In episode 5 I interview Dr Ashlee Hendy, a Melbourne based climber who has been climbing in the Victorian scene for almost 20 years. Ashlee has carved out an academic career in exercise science and neuroscience, and is currently on a career break and as I write this, climbing her way across North America with her partner Chris and dog Lulu.

Ashlee stopped through Melbourne en route to the US after a stint climbing in Tasmania this past summer, and I took the opportunity to sit down with Ashlee to record this episode at her family home.

We cover a lot of ground in this interview – Ashlee’s experiences climbing in Melbourne and Victoria throughout the years. Her academic career and the insights she can share where her research applies to climbing. She tells us how she attempts to manage the work life balance of that career around climbing and I ask her about her recent send of Serpentine, a route she had long dreamt about. We talk training the mental approach to climbing and the use of visualisation. Finally Ashlee tells us about her experiences climbing in the Grampians and Arapiles over the years, how that’s changed, and she gives us a peek into her climbing ambitions for the future.