Episode 129: Steve Swenson – Almost an Astronaut.

On Episode 129 of the Enormocast, I sit down with consummate alpinist, Steve Swensen. Steve’s career in the big mountains has spanned decades. As a kid, Steve dreamed of flying to the stars as an Apollo astronaut, but he chose to climb as close to space as possible instead. While he has climbed worldwide, his most memorable and mesmerizing locale is the Karakorum on the borders of Pakistan, China, and India. In his new book Karakorum: Climbing through the Kashmir ConflictSteve recounts his years exploring the mountains of this formerly closed region and falling in love with its people but also watching the waves of conflict ebb and flow in the surrounding lands. Steve spent 40 years balancing on the three pillars of his radical life: climbing, career, and family, and somehow he is as stoked as ever to be in the mountains and pushing his mind and body to the highest reaches of the Earth.

Karakorum: Climbing through the Kashmir Conflict

 

 

Episode 31: Hayden Kennedy + Andrew Bisharat + PBR = Frothy Climbing Spray.

537224_10151477366463949_1475701605_n313858_10151591187578949_1298758465_nHayden fixed lineHo, Man! On Episode 31 of the Enormocast I lure Andrew Bisharat and Hayden Kennedy into the closet for an old-fashioned bro-down. Andrew and I discuss whether or not the recent ascent of La Dura Dura, AKA the hard hard hardest route in the world, even matters. Hayden tells the story of his Piolet d’Or nominated ascent of the Ogre in Pakistan. I debase myself by begging Steve House and Josh Wharton to come on the show. And so much more. A return to form from the early days of the Enormocast: beer-fueled climbing spray!

Doug Scott on the Ogre

Perhaps the gnarliest mountaineering photo of all time

2013 Piolet d’Or nominees