This week we were really excited to be joined by Sean Bailey! Sean is one of the world's best climbers. He is right at the cutting edge in both bouldering and sport climbing. We didn't go much into any of that though! We had a general chat about the state of climbing, including comps, grading and media. Definitely one of our 'we do chats not interviews' pods! Hope you enjoy!

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Could a guest be much better suited to our favourite topics and recurring themes throughout the pod history? Ethan enthusiastically joins us on our tangents and rambles into psychology, Newtonian physics and other topics we don't know enough about to be qualified to give an opinion on. But fear not, we get some questions in from time to time and Ethan shares some gems from his already long, adventurous and varied climbing career! Cliche perhaps, but a legend of the sport! 

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We're going back in time to the halcyon days of a couple of months ago this week! An episode we recorded and then forgot about! Shockingly the climbing world hasn't moved on unrecognisably in two months so it's all still relevant. We chatted about climbing at night, Sam's time in Font and ideal chalk strategies. 

Hope you enjoy, there's a longer version on the Patreon as well as some new content coming from when Aidan recorded a Q&A with Steven from the Nugget. So if you're enjoying the podcast and would like to support us please check out our Patreon page! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=70353823

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This week we're joined by a voice you'll probably recognise! Steven Dimmitt, the host of The Nugget joins us to chat about podcasting as well as his personal climbing and we all ramble on about our personal climbing philosophies and what motivates us. We get to hear how being the host of a successful climbing podcast has changed Steven's relationship with his own climbing and what he is working towards for the future. In classic CT style, the conversation is wide ranging and varied so there should be something in there for everyone.  We really enjoyed the conversation and we reckon it'll make for some good listening. 

Also if you want to hear Steven getting a chance to have our Aidan all to himself, then keep checking the Nugget's feed as there is a new episode with Aidan coming soon! 

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Something a little different this week as instead of focusing on a climber we're focusing on a crag! Magic Wood is one of the most famous climbing destinations in the world. It's seen development from too many icons to name over the years and has been incredibly popular for many years. With such popularity has come some challenges though. The crag is home to lots of polished rock and eroded foot paths. Thomas Saluz has been looking after the campsite, guesthouse and restaurant for a very long time and nobody knows as much about the place as him. In a classic example of how small the climbing world is, James O'Neil was once Sam's housemate in London but is now also involved in the organization that is trying to preserve the area and keep it alive and magical for the next generation. We chat about a bunch of the challenges Magic Wood faces and just a bit about the place as well. 

The community led Save the Magic campaign can be found here: https://www.magicwood.app/en/magic-card/ 
Although Thomas isn't directly involved with it and has his own plan for long term financial sustainability of the area he did say that donating to it could help the situation with the local community. 

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The author of the Lake District (Aidan's home area) boulder guide, Greg Chapman joins us this week. We have a wide ranging discussion covering lots of things that relate to the writing of guidebooks and developing boulders. This episode is a little more esoteric than most as a lot of the conversations pertain to the Lake District but I think it mostly all carries over to any other boulder area as well so there's something for everyone I hope!

Greg's lesser known Lake District gems that are worth seeking out:-

1. Rolling Rock Wall (5+) Rolling Rock (page 464)
2. Book of the Ages (6A) Coniston Copermines (page 212)
3. Millenium Star (6C) Eskdale Granite (page 332)
4. Scallop (7A) Armathwaite (page 545)
5. The Giant Peach 7A+/B Horsehow Crags (page 299)
6. Impailed (7B) Dove Crag (page 548)
7. The Grinding Mind (7B+) Ennerdale (page 404)
8. Diamond Reign (7B+) Eskdale Granite (page 318)
9. Out of the Blue (7C+) St. Bees Head (page 418)
10. Iron Hide (8A) St. Bees (page 461)

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Aidan and I this week chatting about a bunch of stuff. I'm in Magic Wood and Aidan is in Finland so we chat about that. If we could build the best climber in the world using attributes from existing climbers, who would we use? 

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No pies are safe from Seb's fingers! Sébastien is an incredibly accomplished climber. He's climbed at an elite level across a range of climbing disciplines and he's doing it all in an eco friendly way.  In the episode we talk about his recent mission to climb 100 font 7As in a day, sailing the Atlantic to climb the Dawn Wall, free climbing the nose and climbing James Pearson's Bon Voyage (E12). What a guy. 

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In this episode, amongst other things, we're pondering about the remuneration for top climbers. Are they being exploited? Are they underpaid? Should they just be grateful to be able to climb for a living and accept that they can't expect to be set up for the future? We dive in, in a roundabout sort of way...

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The great Ashima Shiraishi joined us for a chat this week! Ashima has been on the climbing scene in a big way for what feels like forever, but somehow she's still in her early twenties! Ashima broke many records on her way through the grading scale as a young climber which culminated in her climbing V15 at just 14 years old! She has also competed on the world cup circuit and has been in the spotlight of both climbing and mainstream media. Like is often the case, the story behind the headlines was actually a little more nuanced and it was great to be able to hear from Ashima as she reflects on her early years but also moves into a new and exciting chapter of her climbing life. 

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