Author: Chris Kalous

Owner, operator, guru, yogi of enormocast.
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Episode 178: Will Gadd – Stoked on the Magic.

On Episode 178 of the Enormocast, I sit down with Canadian rock and ice climber, Will Gadd. Will hit the early sport climbing scene in Boulder, Colorado in the 80s and has never looked back. As an early comp climber, Will had the honor of getting crushed by a young Chris Sharma. Switching his focus to paragliding and ice climbing, Will has set records on the wing and was a progenitor of modern mixed climbing, while still slaying rock and alpine routes on demand. Now in his 50s, there still isn’t anybody as stoked on climbing as Will Gadd.

Helmcken Falls with Will and Tim

All Things Will

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Episode 177: Allison Vest – Trashcans and Try-hard.

On Episode 177 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a parking lot with Canadian boulderer and comp-climber, Allison Vest. Though Allison grew up in the heart of the Canadian Rockies’ alpine gnar, competition and plastic were her heart’s desire. She made her mark as a youth climber, and after a wayward year in Edmonton, and the worst Southeast Asia sport climbing trip anyone has ever lived to tell about, Allison buckled down to become Canada’s National Bouldering Champ in 2018. Following this interview, she won the Canadian 2019 Open Lead Championships. Now, after struggling through injury last year, but tasting recent success in 2019, Allison is poised to find her true potential training in Vancouver and looking to the future beyond the 2020 Olympics.

Allison on Instagram

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Episode 176: Jeff Smoot – The 80s Come Alive with Hangdog Days.

On Episode 176 of the Enormocast, I sit down in my kitchen with author and climber Jeff Smoot. Jeff had a wild climbing ride in the 80s as he shadowed two of the renegades inventing sport climbing in the USA: Todd Skinner and Alan Watts. In his book, Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14, Smoot tells some of the fundamental stories of the conflicts and visions surrounding the invention and mainstreaming of now tried and true techniques like rap bolting, hangdogging, previewing, and route specific training: all taboo in the 70s and early 80s. The stories in Hangdog Days are the stories of how most of us climb today, and though they never gets as much hype as the freewheeling, dope-filled 70s, the 80s had far more influence on modern climbing.

Hangdog Days at Mountaineers Books

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