So, I never intended to make this episode. When I did the episode with independent gym owners I felt like I should probably reach out to a CEO of a chain gym for comment. I should have, but I didn't. I was planning to leave that thread as it was, but Ged from the Hangar got in touch to say he'd listened to it and would be up for having a chat to offer his thoughts from the other side of the partition. I originally thought it would probably just be a little bonus add on to the independents episode, but in the end I found the chat really interesting so Aidan and I agreed it should be on the main feed as the weekly episode. I hope you enjoy it, I think Ged knows a lot more than I do about where the sport is going, and he has more to lose than anyone if he can't help it to move in the right direction which is an interesting situation to be in by itself! 

Normal service to resume next week!

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It's the 'Sam can't record anything this week' special! Where one of the knights of our round tables Katie hosts an ask me anything with questions from our Patroons (Patreon members). If you want to be one of the people throwing questions out then you too can join our fantastic community of Patroons via our Patreon page. Lots of insights into the inner workings of Aidan's (and occasionally Katie's) brains, hope you enjoy!

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Hello all, I come to you with a different offering this week. There's no Aidan this week, it's just me chatting to three different independent climbing gym owners in London. Sounds a bit niche but I was hoping to get a bit of a conversation going and I thought that there would be good parallels to other areas of the climbing world. 

What do you reckon? Please leave your thoughts in the comments. 

Thanks for giving it a go!

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The ever popular Jim Pope is back on the pod for his third time this week. A chap said to me he only knows Jim as a board climbing aficionado, which is quite funny really when in reality he is the hardest climber to put in a box that we know of. It's impossible to tell what he'll do next but he tends to do it pretty well and it's fun to talk to him about it afterwards. 

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A round table episode with the A team, so Katie Lamb and Benn Wheeler joining Aidan and Sam to ramble about some climbing or vaguely climbing related topics. Does climbing need grades? Why are we so obsessed with maintaining the grading scale when other sports (that are similar but generally considered to be cooler) like skateboarding or surfing don't need them. Is climbing being underserved by those of us in the online space watering down our controversial opinions to avoid standing on the wrong side of a stand off with a mob?  Then it devolves into a therapy session, can Aidan climb his best and maintain his relationships, can Katie ever live up to the high standards she sets herself? Did Benn really fail his maths exam? Can Sam justify allowing Frodo carry the one ring to Mordor? Find the answers to some of these and more in this week's episode!

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Happy New Year! We're back with a bang with a return guest that we haven't had on since episode 6 of this podcast! Back then Will was a comp climber taking a break from competing and showing huge promise on rock. Since then... Well, he's done all the things and now his hat is in the ring when people talk about the strongest climbers of all time! We chatted to him about a bunch of the rocks he's climbed as well as his mindset and hopes for the upcoming year! 

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Merry Christmas/seasons greetings (delete as appropriate) dear listeners! Every now and then I like to take a break from making a climbing podcast and just try and wind up my mate Aidan for a bit. The first half of this episode is just that. I will be playing the part of Father Christmas/Santa (delete as appropriate) and I'll be challenging Aidan to help me save Christmas, unfortunately I don't do the voice as I discovered that I couldn't do the voice when practicing in the mirror. After we get bored of that we move on to do the customary summation of the year and a little look forward to next year. 

We'll be taking a wee break now for a couple of weeks to let you all enjoy yourselves without the relentless weekly chore of listening to us ramble on (for the super psyched I'll try and fill the gap with some content on Patreon), but we'll be back with a vengeance in January!

A huge thank you to all who listened this year and we wish you a fantastic New Year where you don't evolve your podcast listening tastes at all! 

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Does anyone read these? 

Right, we've been having too much of a good time these past few episodes and lots of good rambles have fallen away into wails of (useless) mirth. Time for us to actually have a chat and remember that this is a job and we can stop pretending to like each other for five minutes and actually get some of this climbing stuff straightened out. 

Sam makes up some words and uses them with conviction and Aidan honestly seemed surprised we were recording. 

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Niall Grimes, he's been around for a long while, he's part of the furniture here, but who is he? Where did he come from? What's he about? You may or may not find the answers to those questions somewhere within but he'll probably make you laugh at least once (no refunds). It was a great laugh having him on, he says what he thinks and he's got some great stories to tell. 

We referenced an excellent interview Niall conducted with Taylor Parsons on his podcast (JamCrack), it had been taken down but I have heard it's been put back up, we would both highly recommend seeking that one out! 

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A classic round table episode with Katie Lamb and Benn Wheeler! We chat about some of the incredible climbing news that has happened in recent weeks, some of the internet storm in a teacup drama that has been born from it and we throw out a few hot takes. Keep listening to the end if you want to enjoy the story of when Sam got pelted with farm produce by some London youths. 

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