Beyond The Rock

Shawna grew up in the flat plains of the Texas and Oklahoma State borderline.  The only outdoor activities available were the kind that required level ground with little to no change in elevation. Think soccer, baseball, softball, disc golf, football, and long distance road cycling. Shawna was first introduced to climbing in the Wichita Mountains in central Oklahoma and then again on an adventure trip in the Colorado Rockies with Outward Bound.  Though she fell in love with the sport, climbing did not become a part of her daily physical vocabulary until she moved to Austin in 2005.  There, she started working at the local climbing gym and climbing the local crags.  In- between 2005 and today, Shawna tried her hand at the luthier trade, she became a middle school language arts teacher, she then became a dyslexia specialist while simultaneously working as a stunt professional AND thrashing her way through graduate school until finally settling on a career as a school counselor and LPCA candidate. Shawna kept climbing as much as she could in order to keep her sanity intact!  Did Shawna enjoy blissful, uninterrupted climbing for the last sixteen years, of course not, but after surgery, injuries, sicknesses, and grad school, she always found a way to come back to climbing.  Shawna describes herself as a happy little local climber.  Now that she’s older,  traveling for climbing trips has become difficult but she plans on changing that.  In the meantime, she is determined to find pleasure and peace in the local rock.  During the weekdays, Shawna can be found climbing at the local gyms, or taking walks or riding her bicycle on her neighborhood trails.  On the weekends, she likes to climb outside whenever possible.  If she’s not climbing, Shawna can be found glued to her sewing machine, working in the yard, napping with her pets, paddle boarding, instructing rally racing driving courses, or volunteering for a local children’s trauma clinic.  As you can see, she likes to stay busy.

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Hey everyone, my name is Joe Kreidel. I've been a passionate climber for 20+ years now, and have been fortunate enough to climb all over the country, and internationally. As well as being a husband and father of three kids, I'm the co-owner and Head Routesetter at Armadillo Boulders in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas. At Armadillo Boulders, my goal is to help people experience the joy, adventure, and self-discovery that climbing has provided me.

Like many Texas climbers, I started climbing at Reimers and Enchanted Rock, eventually becoming obsessed with the physics and problems solving required of bouldering at McKinney Falls. I've lived in many parts of the USA since that time, and have had the opportunity to explore many regions of our country's climbing geography and culture. One of the highlights of my climbing career was having the opportunity to develop boulderfields and a couple crags in the Tucson area. It has been great to return to San Antonio and revisit our favorite Texas climbing areas. It's great to now have the skills to tick off climbs I once aspired to climb, but wasn't capable of back then. What's even more enjoyable is that I also get to introduce my kids to the special areas we have in Texas.

Links to some of our community partners and artists featured at the gym are here:

Armadillo Boulders Website

@armadilloboulders

Vertical Solutions

@pulpcoffee

@espadacoffee

@elementkombucha

@republicbakery

@saitama.music

@kowallawax

@rikkiannevk

@davidmalcantar

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Hey guys, I’m Vince, the chill local cragster you run into at the Greenbelt and Reimers every week in Austin, Texas. “He climbs with Fran, wears a red helmet, and he always finds the shake out rest”. I’ve also been enjoying up and then immediately down-climbing routes to spice things up, like Tunnel Vision. Aside from climbing, I’m a big fan of volleyball, basketball, guitar, surfing, and camping. Climbing has taught me a lot. Most recently the idea is that life is s beyond just “living a long, happy, pain-free life”. Climbing can be dangerous. It is full of falls and failures, painful sharp holds and cracks, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. I also work in pain management, so I can talk about that all day! Please don’t be annoyed at all my ticks on Mountain Project. And come by and say hi at the crag when you see me out there!

IG @vincentqpham

Steve Bechtel - Climb Strong

Austin Bouldering Project

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Tommy Blackwell is a native Austin who has been climbing for 26 years. He started at the age of 44 and has done a lot for the Texas climbing community. He's been very involved in trail and hardware maintenance. He's installed routes at the Barton Creek Greenbelt, Georgetown, and Camp Eagle. If you want to learn some history about how some of the most popular limestone got developed, this is the episode to listen to. Enjoy!

Atlas Obscura Video (feat. Tommy)

Tommy's YouTube Channel

Barton Creek Greenbelt

Milton Reimers Ranch

Georgetown

Access Fund

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Alyssa Garza is the Programs Associate for the Texas Climbers Coalition and a Texas Master Naturalist. She became a climber in 2015 when she discovered and fell in love with it while searching for a way to cross-train dance when she became owner of a dance and acting studio.

She is a passionate advocate for access to nature, and volunteers as much time as she can to help protect and clean our outdoor spaces as well as educating people to them. She was involved in the permanent protection of Medicine Wall in Texas, and frequently volunteers her time at Government Canyon State Park. Few things bring her greater joy than having the pleasure of introducing new friends to outdoor climbing, and strongly believes in the pay-it-forward attitude towards climbing and outdoor recreation knowledge.

Alyssa has a B.A. in Experimental Psychology and now works as a Digital Product Designer. She's hoping to apply her product design knowledge in a way that can help local businesses improve their digital presence to help them stay strong during the pandemic. She thinks ethnobotany is the coolest thing and will likely provide unprompted fun facts on any nature walk or hike.

Shout outs

Texas Climbers Coalition 

Alamo Area Texas Master Naturalists

Armadillo Boulders

Access Fund

Robin O'Leary

#saclimbingcrew

My loving husband and favorite belayer

@memorylag

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Hey, my name is Drew Hulsey. I’m a climber from Tennessee looking change the narrative on who can be a climber. I mainly sport climb but I’m starting to love bouldering as well. It’s my goal to show that anyone can climb.

Shout outs

@drewclimbswalls

For the Love of Climbing Podcast featuring Drew

Free as Can Be Trailer

Leave No Trace

Pack. It. Out.

monopkt

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Chelsea Rude is a professional climber with Adidas + Five Ten. She is the founder of She Sends Collective, an organization aimed at holistically empowering women (cis + non-cis), GNC and nonbinary humans through the vehicle of rock climbing with further education centered in nutrition, self-love, and developing a more kind and trusting relationship with oneself. This is done both through 1:1 coaching with Chelsea as well as group clinics and workshops. 

Chelsea is based out of Boulder, Colorado and has been climbing for 22 years. While the majority of her career was spent training in gyms for competitions, she now spends a lot of her time focusing on bringing women together and teaching them the skills they need to feel empowered and safe within climbing. 

Today, Chelsea really has been enjoying sport climbing and bouldering, although she wants to become more proficient in trad, ice, and alpine climbing. When she's not out teaching or climbing, she enjoys welcoming each day by watching the sunrise, covering large distances on foot with her dogs, jumping in alpine lakes, baking, reading and learning how to be a better ally for humanity. Oh, watching Grey's Anatomy, too.

Shout outs

Climbing Grief Fund

@climbinggrieffund

Brown Girls Climb

@chelseanicholerude

@adidasterrex

@fiveten_official

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast

Hans Florine won the first International Speed Climbing Championships in 1991, he held the US title eleven times. Hans won ESPN X Games the first three years in a row. Hans broke the Speed record on The Nose Route on El Capitan 8 times over the past 27 years, and currently hold the record. Hans Co-authored the book “Speed Climbing” in 2003. Hans co-authored the book “On The Nose,” an Amazon best seller, which marks his 100th ascent of The Nose. ⁣

In 2016 Hans was inducted into the California Outdoor Hall of Fame. Hans has produced, spoken, directed, rigged, modeled, edited, photographed, filmed, written, competed, and acted in projects with: National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Outside, TerraQuest, Jim Thornburg, People Magazine, Men’s Journal, Sarah Fergusen TV special, ESPN, and various other photographic/commercial shoots. Hans has been with Bandaloop since 1990 as a: vertical dancer, rigger, fund raiser, and production support.⁣

Hans holds a BS Degree in Economics, Production Operations and Human Resource Management. California Polytechnic State University, 1998. He is certified in APICS- somewhat the precursor to Six Sigma. Received a California Tax Certified Preparer Certification and has completed Dale Carnegie leadership training. LEED Global Green Building Design accredited.⁣

Shout outs

Do Hard Things Challenge

Access Fund

Hans Base Camp

Diablo Rock Gym

Hans Florine Website

Hans IG

Hans Facebook

Hans Twitter

Hans Ted Talk

Hans & Peter in the Columns

Hosts

Emilie Hernandez

@em.hernandez

@texasladycrushers

TxLC Website

[email protected]

Jeremy Arntz

@sleepeatclimbrepeat

@all_in_beta

@beyondtherockpodcast