In today’s episode we sit down with Jacob Urban. Mountain athlete and Founder of The Jackson Hole Outdoor Leadership Institute. Climbing put Jacob on a path and in his words climbing is what “led him to himself”. Now with over 30 years in the industry of Outdoor Education he is here to teach us not only how to survive in the mountains, but how we view ourselves and our relationship with the world around us. We hear about Jacob’s story…. cover topics such as Risk and Ethics….and finally discuss what our subconscious’ role is in how we interact with the world.

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]


Resources:

Jackson Hole Outdoor Leadership Institute

Jacob's Blog

As an amateur alpinist I love climbing ice, it is such a foreboding medium to climb on. Here one day and gone the next, it is ephemeral in nature. But for anyone who has swung an ice axe into a beautiful line of frozen water, you know the satisfaction that the sport of ice climbing can provide.

Our guest today is Philip Setter, Philip is an avid ice climber who has had the opportunity to climb with one of the best Ice climbers on the planet, Stas Baskin. Phil is the owner and operator of the Canadian boys Youtube Channel where he shares his stories and experiences in POV.

In our conversation we find out how Phil progressed from hiking and scrambling, to leading WI6+ ice on some of the most sought after objectives in the Canadian Rockies, a mecca of big committing and dangerous ice lines. Phil shares stories of his epic adventures as well as some of his darkest moments. 

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]


Resources:

The Canadian Boys Youtube Channel

Affinity Life Insurance

Sea of Vapors WI7+R

Not Alone

In our last conversation we sat down with a gentleman by the name of Mike Tagg where talked about the ethics behind climbing on wet rocks and provided a way for us, The Majority, to make better, well informed decisions on when we can climb after a a rain. But, we did not have the chance to do what we normally do on this show, hear Mike’s story, because I don’t know about you but we are always interested in hearing all the vastly different ways people find this magical sport, and how it impacts each individual's life so differently. Mike’s story is a bit different than most, rather than having climbing be the source of a traumatic injury, like Max and I, Mike found climbing after a life changing injury he sustained while sky diving. This shocking injury and the ultimate path towards climbing  it put Mike on was all for a reason it seems. Because only a year or two after he found climbing, he woke up one night to find himself standing in a stairwell, with a gun in his face, while his good friend and roommate was being horrifically murdered only 20ft away. Mike says without the sport of climbing to give his life purpose, and a way to deal with the PTSD caused by the event.. he is not so sure he would be sitting in his chair telling this story today. 

I must warn you that later in this episode, around an hour in, Mike will be sharing his detailed account of that tragic night. It contains graphic details that may not be suitable for younger audiences, so we suggest listening to this episode later if you have children around.

 
Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]


Resources:

News Article About The Thousand Oaks Killer

I don’t know about you, but this winter has been insane for us on the west coast. Record snowfall, rainfall, and constant cold weather. While it does seem like we are finally coming to a close of this long winter as temps are warming up, one thing in my mind that has stuck out the most, and that is the debate of climbing on wet rocks.

Wet rocks are a part of nature…but certain kinds of rock become brittle and fragile after considerable saturation. With a season as wet as 2023, this topic sits at the forefront of many climbers minds. I have personally become very interested in the topic and feel that we all, at the very least, need to be aware that it is a real issue. People are getting injured, classic climbing routes are being changed forever, and public land owners are potentially getting more ground to ban us climbers from the areas we love the most.

Todays conversation is with a fellow recreational climber named Mike Tagg. I met Mike via Facebook after finding his post about an app he had developed, that consolidates the information we need to better make a decision on whether or not to climb on wet rocks. 

We talk about the ethics behind climbing on wet rocks, dive deep into both sides of the coin, and ultimately realize that we, the Majority, are in control of when we climb….and hope this conversation makes us more aware of the impact that we have on the world around us….and provide a tool for us to use to better make critical decisions… like when to climb……when it might be better to either stay home….or simply climb somewhere else. 

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

Resources:

Mike's Weather App

The Wet Rock Police

 Most of the time we come across successful climbers after their massive accomplishments…the climbs, first ascents, and daring projects that put their name on the map. But rarely do we get to meet or hear about these people before their time. Before their groundbreaking achievements that cast them into the limelight. 

Today is one of those days. We get to sit down with a young crusher by the name of Joey Latina who is a local here in Las Vegas, NV. At the remarkably young age of 16 Joey is already making quick work of his path towards becoming a nationally recognized climber. With only a few years of climbing under his belt, he has already climbed routes that most of us would spend a lifetime to accomplish. The Original Route on the infamous Rainbow Wall and Buffalo Soldiers on Buffalo Wall just to name a few. These are serious, committing trad routes with some pitches tagged with the R rating. While Joey understands the severity and impressiveness of his achievements. He remains calm, humble, and focused on his goals. 

We sit down and talk about how Joey found climbing and his remarkable progression from scrambling 5.5 to projecting 5.12R trad routes in under two years. We talk about his perception of risk and dive into whether or not he really understands the risk that he is undertaking on these routes. Finally, we talk about the future and start to realize that we very well might be sitting next to one of the most up and coming trad climbers of his generation. 

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

Everyone in their lives experiences suffering, trauma, depressed states and difficult times. Some people experience these events early in life and some later on. But ultimately, suffering and loss are both tragic and a natural part of the human experience. Our guest today reached out to Kyle and I. He is Ben Levoie. Ben had a traumatic car accident which left him badly injured and severely concussed. This incident resulted in Ben losing 10 years of memory and living with PTSD. Ben wants to share his story in the hopes that it will help others deal with their own trauma and difficult experiences. In today's episode Ben opens up about his life, his accident and how he used climbing to help him with his PTSD. Finally, we talk about the flow state, metal health, and how climbing has helped Ben to create new memories with his son.

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

As we are sure most of you know accidents happen to the best of us and when you spend enough time in places with severe hazards it's not a question of if, but when. Nevertheless, it is easy to get complacent, and comfortable and that's when things go wrong.  Today, we sit down with IFMGA certified mountain guide Dale Remsberg. We connected with Dale after hearing about an accident he had while leading ice that almost took his life.

With some luck and a badass mentality he was back top-roping ice only 10 days later, which is pretty ridiculous our my opinion. Dale doesn't ruminate on his mistakes; he learns from them and shares them with the community so others can learn too. He spends 100 days a year guiding and also enjoys training new mountain guides. In our conversation, we get to hear Dale’s story about his childhood, how he found climbing, and what events led up to his accident.  Dale also shares with us the importance of mentorship and what he's doing in the community to provide this critical piece of climbing to others. 

Finally, we talk about the myth of safety in climbing, because as controversial as it might sound….climbing simply isn't safe. Maybe that's why we like it so much?

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

Recently I've been seeking mentorship and guidance to help improve my climbing. This can be a tricky endeavor, finding someone you trust and respect can be challenging. With this in mind, I reached out to a local Ice climbing group in search of such a person. With some amazing luck, I connected with Callum Nelson. Through our conversation, I quickly realized that Callum was an accomplished climber and UK Certified Rock Guide who has climbed all over the world. Callum and I climbed a beautiful Water Ice 5 Called Shriek of the Sheep on the West Coast of BC this was a phenomenal experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life. What stood out most was how aligned Callum and I are as people something just clicked. I am honored that Callum is the first guest to record in my home and I consider myself lucky to call him a friend. Callum and his partner Anya currently live in a converted fire engine called big red. He embodies the spirit of climbing and shares how climbing is much more than an experience. it can be life-transforming as so many of us know and have discovered ourselves

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

One thing I’ve learned about climbing over the years is that you never really know when something might go wrong, that human error and the randomness of nature are something we as climbers can’t really avoid. So instead we prepare ourselves to deal with the unknown, to come equipped with the tools necessary both physical and mental to rescue either ourselves or others when things go wrong. Remember that story that was all over the news a few months ago, about a climber who had rescued a base jumper who crashed, hanging precariously on a cliff? Today we get to sit down with the climber herself, River Barry. We dive deep into the details of her heroic rescue on that fateful day and find out what we are all capable of when preparedness, training, and experience all come together. 

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

Resources:
Climbing.com Article
Video of the Crash

KSL News Report

I don't know about you but when I first started climbing..creating a first ascent and developing a route was something my regular climbing partner and I would fantasize about—looking out the car window on long road trips for any rock formation that might have been untouched, a prize yet to be claimed. However, like most of you, I am sure, I was too enthralled in actually climbing to take the time, money, and focus to become a route developer. 

With climbing being so accessible, and there being over fifty thousand published routes on Mountain Project between California and Canada alone, it is easy to just enjoy climbs and forget all the work it took to establish them. Today, our topic is route development and we get to sit down with a local climber and route developer here in Reno, his name is Colby Wangler. In our conversation, we talk about how Colby found climbing and what lead him to become a route developer, the ins and out of the route developing process, and how Colby both developed and climbed his first own 5.13. We cover how we, the majority, the people who get enjoy the work of others, can support, maintain, and give back to the areas we love so much. And finally, we talk about a potential dark side to this amazing sport we call climbing. 

Please rate, review the show, and share this podcast with your friends. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools to help us out.

Contact us:
IG: @the.climbing.majority
Email: [email protected]

Resources: Please help support the development and maintenance of your local climbing area. Here are some places that will be a good start and could use our support.

Alpine Club of Canada

American Alpine Club

Squamish Access Society

Sea to Sky Climbing Hardware Fund

British Mountaineering Crag Care Fund

Access Fund USA (Register and Adopt a Crag)