The RunOut Podcast
Only interesting conversations about climbing. With Chris Kalous and Andrew Bisharat.
Episodes
April 30, 2024 • 54 mins
Last fall, Jesse Grupper took home the gold medal at the Pan Am games, securing his spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Now just a few months out from the Games, we caught up with Jesse to hear about how he is preparing and getting psyched to represent our country in lead and bouldering at the Olympics—all while balancing life as a mechanical engineer pushing the limits of soft robotics to improve people’s lives.
But ...
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April 16, 2024 • 66 mins
Our guest today is #71 for the New York Jets: Wes Schweitzer, an offensive guard whose injuries sent him down a curious path of recovery: rock climbing. Since discovering the sport, Wes has fallen in love with climbing and uses it as a tool to improve his performance on and off the field. At 6’4” 330-pounds, Wes is considered one of the strongest lineman in the game, putting up 765-pound deadlifts well over twice his body weight. A...
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March 26, 2024 • 91 mins
Will Moss is a comp climber turned traddie from New York City, who has been quietly ticking some of the hardest gear-protected routes in the country over the past couple of years. His most recent notable ascent is the FA of the Gunks hardest: The Best Things in Life Are Free (5.14d R).
But first, we wind our way into a discussion about the elusive “undercover crusher,” and whether this mythical beast actually climbed the thing bef...
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Today’s guest is a climbing icon and legend: the great Beth Rodden. Beth was a youth national comp champ who went on to become one of the greatest female climbers of her time, with important first free ascents of El Cap and single-pitch trad test pieces such as Meltdown, a 5.14c crack that many say is harder and took a decade before it was repeated. Her new book is called A Light Through the Cracks.
But first we talk about the elu...
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February 20, 2024 • 76 mins
Josh Wharton is one of America’s top alpine climbers, with light and fast ascents of iconic peaks from Patagonia to Alaska to the Himalaya. His latest first free ascent with Vince Anderson, is called Suerte (5.13a, WI6, M7, 3,500 feet) and it’s located on Jirishanca (20,100 feet) in Peru. This ascent, which took years to “alpine redpoint,” is featured in a new film headlining Reel Rock 18.
But first, yer friendly RunOut hosts disc...
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January 30, 2024 • 86 mins
Dean Fidelman is a legendary climbing photographer, whose body of work and portraitures have come as close to capturing the elusive soul of our sport as any photographer ever has. He’s perhaps best known for his Stone Nudes series of fine-art black-and-white bouldering photographs, but his career first began as a 16 year old kid with a camera, documenting the Stone Masters era of Yosemite and all the legendary characters associated...
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Two amazing guests today. Two important conversations related to community and development.
First, we speak to Sam Lightner Jr. about the latest threats to climbing access in America. Sam is a prolific route developer, who is perhaps best known for developing the climbing in Southern Thailand and helping turn Railey and Tonsai beaches into the destinations they are. But he’s also established many routes in the American west, and d...
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December 29, 2023 • 105 mins
Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal are both 26 years old, from Sheffield, England, and have been competing on plastic since they were 12. But once slapping plastic lost its allure, these two climbers found themselves dreaming of adventure. And adventure they found, as they spent a month fumbling their way into the world of big-wall climbing during a month long trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this year. And the unlikely duo emer...
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December 13, 2023 • 78 mins
Mary Catherine Eden is probably best known for popular Instagram account @tradprincess, but she’s far more than just another online influencer. She’s recently ticked one of the hardest crack climbs in the country, Black Mamba (5.14b), joining a small group of women, if not people of any flavor, who have climbed 5.14 on gear. We talk about her love of crack climbing, progression, “eating her veggies,” and balancing it all in life.
...
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November 23, 2023 • 93 mins
Jakob Schubert is a four-time World Champion, an Olympic bronze medalist, and he has more IFSC gold medals than another male competitor. He’s also sent some of the hardest routes in the world, including, most recently, a first ascent of Project B.I.G. in Flatanger, which he rated 9c, making it only the third route ever to be given this grade. Our interview with Jakob takes us behind the scenes on his livestream of sending B.I.G.; h...
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November 10, 2023 • 72 mins
Kris Hampton is the brains and brawn behind Power Company Climbing and the cohost of the podcast by the same name. His insatiable love of creating new things, whether that’s training plans for climbers or music, has led him to launch Written in Stone, a new climbing history podcast looking at monumental moments in our sport, decade by decade.
But first, we respond to a couple of show listeners who had an absolutely insane exchang...
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October 24, 2023 • 83 mins
RunOut #113: How a Race to Get a Climbing Record Turned Deadly
RunOut #113: How a Race to Get a Climbing Record Turned Deadly
This fall, two American women found themselves in an unlikely race to reach the summit of Shishapangma, and thereby earn themselves a place in the record books as being the first American woman to have done all 14 8,000-meter peaks (with oxygen). Unfortunately, both Anna Gutu and Gina Rzucidło, alongside...
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October 10, 2023 • 91 mins
Our guest today is Rich Johnston, the president and owner of Vertical World in Seattle, known as America’s First Climbing Gym (TM). He’s also the founding chairman of the Climbing Wall Association, where he served for 16 years, and a board member on The Mountaineers. Rich tells us about the earliest days of the climbing-wall industry, why he never thought climbing gyms would succeed, and how important culture and philosophy are to ...
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September 19, 2023 • 85 mins
Today’s guest is Graham Zimmerman, an alpinist, a recipient of the Piolet d’Or and a director at Protect Our Winters, a climate-advocacy group. His new book is “A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains.”
But first, cave raves are all fun and games until your favorite crag gets shut down. Your favorite climbing podcaster hosts try to figure out where their personal boundaries lie for self-policing the climbing world.
...
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September 6, 2023 • 60 mins
Today, we're releasing one of our bonus episodes from our Rope Gun feed on Patreon because the content is a PSA and super important for as many climbers out there to hear.
Our conversation is with Alannah Yip, an Olympic sport climber from Canada with an incredible career. This summer, Alannah started a conversation about the prevalence of eating disorders in high-end comp climbing, fears about RED-S afflicting athletes, and wh...
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September 3, 2023 • 99 mins
Our guest today is the esteemed Russ Clune, a climbing legend of the Shawangunks in New York, where he has established notable first ascents and from where he bases in between trips to dozens of countries and crags around the world. His new book is “The Lifer: Rock Climbing Adventures In The Gunks And Beyond.”
But first, yr hosts try to figure out why everyone hates trustfunding dirtbags so much.
Our final bit is some music f...
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August 12, 2023 • 86 mins
Our guest today is a genuine legend and one of the pioneers of big-wall climbing. John Middendorf is a mechanical engineer, gear designer, researcher, writer, and teacher based in Tasmania. His climbing accomplishments pushed the limits of big-walls, adventure, and exploration throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. Most notably, he’s responsible for the first ascent of the East Face of Great Trango Tower, widely considered the largest and ...
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July 31, 2023 • 83 mins
Our guest today is one of the all-time great alpinists of our time. Colin Haley joins to the show in the wake of an uneventful trip to Alaska, and explains why such missions are part of a healthy approach to pursuing a lifetime of adventure and alpine climbing in the mountains.
But first, your hosts return from separate vacations and commiserate over how easy and glamorous it is to climb abroad with kids, while still making space...
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July 15, 2023 • 87 mins
Our guest today is Albert Ok, a YouTuber and speed-climbing coach. Albert goes by the handle Professor Ok, and creates content that breaks down movement. He tries to break climbing down into its most fundamental parts in order to best understand it. He’s also a talented speed climber, boulderer, and all-around athlete.
But first, Andrew reports on a little local controversy from Chamonix regarding one of the most decorated alpin...
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June 30, 2023 • 74 mins
This episode is a proper mix of silly and seriousness, as we talk to Mike Penney, director of the Ontario Alliance of Climbers, who is currently pushing back on the government’s regulations threatening access to 75% of Ontario rock climbing, and even going so far as to actively chop bolts from cliffs. This a big deal, and worthy of the climbing community’s attention and energy, even if you’re not from Canada. The cliffs of Ontario ...
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