Tag: woman climber

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Enormocast 318: Babsi Zangerl – 10 Years Later

Photos: Austin Siadak, Jacopo Larcher
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On the latest Enormocast, Austrian rock master Babsi Zangerl returns to the show after I discovered her 10 years ago. Just kidding, but to say that her fame has rocketed since her first Enormocast over ten years ago is an understatement. Since we last talked, Babsi took her bouldering base and parlayed that into becoming one of the dominant big wall free climbers of all time. She’s racked up 8 free ascents of El Cap including the first flash, climbed most of the important alpine walls in Europe, and brought her talents to the Karakorum in Pakistan on Nameless (Trango) Tower. In between, she’s sent single pitch trad test pieces on both sides of the Atlantic and climbed 9a+ sport. All while dragging her boyfriend Jacopo Larcher around (wink). All the while, Babsi maintains her day job as a medical radiographer just to keep it real. Truly one of a kind and one of the best, its an honor to have her back on the show.

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Enormocast 315: Kate Kelleghan – Turbocharged Life

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

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Enormocast 284: Emma Twyford – Getting on With It

Right Photo by Ray Wood
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On Episode 284 of the Enormocast, we connect across the pond to North Wales in the U.K. and into the living room of Emma Twyford. Emma is a pioneering woman in that rarified air of hard, desperate trad that only the old country can serve up. She is the first British woman to climb 9a with her ascent of Big Bang (3rd ascent overall), has established 8b+ with Deux Mauvais Melons – the hardest FA ever by a British woman, and was the second woman to climb E9 with an ascent of Rare Lichen. We talk about the mentorship from her dad, moving through the hot bed of Sheffield but ending up in North Wales, and we even try to figure out the E grades to almost no avail. Emma also shares her struggles with fear and motivation after a close friend nearly loses her life in a car accident. Emma has made it to her late 30s despite some close calls and finds time to reflect on her current motivations including the daunting idea of starting a family.

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