Tag: Alpine Climbing

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Enormocast 319: Freja Shannon – Moments of Glad Grace

Photos Fay Manners, Hamish Frost, Al Lee
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On episode 319 of the Enormocast, I connect across the Atlantic with Irish/Swedish climber and guide, Freja Shannon. Freja split her youth between the west coast of Ireland and Sweden. Her first mountain sport was snowboarding which took her to Chamonix for a winter season when she was 19. But in that spring, she found climbing and finally felt “this is it!”. Freja dove into all the alpine pursuits with abandon and started racking up ascents in Chamonix, her other home in Sweden, and discovered that the sea cliffs of Ailladie were only a few miles from where she grew up. Then an serious fall in 2023 in the Alps broke her back and dealt a major blow to her confidence. Freja’s body recovered quickly but she’ also had to reassess her risk tolerance and her commitment to the alpine. The fire is still there, but Freja’s focus may have changed for the better.

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Enormocast Tweener : Live from the Banff Mountain Film Festival with Helias Millerioux

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I had the honor of interviewing French alpinist and guide Helias Millerioux on stage at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Helias is most internationally known for climbing a new route on the South Face of Nuptse alpine style with a French Team. But Helias is a experienced alpine climber with ascents around the world. He is a guide in Chamonix but originally hailed from the mean streets of Paris. Known for his sense of style in climbing, Helias also specializes in long and committed multi-disciplined human powered expeditions like climbing Mt Logan sea to sea. This episode is rebroadcast of the live interview. He has two beloved cats named Nuptse and Logan.

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Enormocast 317: Alik Berg – A Climber’s Climber

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On Episode 317 of the Enormocast, I sit down at the Banff Mountain Film Festival with alpinist Alik Berg. Born in Edmonton and living in Canmore, Alik has spent most of his life forging himself into the climber’s climber: reliable, strong, smart, and bold. His view of the ethics and philosophy of alpinism were instilled by his dad, but also tested on the big walls of Yosemite as a teenager. As the years progressed, big wall Alik transformed himself into an expert winter alpinist in the Canadian Rockies. Though he is relatively unknown outside of the deep community of alpinists in the Bow Valley, he is revered and respected throughout that realm of compact, snow-dusted, limestone and rime-covered necky leads that is Canadian Rockies winter climbing. Never one to spray about himself, Alik agreed to sit down for the Enormocast because he wants to share the hard fought wisdom of his years in the range and beyond as those that came before shared with him.

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