Runout #14: What happened in 2018?

2017 was an incredible year for climbing. Adam Ondra established the hardest rock climb to date, and Margo Hayes and Angy Eiter pushed forward the limits of female sport climbing. Oh, yeah, and Alex Honnold free-soloed El Cap.

But what happened in 2018? Off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of much … but in fact, it was year in which everyone’s levels just seemed to rise. Although there weren’t any single significant breakthroughs on par with what we saw in 2017, 2018 was a year in which there seemed to be just many personal breakthroughs across the board.

I’m Andrew Bisharat, and you’re listening to The RunOut podcast. I’m here with my co-host Chris Kalous. And today, we’re joined by James Lucas, an editor at Climbing Magazine. We invited James on to help us turn back the wheel of time and review one of the most forgettable yet surprisingly significant years in climbing. And even make predictions for what’s ahead.