Tag: squamish

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Enormocast 292: Hamish McArthur and Holly Toothill – Showing Up

Photos Sam Pratt
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On Episode 292 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a hotel in Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) during the Arc’teryx Academy with Olympian Hamish McArthur and British competition climber Holly Toothill. I arrived in Squamish with Hamish booked and asked Holly to join at the last minute as a friend, teammate, and observer of Hamish’s performance in Paris. Hamish finished 5th in the combined at the 2024 Olympics. The conversation ranges from examining their friendship, competitive styles, to Hamish’s Olympic experience. Hamish also reveals that his path to the Olympics was never a dream, and he was sometimes even reluctant to pursue the contest. But when he got in, he knew he would show up and do his best. Turns out that showing up is his superpower.

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Enormocast 286: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 1)

Photos: Fred Moix, Thomasina Pidgeon, Pim Shaitosa
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On Episode 287 of the Enormocast, I connect through to America’s hat with Swiss crack-master, Didier Berthod. You might have heard about Didier from his recent send of Cobra Crack. The media mentions Didier disappearing from climbing for 10 years, returning to slay the Cobra, yada, yada, but that Didier’s completion of the Cobra has a much deeper significance and symbolism than most can imagine. Didier and I go way back, but even I only knew a fraction of his story from the last 20 years. However, Didier comes clean in this episode about his religious journey, his poor decision to leave his partner and their unborn child, his redemption arc in Squamish, and finally sending the route the denied him so many years ago. This is one of the wildest stories ever told on the Enormocast. Part 2 in your feed soon.

My own prostrations to a route that Didier and I put up together: The Day I Sent Learning to Fly

Didier and Cobra from FIRST ASCENT

Crack of Destiny

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Enormocast Tweener: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 2)

Photos: Fred Moix, Thomasina Pidgeon, Pim Shaitosa
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In the early 2000s, Didier Berthod was the best crack climber in the world, then he dropped out of climbing and essentially disappeared from the world.

When we left Didier Berthod in Facing the World Part 1, he had emerged from monastic life, contacted the daughter he had never seen, and returned to climbing. In this episode, Didier is back in Squamish climbing hard again. But he is also facing the music with his former partner (the mother of his child), the climbing community, and his abandoned daughter. Find out where Didier sits in his return to the world in this second part of his story.

Also, we get the story of Didier’s historic return to Cobra Crack, the FA of Crack of Destiny, and more on his return to form in climbing.

Jesus is a Friend of Mine by Sonseed

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