Tag: El Capitan

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Episode 151: A Candid Ascent of El Cap.

On Episode 151 of the Enormocast, you, dear listener, join the Enormocast for an ascent of Golden Gate on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Golden Gate is a variation off the Salathe Wall, and as a free climb, the next step up from FreeRider. On May 18th, 2018, Steve Dilk and I blasted off up the Heart Highway for what would become a 7 day ascent of the wall- Steve’s first big wall, and my return to the Captain after 12 years. We encountered rain, pain, and scary climbing, but in the end, eked out an ascent that was not nearly in the style we had planned in terms of free climbing, but hell, we summitted.

Emily Harrington sending that Shit.

Hazel Findlay sending that Shit. 

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Episode 142: John Middendorf – Build It and They Will Go

On Episode 142 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a wide open and relaxing space in SLC to talk to big wall legend, John Middendorf. John disappeared to Tasmania after single-handedly changing big wall climbing in the 1990s. Previously, porta-ledges afforded respite from the vertical, but could not hold any serious storm at bay. John’s designs at his company A5 lead the way to a ledge that could handle nearly anything the weather could throw at it.  Armed with this shelter, climbers could cast off into the upward void for as log as it took come rain, shine, sleet, or snow. John himself took the ledge to the great ranges, putting up The Grand Voyage on Great Trango Tower with Xaver Bongard, perhaps still the hardest wall route in the world. Now he’s back in the designing game with the new D4 Ledges. And a shout-out to Rock Steady Body Works for the recording space.

John and D4’s Facebook Page

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Episode 133: Alex Honnold – Kind of a Big Deal.

On Episode 132, I sit down with Alex Honnold. You may have heard of him. He recently free-handed the El Capitan.

But seriously, a seriously-still-stoked Alex Honnold joins the Enormocast for his sophomore appearance. In opposition to his many recent mainstream appearances, on Jimmy Kimmel for example, we decided that a total move-for-move nerd-out on his history-making free solo of the FreeRider on El Capitan should be soup du jour on the Enormocast- a CLIMBING podcast. Alex reports the parts that truly made him nervous beforehand, the film effort, a false start, and how it made him feel to accomplish one of the, if not THE, crowning athletic achievements of human kind, EVER, ever. So strap in for this very hot, very exclusive interview. In Alex’s own words, “If you’re a climber, you pretty much have to do the Enormocast.”

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