Enormocast 315: Kate Kelleghan – Turbocharged Life

Photos: Abbey Bergh, Kate Kelleghan, Julien Scherliss, James Lucas

On Episode 315 of the Enormocast, I sit down with Boulder-born Yosemite-trained speed climbing maestra, Kate Kelleghan. Kate came to climbing at 20 despite, or maye TO spite, her climbing dad. A youth of dark eye make-up, music, art, and smoke-sessions behind the school finally gave way to a life of climbing adventure when dad took Kate up the 3rd Flatiron as a teen. Then, as was her way, she leapt into the deep end and became a CLIMBER, eventually moving through the gym to finding trad climbing on the cliffs above Boulder like Castle Rock and Eldo. Then she fell into the quirky world of the Naked Edge speed games eventually creating, setting, then breaking her own women’s speed record. Eventually, Yosemite pulled her further west where bigwall speed climbing was her future. This path culminated (for now) when Kate and Laura Pineau became the only women (so far) to ever complete the Yosemite Triple: Half Dome, El Capitan, and Watkins in a day.

Enormocast 298: Jim Erickson – Clean and Free in the 1970s

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On Episode 298 of the Enormocast, I sit down in with Boulder, Colorado legend, Jim Erickson. Turns out that when Jim climbed the crags and roamed the streets of Boulder in the late 60s and 70s, it was a cow-town – not the bougie climbing mecca we love to hate on today. Erickson grew up climbing at Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin, but was looking for a college experience with close-by climbing and ended up out west. Quickly, he established himself as the most psyched climber of the small community and was raging through Eldo in no time. Jim’s free ascent of the Naked Edge with Duncan Ferguson in 1971 put him on the top of the heap worldwide. But just months later, Jim embraced clean climbing and embarked on a sending spree that went a very long way to evangelize for using removable rock-friendly nuts exclusively. Jim’s ethics evolved to eschew chalk and several other modern conveniences, yet he nearly sent Half-Dome free in 1976 with Art Higbee. This ascent and many others established Jim as one of the best and unique free climbers of all time.

Free Climb: The Northwest Face of Half Dome, Jim Erickson and Art Higbee scale Half Dome