sailing

Cole Brauer joins the Enormocast after becoming the first American woman to race solo around the world in the Global Solo Challenge in 2023. The 30,000‑mile circumnavigation pushed her through storms, gear failures, sleep deprivation, and the kind of isolation only found in climbing in places like Baffin Island. During the race, Cole became its breakout star, documenting the journey with disarming honesty and a surprising amount of joy. On this Enormocast, we talk about how a kid from Long Island ended up skippering a Class40 sailboat alone across the world’s biggest oceans, what its like to embrace being alone in a roiling sea, and how landfall after the race was perhaps the scariest part of all.

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On Episode 305 of the Enormocast, alpinist and guide Caro North joins me in my lovely hotel room in Banff, AB during the Banff Mountain Film Festival for a heartfelt talk about her journey as an international female climber. Born in Switzerland, but raised in Germany, Caro actually found herself on top of Aconcagua in Argentina at the age of 16. She was hooked on the climbing life from that moment forward. Soon she was deep in the alpine clubs in Germany and learning amongst a group of her female peers. So once Caro set out on her own, it seemed natural to try and climb with women in the mountains. Then she found that being a polyglot and multinational opened her partner pool to the world and a frantic decade of expeditions ensued. Some burn-out was the cost, though, and Caro took assessment of her exhaustion at the ripe age of 26. This talk finds her a part time resident of El Chalten, a full blown UIAA Swiss guide, and on a (very) slightly more restful path as she still pursues her goals in the mountains.

Caro on the Gram

Passes for Banff 2025

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Tag: sailing

Enormocast 323: Cole Brauer – Every Day the Sea

Enormocast 305: Caro North – Magnetic