The Broad Beta Podcast

Anna Keeling is the ultimate experienced skier, climber and mountain guide. She has been a mountain guide for the IFMGA for over 20 years. She grew up skiing in the Craigieburn Range in New Zealand, and she has completed ski descents and climbing ascents from Northern India’s Kedarnath Dome to Denali’s West Rib as well as wins in international adventure races and New Zealand’s Coast to Coast.

Based at Castle Hill Village in New Zealand in winter and in Salt Lake City, Utah (also in winter), the ‘Simper-Keelings’ (family of 3) make the most of their winters and brief spring/summers. In addition to her guiding business in New Zealand, Anna works as a Mountain Guide trainer and examiner for both the New Zealand Mountain Guide Association (NZMGA) and the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) and often contract guides for Alpine Recreation Canterbury. 

As an avalanche educator, she’s taught courses and advised the New Zealand Mountain Safety council, NZ Alpine Club, Utah Avalanche Centre, and Utah Mountain Adventures. Anna was the Ski Columnist for the Christchurch Press from 2011-2014. Her writing can be found in various outdoor publications and she was the key collaborator for the NZMGA’s mountain guide manual.

Learn more about Anna here: https://www.annakeelingguiding.co.nz/
Follow Anna on Instagram @annakeelingguiding
-
Hosted by Cat Coe and India Maxwell
Produced and edited by Cat Coe
Episode music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

Jess Shade is a queer, cis woman and high altitude ski mountaineer. She is also a licensed clinical mental health counselor in Salt Lake City and Michigan. Jess works in private practice with individuals, couples, and organizations such as the Utah Avalanche Center, the American Alpine Club, and the LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapist Guild of Utah. She is also a 2023 ambassador for the She Sends Collective. 

Her story, Going Local, takes us back to pandemic times, highlighting a massive adventure in her backyard - the Wasatch mountains of Utah. It also reminds us that, while we love our female adventure partners, sometimes adventures with our favorite bros are hilariously delightful and equally satisfying. Enjoy this inspiring account of Jess becoming the second woman and 12th person to ski every line in the famous The Chuting Gallery book.

Feel free to reach out to Jess at [email protected]
Find her on Instagram @shade_jess

www.broadbeta.com

Meet the lovely Miranda Oakley - mother, professional climber, writer, and guide. She was the first female to rope solo the Nose of El Capitan in under 24 hours and has completed various impressive linkups in Yosemite as well as first ascents in Patagonia. She is a Mountain Hardwear athlete.

She talks to us about balancing motherhood with a career as a high-level professional climber and guide. She discusses risk taking, what her climbing days look like with a baby, and postpartum recovery and training. She then takes us on a journey to Palestine and other parts of the Middle East, telling us tales of the climbing and people there. Miranda, who is part Palestinian, shares a unique perspective on growing up in the United States and deepening her connection with her heritage in adulthood through climbing.

Check out her athlete bio on the Mountain Hardwear website.
Read Miranda's  article Exposed in the Needles, which we refer to in the episode.
Sign up for a clinic with Miranda at her website.
Read her story Climbing in the Middle East on her blog.
Follow her on Instagram @miranda__oakley (that's two underscores).
-
Hosted by Cat Coe and India Maxwell
Produced and edited by Cat Coe
Episode music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

Today you’ll hear Kelsey Sather and Claire Schaube read a story that they co-authored. Hard Moves was published on the Broad Beta website in March of 2023 - check it out to see photos of these ladies climbing hard and in their element.

Hard Moves is a quick, day-in-the-life glimpse into a years-long mentorship and friendship between Kelsey and Claire. Kelsey began working with Claire through Bozeman’s Child Advancement Program when Claire was in 4th grade. Claire had begun showing potential as a gifted writer at the time and she needed an extra challenge. Claire’s mom proposed the idea of working with Claire to Kelsey, who was already an established writer in the Bozeman community. Naturally, Claire and Kelsey also began climbing together as the years passed.

These women have gone on to write many stories together, mostly focusing on the female athlete experience in the outdoors.

Kelsey Sather is an author of fantasy and nonfiction. Check out her novel, Birth of the Anima, which was published in March of 2021, as well as her website and other works at Kelseyksather.com.

Claire Schaube, also born and raised in Bozeman, started climbing competitively at age 12. She is a ski instructor at Big Sky, and finishing up her senior year at Bozeman High. Hard Moves is Claire’s second published piece; she published her first piece in fifth grade with Kelsey as her editor.

-

Produced & edited by Cat Coe
Story read by Kelsey Sather and Claire Schaube
Episode music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

Lorna Illingworth joined us back in August of 2022 to read her story Reflections on a Big Wall Partnership. Now, the climbing phenom is back and we're picking her brain about all things YOSAR - how she got there and how it helped her unlock such huge potential as a climber.

Lorna is a humble, quiet master of all rock types. She has ticked off 5.13 sport routes at Smith Rock, over 20 ascents of El Cap, and major alpine routes (think Fitz Roy and big routes in the Cirque of the Unclimbables). Lorna honed her climbing skills while living in Yosemite and working on the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team. At the time, she was one of the few women in the Valley pursuing aid climbing. We'll hear about Lorna's evolution as a YOSAR member and eventually her transition from YOSAR to becoming a psychiatric nurse.

Tie it all together by listening to Episode 9: Lorna Illingworth - Reflections on a Big Wall Partnership wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her story on the Broad Beta website to see mind-boggling photos of Lorna and her climbing partner Holly on El Cap.

Lorna on Instagram > @lornaki

-

Hosted by Cat Coe and Broad Beta Co-Founder Jeannie Wall
Produced and edited by Cat Coe
Episode music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

Lauren Smith is an accomplished climber hailing from Bellingham, Washington, and now based in Bozeman, Montana. She grew up hiking, skiing, and biking with her family in the Pacific Northwest. She moved to Arizona for a year to pursue aeronautical science in hope of becoming a commercial pilot; that plan drastically changed when she was introduced to climbing. She moved back to Bellingham to pursue mountain guiding and travel in her van to broaden her climbing skill set. Since then, she has fully immersed herself in ice and mixed climbing with the goal of applying those skills to big mountains. She currently works as an instructor and guide for the American Alpine Institute.

In this story, Lauren shares how she and her best friend, Tali, took their climbing partnership to the next level by climbing Cosmiques Arete in Chamonix for their first alpine adventure together outside of guiding and AMGA courses. Lauren reminds us how important patient, safe, and supportive partners are when the going gets rough.

Check out beautiful photos of Lauren and Tali's alpine pursuits on the story's page on the Broad Beta website. Follow Lauren on Instagram at @lauren.olivia.smith.

-

Hosted and produced by Cat Coe
Story read by India Maxwell
Intro music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

It's here. Broad Beta's first interview. We couldn't be more excited to dive in with our story writers and  get to know them better. Our first guest - Amy Jordan - was featured in episode 10 reading her story Painting Myself Out of a Corner.  Why do we think Amy's so cool? She's a wicked smart hydrologist who also holds degrees in astrophysics and pours over scientific literature in her free time. She has 20 years of experience both trad and sport climbing, and she makes beautiful plein air paintings.

Amy went from climbing 5.13 one day to, later that week, experiencing a rare injury called SIRVA (shoulder injury related to vaccine administration). She was forced to give up climbing for the better part of 3 years. She underwent multiple surgeries and extensive therapy to deal with this painful shoulder injury. In the process, Amy rediscovered a long-buried love from her childhood: painting. She inspires us to try new creative expressions in pursuit of the flow state when injury forces us to redirect our energy and focus.

Check out her article on the Broad Beta website and see her beautiful paintings by clicking here.

For information about SIRVA, Amy has provided the following links:
Don't aim too high: avoiding SIRVA
http://sirvasurvey.org/resources
And for more information about correct vaccine administration, see here and here.

-

Hosted by Cat Coe and India Maxwell
Produced by Cat Coe
Music by Holizna Radio

www.broadbeta.com

Meet Amy Jordan. This phenom from New Mexico holds undergraduate and masters degrees in astrophysics and a doctorate in hydrology. Oh yeah, and in her spare time she climbs 5.13.

Amy shares a unique twist on the common story of dealing with injury as a climber. The mechanism of her injury was anything but common and led to a dark period of hopelessness. Amy teaches us about a condition called SIRVA (shoulder injury related to vaccine administration) and the long period of recovery that she endured. Ultimately, Amy climbed out of the darkness by rediscovering a passion from her youth. Her search for knowledge related to her condition and her motivation to find the flow state outside of climbing are nothing short of impressive. She is a true inspiration to any athlete struggling with injury and mandatory downtime.

Amy's story, Painting Myself Out of a Corner, was published on the Broad Beta website in August of 2022. Check it out to see photos of her beautiful paintings.

Tune in soon for an INTERVIEW - our first interview! - with Amy.

For more information about SIRVA, including peer-reviewed medical literature, see http://sirvasurvey.org/resources. For information about correct vaccine administration, see here and here, for example.

-

Hosted and produced by Cat Coe
Guest introduction by India Maxwell
Music by Holizna Radio and Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

Tune in to meet Lorna Illingworth, a climbing phenom who was the only woman on the Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) team when she began in 2006. Her time in Yosemite included 5 years of service on YOSAR and over 20 ascents of El Capitan via 16 different routes. In the early 2000s, she and her partner Holly were one of the only female teams climbing consistently on Yosemite's big walls.

Lorna now works as a psychiatric nurse in Bend, Oregon, where she enjoys free climbing at Smith Rock and skiing in the Cascades. Her story, published on the Broad Beta website in July of 2022, is a beautiful and honest portrayal of the evolution of climbing partnerships, with Yosemite and El Capitan as the backdrop. She reflects on how accidents and different phases of life change these very important partnerships.

-

Hosted and produced by Cat Coe
Music by Holizna Radio and Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com

We are so excited to have Jewell Lund on this episode. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Jewell tells us about her path into climbing, the partnerships that impacted her life, and her decision to step away from climbing in recent years. She reads her story Polarchrome, which was published on the Broad Beta website in March of this year. Check it out to see the mind blowing pictures of her and Chantel Astorga in Alaska.

What Jewell won’t tell you about herself is what a badass she is (as well as a truly talented writer). As you’ll hear, her foray into the high alpine was short but sweet and incredibly impressive. For example, she was part of the first all female ascent of the Denali Diamond, arguably one of the most difficult routes on Denali. 

In recent years, Jewell has been working toward getting her PhD in snow hydrology while living in Fort Collins, Colorado. Please welcome Jewell and enjoy her beautiful story.

-

Hosted and produced by Cat Coe
Music by Holizna Radio and Rocky Marsiano

www.broadbeta.com