Climbing Gold
When climbing was a fringe sport, the epic tales of achievement were told around the campfire. As the sport continues to grow, Alex Honnold and co-host Fitz Cahall grab the mic to share stories from the people who define climbing by pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo of the previous generation.
Episodes
December 12, 2025 • 40 mins
In 2001, Chris Sharma ushered in 5.15a when he completed Biographie after pouring years into the long standing project. Its position, aesthetic, history and heartbreaking sequences that have spit off the best climbers cemented the route into climbing’s memory. Today, we dive into Biographie with Chris, cinematographer Brett Lowell, Margo Hayes and Jonathan Siegrist to understand what makes the route so special.
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November 28, 2025 • 64 mins
As climbers, are we powerless in the face of what’s happening to our public lands? We sat down with retired Senator Mark Udall and Heather Thorne, Executive Director of Access Fund, to talk about what we can do to help the future of American climbing and our public lands.
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November 14, 2025 • 43 mins
Alex has climbed all over the world, but he’s never visited some of our country’s best climbing areas. Today, three devoted southern climbers – Andrew Kornylak, Karen Lane and Colette McInerney – lay out the case for why the Southeast should be on his tick list.
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October 31, 2025 • 63 mins
Last year, Alex sat down with legendary comedian and interviewer David Letterman in front of a live audience in New York City. Buckle up for a hilarious ride down memory lane.
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October 17, 2025 • 44 mins
If there is a common thread between the greatest rock climbing achievements of the last few decades, it’s that cinematographer Brett Lowell was probably filming it. In high school, Brett found himself pulled into the world of climbing creativity and has never looked back.
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October 3, 2025 • 53 mins
Nearly unknown to the greater climbing world, Hamish McArthur walked on the mats at the Paris Olympics the epitome of an underdog. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to be there. When the dust settled, he’d placed fifth, ahead of legends and rising stars. Since then, Hamish upended the climbing world by casually dispatching the world's hardest boulder problems in lightning speed. How’d he do it? The solution was inside his mind.
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September 19, 2025 • 58 mins
Climber Melissa Arnot Reid blazed her way into the elite circle of high altitude guides, but her ascent into rarified air came amidst deep personal struggles that no amount of Everest summits or accolades could fix. Today, we talk about the state of Everest, Ueli Steck and Melissa’s new book Enough.
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September 5, 2025 • 59 mins
John Bachar may have been the Stonemasters brightest star. His audacious free climbs and even more audacious free solos turned heads around the globe. Sadly, John fell while free soloing in 2009. Last winter, longtime climber and author Mark Kroese approached us with a tape marked Bachar, a remnant of the research he did for his book Fifty Favorite Climbs. Time to hit play.
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August 22, 2025 • 57 mins
El Cap. Free. In a day. It's an accomplishment that puts a climber in lofty company. In 2020, Emily Harrington succeeded on Golden Gate. It was a multi-year effort that required finding her outermost limits and letting go of perfectionism. Now, that journey comes to the big screen with Louder Than Eleven’s new film, Girl Climber.
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August 8, 2025 • 63 mins
Katie Lamb has been cutting her teeth on a steady diet of some of the country’s hardest boulders. When she became the first woman to climb V16, she was surprised by the spotlight that came with that breakthrough and the ensuing online drama after the problem was downgraded. Today, Katie has climbed V16 again and her motivation has never been more in focus.
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July 25, 2025 • 40 mins
Together, Jesse and Molly Dufton create one of the most unique partnerships in rock climbing. Jesse knew two things from a young age. The feeling that traditional climbing gave him was something that he wanted to pursue through life and that a genetic disorder would eventually rob him of his sight. Through the years Jesse and Molly figured a path forward through a shared life of adventure climbing and first ascents.
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July 11, 2025 • 61 mins
Sonnie Trotter would never admit to being Canada’s best rock climber, but his multi-decade career of cutting-edge trad climbs and nails-hard sport routes certainly puts him in that conversation. In his new book, Sonnie looks back to the people, experiences and community that defined his path into professional climbing. Just don’t take financial advice from him.
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June 27, 2025 • 51 mins
Writer Cassidy Randall’s new book Thirty Below unearths the story of the first all-female ascent of Denali in 1970 and reveals a deeper story of ambition and teamwork. It’s an incredible story with complex characters. In a sport obsessed with legends and heroics, why did the Denali Damsels nearly fade into history?
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June 13, 2025 • 55 mins
Elite competition is a young person's game, but when 44-year-old legend Chris Sharma witnessed climbing on the Olympic stage last summer, it lit a fire in him, or at least a small flame. Chris undeniably changed climbing bringing the sport into its modern era, establishing the 5.15 grade, winning World Cups and World Championships as a teen, but an Olympics appearance is the one thing missing. LA 2028 is definitely on his mind. Fir...
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May 30, 2025 • 48 mins
Amity Warme first showed up in Yosemite Valley in 2019 young, scrappy and in love with the adventurous side of our sport. What’s followed since is a meteoric rise through the discipline of traditional and big wall free climbing. What’s taken some of the world’s best to do over decades, Amity has squeezed into five years. What makes Amity so special? We dig in.
Book of Hate Video
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May 16, 2025 • 56 mins
In 2021, Vitaliy Musiyenko closed the chapter on a years-long obsession with a 32-mile-ridge line featuring 60 summits in the heart of the Sierra. The Goliath Traverse is likely the longest ridge traverse ever completed on the planet. For Vitaliy, it was part of a much larger journey that began with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
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May 2, 2025 • 55 mins
In 2024, Michaela Kiersch became the first woman to climb both V15 and 5.15 putting her on climbing’s global radar. To midwest climbers and those in the know, she was already a legend for her incredible training sessions and ability to balance a career outside climbing. Alex and Michaela chat about what it’s like to become a part of history, the lessons learned from losing a parent at a young age and her incredible 2024.
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April 18, 2025 • 63 mins
After rising to the highest echelon of professional skiing, Cody Townsend took a step back and embraced climbing to take him to the next chapter of his career. Today, Cody sits on the cusp of completing an all-time goal – climbing and skiing the 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America.
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April 4, 2025 • 50 mins
We are back with the Greatest of All Time – Janja Garnbret. For the last decade, Janja has dominated competitive climbing, capping it off with her second gold medal at the Olympics last summer. Where does she find the motivation to keep improving when she’s won everything there is to win?
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November 1, 2024 • 52 mins
Ben Mayforth’s strength is a sight to behold. The professional paraclimber’s social clips of campusing double digit boulder problems may have made it into your social feed, but his story runs much deeper than any grade or route. It’s a story of hard work, belonging and finding a path in the world.
Forerunner features Alex Johnson
Adapted Part 1 and Part 2 features Mo Beck
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