The Power Company Climbing Podcast

Lowpointing: The Most Overlooked Climbing Tactic

You know what highpointing is, and definitely redpointing, but what about lowpointing? And for those of you who know what we’re talking about, do you actually do it? Chances are, you’re not using this tactic to its full potential, which means you’re not using it to your full advantage.
In this Board Meeting, Kris and Nate discuss the tactic of lowpointing, when and why you should use it, and some of the reasons why it remains one of the most overlooked climbing tactics, despite the fact that it could speed up the sending process for many folks.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes sponsor-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

REWIND | Ravioli Biceps on Moonboarding, Process, and Identity

Five years ago this week, Ravioli Biceps walked into the gym, did his usual detailed warmup, and then set his camera up pointed at the Moonboard. It had only been a year since he'd started climbing on it, and he'd obsessively worked his way through the benchmarks. And on this day, he pulled on and finished the final benchmark of the 2016 set, becoming the first person to do so.
This kind of dedication is rare, and deserves to be recognized. So now, five years since becoming the undisputed king of the Moonboard, we REWIND to this conversation about process, identity, and using a tool to its absolute fullest with Ravioli Biceps.
 
Check out Ravioli Biceps on YouTube.
Follow Ravioli Biceps on Instagram (includes the 2016 set).
Follow the 2019 set on Instagram.
Snag some Ravioli Biceps merch.
Snag some Mooncollective merch.
 
This episode originally aired on September 9, 2019.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Taped Tips | Connect the Dots: Where Climbers (and Coaches) are Going Wrong

There’s more information out there than ever. When I first started Power Company Climbing, there were very few training blogs, no training podcasts for climbers, maybe one other remote climbing coach, and honestly, very few reputable sources for information on how to improve. 
That lack of information, or of people willing to offer advice, is certainly no longer the case. It’s quite the opposite now. There’s SO MUCH out there to wade through, never mind spending time to parse it out, verify the claims made, and think critically about the applicability of it. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of internet coaches, dozens of podcasts all doing the same interviews about the same topics, and millions of posts and videos telling you exactly how to train. 
That’s the root of our problem. But the problem itself? That’s us – and how we collect these things. 
We have become collectors – rather than connectors – of dots.
 
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Taped Tips is presented by Power Company Climbing and Plug Tone Audio.
You can help us keep episodes sponsor-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

CONFLICTED: Kneebarring on Boulders

Does kneebarring hard boulders make you stronger? What if it IS a kneebar boulder? Is it good for training? We're conflicted. And how does Chris Sharma feel about it?
This is a bonus Board Meeting episode from our new series, CONFLICTED. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, become a Patron or Apple subscriber today!
Head over to www.patreon.com/powercompanypodcast or subscribe to Power Company + in your Apple Podcasts app!

Taped Tips | 3 Tips for Training for Climbing Trips

Training is training is training. You’ve done your homework, you know how to periodize a training plan, you understand set and rep schemes and RPE and autoregulation, you’ve got all the latest tech and warmup tools, and you’ve somehow figured out how to fit all 482 things into a week, including recovery time and self-care mental health days. You’ve optimized.
Congrats.
But now you have a climbing trip coming up. The rock is different. The style is different. Your pre-trip time is short and the number of days you’ll be climbing even shorter. What’s more, if you do your normal training block for this upcoming trip, it’ll overlap with the good days in your climbing season and you want to optimize for BOTH. 
Well, realistically, you probably can’t. What you can do is learn the best way to train for a climbing trip, which is different from training for your normal climbing season. And you’re going to do just that, because we’ve got you covered with some useful tips.
 
Check out our What When How to Train series.
Check out our Trip Prep Plans.
Learn the Art of the Second Try Send.
Watch Nate break down the Ten Minute Takedown.
 
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Taped Tips is presented by Power Company Climbing and Plug Tone Audio.
You can help us keep episodes sponsor-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

REWIND | Craig DeMartino on Making Hard Decisions and Using Limitations

For most climbers, a 100-foot ground fall would be the end of their lives, or at the very least, the end of their climbing careers. Not so for Craig DeMartino.
21 years ago this week, while climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park, a moment of miscommunication nearly cost him everything, and did lead to the eventual amputation of his right leg. But instead of letting the resulting limitations do just that – limit him – Craig changed his perspective and kept on climbing, ultimately becoming one of the most accomplished paraclimbers in the world. Today, we REWIND to this conversation with Craig about motivations, limitations, perception, and moving forward.
Learn more about Craig at his website.
Follow Craig on Instagram.
Check out Craig's book: After the Fall.
Hear Craig's story on "The Enormocast".
Watch Craig on "The Season".
 
This episode originally aired on January 3, 2017.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Tactics with The Struggle Climbing Show

In this episode, which comes to us from The Struggle Climbing Show podcast, Kris sat down with host Ryan Devlin to talk tactics. Kris took a look at episodes from the show’s second season – which included interviews with some of today’s biggest names in climbing, like Jonathan Siegrist, Tommy Caldwell, Melina Costanza, Matt Fultz, Alison Vest, and more – and breaks down the biggest tactical takeaways for us.
 
Check out more episodes of The Struggle Climbing Show.
Follow The Struggle Climbing Show on Instagram.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes sponsor-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

REMIX | FAILURE : How Quitting More Leads to Bigger Sends

As climbers, we fail a lot. And yet, we don’t even like to hear the word. Our ability to return to unsent projects time after time, season after season, along with the deeply ingrained idea that every failure ought to be reframed as a successful learning experience means we rarely – if ever – actually confront the concept in our sport.
But maybe we should.
In this REMIX episode, we'll hear from climbers Nina Caprez and Erica Lineberry, mindset coach Josie McKee, movement coach Jeremy Fein, and cognitive psychologist turned professional poker player turned decision strategist, Annie Duke, about how we can accept, embrace, and maybe even practice failure to become better athletes.
Find videos, links, a full transcript, and more for this episode HERE.
Music for this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

REWIND | Paul Piana on Mentorship, Partnership and Big Dreams

Today we REWIND to this classic episode with living-legend and climbing pioneer Paul Piana himself, 35 years after he and Todd Skinner completed their historic first free ascent of El Cap’s Salathé Wall on June 15, 1988, helping to shape the dreams of many generations of climbers to come. Lynn Hill doing the Nose a few years later, Tommy Caldwell on the Dawn Wall, and the new generation of climbers like Connor Herson, Jordan Cannon, Brittany Goris and Amity Warme.
And most important, what this latest generation has pulled from Paul and his contemporaries, is that it’s important to do it all – bouldering, sport, big walls, both adventure and difficulty, and a reverence for history without letting the mythology hold you back.
 
We’ve still got a handful of signed copies of Paul’s 1997 book Big Walls: Breakthroughs on the Free-Climbing Frontier available HERE. With every purchase, you’re donating to The Todd Skinner Legacy Fund, which aims to support the continuing mission of the late Todd Skinner by funding endeavors and programs in his spirit.
Click HERE to hear Kris’s poem The Cowboy King, mentioned in the episode, which features over 100 classic route names from the Lander area.
This episode originally aired on October 7, 2020.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

What Pro Climbers Can Learn From Taylor Swift

Whether you are a pro climber, small business owner, coach, writer, filmmaker or any other entrepreneur in the climbing industry, Taylor Swift has something to teach you.
In this Board Meeting, Kris and Nate draw what might seem an odd comparison: pro climbers and Miss Americana herself, Taylor Swift. With some of the recent industry drama surrounding the Eddie Bauer athlete team firing and the shuttering of the big print mags, the topic of what it means to be a paid pro climber, writer, or creative these days is up for debate. Kris compares the outdoor industry to today’s music industry, where – thanks to streaming services like the one you’re probably using to listen to this episode right now – artists are no longer making money from their music but rather ticket sales, brand collaborations, and other outlets. An artist or athlete’s accomplishments alone, be they a #1 hit song or a groundbreaking FA, are no longer enough. Taylor Swift seems to have figured it out, so maybe the pros should be taking notes.
Special thanks to Lauren Abernathy and her crew of Swifties for pointing me to good lyrics to pull for this episode. 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes sponsor-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.