Tag: Red River Gorge

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Enormocast 270: Briana Mazzolini-Blanchard – Doing What Needs to Be Done

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On Episode 270 of the Enormocast, we are joined by Indigenous activist and climber, Briana Mazzolini-Blanchard. Though her path to accepting her heritage as a member of the CHamoru/Tugong Clan with origins in Guam was not without struggles, Briana has spent the last 6 years advocating for Indigenous peoples in Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. As a board-member of the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition, she has spearheaded that group’s outreach to under-served and under-represented communities. As Executive Director of the Urban Native Collective, she also strives to serve the Indigenous community outside of climbing. Finally, as a climber/advocate, Briana wants to rattle our cages and make us think about how we impact the land and what the climbing community is going to look like, value, and accept going forward.

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Enormocast 217: Michaela Kiersch – Life’s Greater Needs

Photos: Simon Carter, Kiersch Collection, Brennan Robinson

On Episode 217 of the Enormocast, I connect after some internet trouble with the indomitable Michaela Kiersch. Michaela grew up a Chicago girl – loving baseball and the White Sox- but when she found the climbing gym, her baseball goals were supplanted. The climbing community embraced Michaela at just the right time as her mother’s long battle with cancer ended in her death when Michaela was just a girl. Michaela cites the embrace of her climbing community in Chicago as a major help in her grief. Michaela’s mother lived long enough to instill Michaela with ambition and drive that brought her to the top of competition and sport climbing with national championships and multiple 5.14c ascents. Those same traits are seeing her through a PhD program in occupational therapy. Truly someone who sees more to life than climbing, Michaela may just have the energy to have it all.

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Episode 194: Dru Mack – Getting Out of His Own Way.

On Episode 194, I sit down in Denver, Colorado with Louisville, KY native and Red River Gorge climber, Dru Mack. Dru is a youngish climber and coach who dropped roots in the Red as a kid, and now uses the base he gained there to tick hard sport pitches and boulders worldwide. At an early age, Dru experienced therapy for clinical anxiety, and he now can bring that experience to bear coaching kids not just in climbing, but finding their way in the complicated world of adolescence. Also, Dru is one of those seemingly rare climbers with a love of a ball sport, namely basketball, and apparently he has some actual skill? He uses the inspiration from that sport to drive his goals in climbing.

Dru in the Red

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