Written in Stone: Climbing History
Written in Stone tells the (mostly) true stories of the most groundbreaking ascents in rock climbing history, one climb at a time. Hosted by Kris Hampton, you’ll hear the narrated, sound designed stories about what led to new levels in climbing, alternated with conversations with today’s top climbers about what inspired them about what went down way back then. Season One: The 1990’s Season Two: The 1980’s Season Three: The History of Modern Bouldering Like Todd Skinner always said, ”never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
Can We Really Say When Bouldering Began? Yes, We Can.
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We can't possibly know when the first person climbed on a boulder, or what their motivations were. But even if they were challenging themselves to find a difficult way to ascend that particular rock, was it bouldering? Maybe not.
Bart Van Raaij | 400 Trips to Fontainebleau, Writing Climbing Guidebooks, Bleau.info and More
Bart Van Raaij is the owner of Bleau.info, the author of the popular 5+6 and 7+8 guides, and is obsessed with Fontainebleau. Since the 1980s he's visited Fontainebleau more than 400 times, despite living 6 hours away. In this episode, we hear the stories of his first time doing legendary boulders like Carnage, Berezina, Amok, and more. We discuss why he would choose to write a guide to a seemingly endless area so far from home, and why the history matters to him. Check out Bleau.info at https://bleau.info/
Find Bart's guides at https://www.7plus8.com/
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Jacky Godoffe | Making Climbing History in Fontainebleau, Big Boss, Fatman, C'Était Demain and More
Jacky Godoffe joins me to chat about legends of Fontainebleau: Jerome Jean-Charles, Robert Paragot, Pierre Allain, Fred Nicole, and more. We hear the stories of his boulders Big Boss, Fatman, and C'Était Demain, as well as stories about Carnage, La Pierre Philosophale, La Merveille and more.
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You're Wrong About The Limits of Climbing
A few thoughts that combine all of the things I spend time thinking about while I get together the Bleau interviews.
The future of climbing difficulty isn't only about the size of holds or the distance between them. In fact, that's rarely what changes things. It's more about the climbers and their skills.
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<...The History of Fontainebleau Bouldering Circuits
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Bouldering began as a way to train for the mountains, but by the mid 1940s in Fontainebleau, it had started to form it's own identity. A Bleausard named Fred Bernick had an idea that would continue the tradition of preparing for those mountain routes: Circuits. He laid out the first two, and inspired by a piece of Fontainebleau history from the late 1800s, he marked them with painted arrows.
They were instantly popular. 80 years later, there are over 370 of Berni...
The First V6 (7A) Boulder | Robert Paragot and The Joker
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Perhaps the most powerful force in the early years of Fontainebleau bouldering history was the consistent changing of the guard. Every few years a new group would supplant the old, bringing new ideas, updated ethics, and stronger fingers. But when a brash group of climbers, formed from the best of several groups, the difficulty standards of the previous leaders, Pierre Allain's Convicts of Cuvier, were left in the dust.
Led by Robert Paragot, a young climber who often wore only his PA's and his underwear and climbed while smoking a cigarette, t...
World's First 6A (V3) Boulder and The Convicts of Cuvier
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Shortly after WWII, a new group formed in Fontainebleau. They called themselves the Cuvier Academic Club, but were quickly known as The Convicts of Cuvier. Led by Pierre Allain, René Ferlet, Guy Poullet and Jacques Poincenot, this group would raise standards in the forest with the first ascent of La Marie Rose, the first V3 (6A) in the world.
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The Fontaineb...
Pierre Allain: The First Superstar of Modern Bouldering
After World War 1, bouldering began to shapeshift into something that very closely resembles the modern day game. At the forefront of that movement was Pierre Allain, a climber who was openly competitive and aimed to be the best. Also a talented and accomplished alpinist, Allain invented much of the gear we take for granted today, including the first shoes specifically for climbing -- and they were shaped by bouldering in Fontainebleau.
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Fontainebleau and the Birth of Bouldering as We Know It
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By 1908, people had been practicing on boulders for over 25 years, but it lacked something essential to bouldering: community. In Fontainebleau, groups of climbers with a shared passion would unite around the sandstone blocs and forever shape the game of bouldering.
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Was Oscar Eckenstein Really the First Boulderer? Featuring Efix Roy
Was Oscar Eckenstein the first boulderer? What does that even mean? This season, we are asking and trying to answer some big questions. In this episode, I talk with our research assistant, Efix Roy, about the big question raised by the first episode of the season.
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Bouldering & The Vertical Path by John Gill
The First Boulderer and His Occultist Protégé: Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley
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People have likely climbed on boulders for all of human history, but in the late 1800's, one man began advocating for climbing on boulders as a way to become a better climber. His name was Oscar Eckenstein, and he fundamentally changed the way we climb. Was he the first boulderer?
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Music:
"Concerto No. 4 in F minor...
Season 3 | The History of Modern Bouldering
What is bouldering, really? What defines a "boulderer"? And how has that changed since the beginnings of the game? Are there rules, and if so, where did those "rules" start?
Coming Soon: Season 3 of Written in Stone | The History of Modern Bouldering.
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Michael Kennedy on Access to Climbing Culture and the Photo of Edlinger That Defined the 80s
Michael Kennedy is a legend of climbing media. As the editor of Climbing Magazine from 1974 to 1998, he helped to bring climbing culture to tens of thousands of climbers who otherwise didn't have access to it. He also took the photo that I believe best defines climbing in the 1980s.
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BONUS: When Lynn Hill Proved That Women Can Beat Men In Competition
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In a recent Magnus Midtbo video, Janja Garnbret mentioned that she could do well against the men in a sport climbing competition. Lynn Hill may have helped prove Janja's point - all the way back in 1990.
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The Thumbs Up: Sharing Lanes And Circling Back in 1980s Climbing.
After a few weeks of thinking about it, I've put my finger on what I learned about climbing by looking back at the 1980s, and I'm ready to reveal where we go next season.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
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Jordan Cannon on The Free Salathe, How to Climb Pitch 19, and Why Style Matters
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Today, in the final interview of the season, we are talking to young legend in the making, Jordan Cannon, who is fresh off of an incredible season of big wall climbing. Most important for this conversation is his recent ascent of The Free Salathé, including the infamous Pitch 19, one of only a handful to do the route this way.
Jordan’s emphasis on aiming for the best style possible without letting that get in the way of having an incredible experience is refreshing. It’s not a...
Mark Hudon on Free As Can Be on the Salathé Wall, Skinner and Piana's Ascent, and Experience Vs. Trophies
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Mark Hudon is a bonafide climbing legend. One of the best free climbers of the 70s and early 80s, he and partner Max Jones looked past convention and moved hard free climbing to the big walls of Yosemite. His article Long, Hard and Free inspired a whole generation of climbers, including Todd Skinner and Paul Piana, and laid the groundwork for the game that is Yosemite big wall free climbing.
In this episode we discuss the idea that eventually led to the Free Salathe, how...
Steve Bechtel on Skinner, Piana, Friendship, and Community
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Steve Bechtel is a Wyoming climbing legend who moved to Lander when the limestone at Wild Iris was discovered and helped to develop it alongside Todd Skinner and Paul Piana.
In this episode we discuss the sides of Skinner and Piana that often get lost when listing accomplishments - their roles as friends and community builders. Their humanity.
Find Steve online.
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Paul Piana and Todd Skinner Free the Finest Rock Climb On Earth (Part 2)
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After causing a ruckus in Yosemite Valley and Index, Todd Skinner didn’t slink away. He looked up. Way up. At El Capitan.
He and Paul Piana had been dramatically influenced by an article written by Mark Hudon called Long, Hard and Free, and the dusty disappointment of the Valley Demi-Gods wasn’t going to hold them back.
Using tactics borrowed from the future, Skinner and Piana got to work on their big objective, free climbing the Salathé Wall. Many great climbers had made f...
Paul Piana and Todd Skinner Partner Up and Push the Boundaries (Part 1)
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By the middle of the 1980s, the shift to sport climbing was in full swing. Two Wyoming cowboys, Paul Piana and Todd Skinner, recognized that the strength they’d gained from sport climbing would give them an advantage on projects left behind by the previous generation. However, that previous generation wasn’t so quick to embrace the changes. Particularly in Yosemite Valley, resistance was massive – they wanted their walls preserved in a time that was already in the past.
It would take a new age maveri...
Rob LeBreton on Snowbird and Australian Sport Climbing in the 1980s
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Rob LeBreton wears a lot of hats. First, he’s a long time friend of the show, but he’s also a dad, husband, gym owner, former president of Sport Climbing Australia, and absolute climbing legend - the first Australian to establish climbs of 31 and 32 (13d and 14a) in Australia.
After the Snowbird episode came out, Rob sent me a video of the finals that he had recorded onto VHS back in 1988, which resulted in several things. First, I got excited to see the famous Edlin...
Alan Watts on Setting for Snowbird, the Drama that Unfolded, and the Comp's Importance to American Indoor Climbing
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Alan Watts is widely recognized as the father of American sport climbing and a leading developer at Smith Rock. However, most don’t know about his impact on the indoor climbing industry in the US or the fact that in 1988 he set for the very first international climbing competition in the country - Snowbird.
In this episode we discuss his role as route setter and judge, and how that meant he had an up close and personal view of the drama that unfolded during semi-finals. We...
Showdown(s) At Snowbird | Edlinger vs. Tribout and Destivelle vs. Hill
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In 1985, 19 of the top French climbers signed a manifesto against competition climbing. But competitions came anyway. Quickly, most of those same signees defected - becoming the climbers to beat at every event. As happens in every competitive sport, rivalries were formed, and would play out in the vertical theater.
In 1988, America would host its first International competition at Snowbird in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon. The 115 foot artificial wall would become a battlefield.
Competition versus climbing.
The organizers versus Didier Raboutou.
Catherine D...
Ted Kingsnorth on the Influence of Jerry Moffatt and Chasing History
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A big part of my research for any UK climber ends up being first, climbing-history.org run by Remus Knowles, but then immediately after I start reading endless threads on UKclimbing.com. While there, I often bump into an authoritative voice who obviously absolutely LOVES climbing history. Ted Kingsnorth.
I first came across Ted’s name when he made an extended effort to climb Just Do It at Smith Rock - a route whose history we detailed last season and I’m sure Ted’s descrip...
Jerry Moffatt Climbs Everything, Everywhere
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In 1984, Jerry Moffatt was quite possibly the best climber in the world. A year later, he was out of climbing entirely, with severe elbow problems. During his couple of years off, climbing moved on without him - and it moved fast. Bolts became the norm, yo-yo ascents were all but gone, replaced by redpoint tactics, difficulty had skyrocketed from 13c to 14b, and the best climbers were all competing. To make it that much more daunting, Jerry couldn't even climb his old warmups.
But he w...
Mark Anderson on Wolfgang Güllich, The Campus Board, and Climbing on Your Heroes' Routes
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Beyond being a top athlete, Wolfgang Güllich was also a training nerd and developed the campus board. Because of this, I knew I needed to talk to Mark Anderson. Mark is one of the twin Anderson Brothers - both great climbers and pioneers in the training space. They wrote The Rock Climbers Training Manual, developed the Rock Prodigy Hangboard and Training Method, and Mark made a pilgrimage to The Campus Center in Nuremberg to see the original campus board. He climbed some routes in the Frankenjura w...
Wolfgang Güllich is a Wolf on Wallstreet
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After establishing Punks in the Gym, the first 14a (8b+), Wolfgang Güllich was looking for a change. First he accepted an invitation to a competition in Bardonecchia, Italy. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Over the next year, after doing a few more hard routes, he experimented with bold climbing on gritstone and free soloing, culminating in his free solo of Separate Reality in Yosemite. After that, he established his second 14a, Wallstreet, in the Frankenjura. Being in his home area, this one was s...
Back To The Regular Season Plus An Announcement
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Thanks for listening. We're back next week with our regular season.
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Season Two is generously supported by Rab.
This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2.
Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.
Rosie Andrews on No Spare Rib and Women in Climbing From the '80s to Today
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Over 40 years ago, Mountain Magazine published an article by Rosie Andrews called No Spare Rib. Filled with photos of strong women and asserting that women would eventually climb at the highest levels while explaining why they were behind in the '80s, it did two things: inspired some and ruffled the feathers of others.
Today, women like Brooke Raboutou, Katie Lamb, Babsi Zangerl, and Janja Garnbret are proving Rosie right.
In this episode we go back to the '80s and discuss The Gu...
Louise Shepherd on Her Female Climbing Role Models and Connecting with Other Women in the '80s
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Louise Shepherd was and is a juggernaut for women’s climbing, particularly in Australia, where she did for climbing what Lynn Hill did in the US - make it impossible to ignore that women are excellent at this. And this was before everybody got the news from everywhere immediately - so, yes, there needed to be a palpable example in all of the climbing hotspots. And there was. Jill Lawrence in the UK, Catherine Destivelle in France, Christine Gambert, though French, was often climbing in Germany, Lynn Hi...
Alison Osius on The Women of Climbing and Media in the '80s
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Alison Osius is easily one of the most impactful people in climbing media. She helped to shape how so many climbers learned more about and engaged with the sport from the '80s into the '20s. She’s a former editor at Climbing, Rock and Ice and Outside, the first woman president of the American Alpine Club, wrote Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr and has received the AAC Literary Award. She's a climbing legend.
In this episode we discuss how she discovered clim...
Lynn Hill on the Women of the '80s, Who Inspired Her, and Who Is Inspiring Her Now
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Lynn Hill is THE legend, and quite possibly the most impactful climber of all time. I could make a case that Lynn's free ascent in a day of The Nose is the greatest climbing achievement of all time.
But Lynn and I aren't talking about Lynn. We're talking about the other women of the '80s: the women she climbed with, competed against, and was inspired by. We also get into who is inspiring her now.
More from Lynn at her website.
C...
Amy Skinner on Las Vegas Climbing in the '80s and the Importance of Great Female Partners
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Today I sit down with my good friend Amy Skinner - who, in the early '80s in Las Vegas, sort of stumbled into the scene that would eventually be called sport climbing. We discuss that movement, where she first encountered other female climbers, who her favorite female climbing partners have been, and more.
Like many of the women who have been mentioned in this series, Amy is still involved in the climbing community, but has also become a pillar in her greater community. A b...
Women Climbers of the '80s Part 3: Unique Strengths
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In Part 3 of our series on female climbers of the 1980s, we wrap up the decade with difficulty reaching new heights. We see a smart pattern start to emerge at the top of the pack as women realize how to leverage their unique strengths, and in doing so, they prove themselves with resounding success at the most futuristic crag in the world - Buoux.
In this episode we discuss Christine Gambert, Catherine Destivelle, Lynn Hill, Isabelle Pattisiere, as well as many women who were involved i...
Women Climbers of the '80s Part 2: Power In Numbers
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In Part 2 of our series on women climbers of the 1980s, we focus on the middle of the decade, when difficulty soared. We take a closer look at the 1984 International Ladies Meet hosted by The Pinnacle Club in North Wales, how it connects to the women who were at the forefront of sport climbing a year later, and how standards began to skyrocket. We wrap up in Australia where Nyrie Dodd is the first to finish an often tried project.
In this episode we discuss J...
Women Climbers of the '80s Part 1: It Wasn't Because They Weren't There
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
The history of women in climbing, in it’s written form, is woefully incomplete. In this, the first of a multi-part series, we attempt to correct some of these oversights by taking a look at not only the early '80s, but the years and accomplishments that laid the foundation for the women of the '80s.
In this episode, we discuss Bev Johnson, Sibylle Hechtel, Diana Hunter, Coral Bowman, Beth Bennett, Barbara Devine, Louise Shepherd, Catherine Destivelle, Jill Lawrence, Mari Gingery, Lynn Hill, and mor...
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History Misses Things
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
We're taking a short break because we want to make sure that we don't miss the important contributions from the women climbers of the 80's who were pushing things forward. We'll be back soon!
In the meantime, there are a bunch of free bonus episodes in our Patreon, The Secret Stoners Club!
Jeff Smoot on John Bachar, Peter Croft, and the Shift in Climbing in the '80s
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Because this season is focused on the 1980s, and we are talking about the two best free soloists of their generations, Peter Croft and John Bachar, there is a Venn Diagram that puts today’s guest squarely in the center: Jeff Smoot.
In Jeff’s book Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change and the Race for 5.14, he tells the tale of the beginnings of sport climbing in the U.S. - of Alan Watts and Todd Skinner - tales that John Bachar often plays the antagonist for. His mos...
Alex Honnold on Peter Croft, John Bachar, Free-Soloing, and Climbing Big Yosemite Linkups
Check out our new book, Written In Stone: The 1990s!
Does Alex Honnold need an introduction? No, of course he doesn’t. But he was particularly suited for this conversation about Bachar and Croft for several reasons:
#1, Alex is a student of history. He cares about this stuff. If you haven’t listened to his Climbing Gold podcast, you should. I highly recommend the Dope Lake series - it’s a 5 part series about the 1976 plane crash in the Yosemite high country - a plane that was carrying 4 million dollars worth of marijuana. Go listen.
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