with the Demons

Fred Nicole was never simply an athlete. He was an artist.
Coming into bouldering via a different direction than you might think, Fred Nicole did indeed create art. Really, really difficult art. First, La Danse des Balrogs, the worlds first V13. But that merely opened a door to new possibilities. Moving in his singular style, he sought out new challenges, new boulders on which to be tested. Or was it the other way around? Was he the one doing the testing? After all, what is art if it isn’t interrogating the impossible and celebrating the imagination?
And where La Danse had traversed, there was another line, beckoning for Fred to go up. A harder line. Radja, the King. 
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

BONUS: Hubble vs. Action Directe | The World’s First 9a (14d) featuring Alex Megos and Buster Martin

Two of the legendary routes from the 90s are now at odds with each other. One of them was likely the first 9a in the world, but which was it? Hubble or Action Directe?
In this bonus episode, we’re going to examine the circumstances, discuss where the debate began, and hear from the only two people in the world who have climbed both routes - Alex Megos and Buster Martin - to try and decide once and for all which route was really the world’s first 9a.
Check out more here!

Alex Megos on Wolfgang Gullich and Climbing Action Directe

There’s no climber more qualified to discuss Action Directe than Alex Megos. He has the fastest ascent, the most ascents, and he is, in our estimation, the person who is carrying the torch that Wolfgang Gullich left behind. 
In this episode, we discuss the visionary line of Action Directe, what makes it different and so present in our consciousness even over 30 years after the first ascent, and how the Frankenjura was the perfect training ground. We also get into Wolfgang, his presence in climbing, and his influence on Alex. 
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Ben Cossey on Wolfgang Gullich and What it Takes to Climb Action Directe

One of Australia’s best and most colorful climbers, Ben Cossey is, in his words, a Wolfgang Gullich froth dog. Action Directe is a life goal that he’s come close on, and plans to return to. 
In this episode, Kris and Ben discuss the legacy of Action Directe, speculate on what might have been if Wolfgang had lived, and get very deep and nerdy on the sequences used by various ascentionists of the most famous sport climb on the planet.
Check out more here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Wolfgang Gullich Takes Direct Action

13d, 14a, 14b. (8b to 8c) Wolfgang Gullich was the first to climb them all. Now, with Action Directe, he was set to raise standards once again.
In the Waldkopf region of the Frankenjura, Wolfgang left us his most enduring legacy: a 16-18 move masterpiece through single and two-finger pockets and powerful moves out an impossibly steep limestone bulge. 
But it could have gone quite differently. He could have stayed in the alpine, free climbing those freezing big walls in Pakistan. Or it’s possible that the line that became Action Directe may have been less, well, direct. Or, if we believe his friends, he might have just stayed in the cafe. 
But we know how it went. He detoured from Pakistan. He didn’t stay in the cafe. And he would put bolts into the direct line through that limestone bulge. 
In late August, 1992, Wolfgang Gullich fell asleep at the wheel on the Autobahn, leaving a massive hole in the climbing world, and becoming the biggest “I wonder what if…?” in climbing history.
Check out more here. 
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone
 

Steve McClure on Ben Moon and Climbing Hubble

In 2000, Steve McClure completed a project Ben Moon had spent 120 days on and left unfinished, calling it Northern Lights and giving it 9a. The torch was passed.
A few years later, he climbed a route that completed his journey - Hubble - saying that it might be more important to him than his own first ascents. One of which was Mutation, a candidate for the first 9a+ or even 9b in the world.
In this bonus episode, Steve and Kris discuss the impact of Ben Moon and Hubble, the passing of the torch, and how it felt to have Ben return to form by climbing Steve’s 9a route Rainshadow.
Get more at our website. 
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE for 20% off at checkout. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Buster Martin on Ben Moon and Hubble

Buster Martin burst onto the UK climbing scene as a 16-year-old by climbing Bat Route, a famous 14b at Malham. And even though he took a break from climbing, he didn’t fizzle out entirely like many prodigies tend to do. Instead, he came back with a vengeance by climbing BOTH Hubble and Action Directe, becoming only the 2nd person to clip chains on both of these test pieces. 
Buster joins Kris to discuss Raven Tor and Hubble, trading texts with Ben while working both routes, the debates around Hubble, why history matters, and of course, what Ben Moon means to the British climbing scene. 
Check out more info on our website. 
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE for 20% off at checkout. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Ben Moon Launches Into Orbit

It’s hard to argue that any climber from the 90’s had a bigger impact than Ben Moon, and he did it from the launch of the decade. 
While he wasn’t looking for controversy, he also wasn’t afraid to make a statement. All punk rock and dreadlocks, he established the first two 14b’s in France, with names like missiles aimed directly at the French. He defied British ethics to move the sport forward into the next century. And yes, he even broke Wolfgang Gullich’s streak of firsts by establishing Hubble, the first 14c (maybe even 14d) in the world.
Learn more at our website.
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE for 20% off at checkout. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone

Katie Brown on Climbing with Lynn Hill and Her Other-Worldliness

If Lynn Hill kicked in the door at the start of the 90s, then Katie Brown ripped it from it’s hinges as the decade came to a close.
On April 11, 1999, Katie onsighted Omaha Beach in the Red River Gorge, becoming the first woman to onsight 13d. (The route was later upgraded to 14a after hold breakage).
But even before this feat, Lynn Hill called Katie the best sport climber in the history of the sport.
On this episode, Katie Brown joins Kris to discuss Lynn Hill's impact on her and the climbing community at large.  
Katie shares her early memories of Lynn, what it was like climbing and learning from her, and how it all differs from their friendship as adults.
You can learn more at our website here!
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Thank you to our partner, Tension Climbing. Tension creates tools to help you elevate your climbing experience. Check out the goods here and use code STONE for 10% off anything but the full Tension Board set-ups, hardware, and gift cards. When you support Tension, you're supporting the team at Plug Tone creating this show. 
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing. Use code STONE at checkout for 20% off. Details at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/stone