The Power Company Climbing Podcast

BOARD MEETINGS | 3 Things We’ve Learned From Better Climbers with Edwin Teran

In Part 2, continued from yesterday's Episode 81, Edwin and I come up with our Top 3 List of things we've learned from climbing with better climbers. 
You can find Edwin Teran and his photography online at www.edwinteran.com 
Follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/edwinteran/
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Edwin Teran | Learning from Better Climbers

Climbing is unique in that we get to share the playing field with the best in the game. I can't think of a moment when you shouldn't use that to your advantage and pay close attention to what the better climbers at the crag are doing. Not just how they move (that too!), but how they structure their day, how long they rest, how they warmup, and what their attempts look like. 
So much to learn.
In this episode I sit down with my good friend Edwin Teran and talk about his unique position as a photographer and regular partner to many pro climbers. Edwin is an incredibly thoughtful climber, so he isn't going to let many learning opportunities slip by, and we dig into some of the best.
You can find Edwin online at www.edwinteran.com
You can follow Edwin on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/edwinteran
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Steve Maisch | Assessments

In this much requested episode, I sit down with Salt Lake climber and coach Steve Maisch to discuss assessments. Steve had some of the first assessments I remember seeing online, and we go into how he's added, subtracted, and refined those. We talk a little about Steve's own assessments, and an important thing that he overlooked in his own training.
Many of us coaches are loosely collecting data for these assessments, but how important is it all, really?
You can find Steve online at www.stevemaischtraining.com (if he ever gets his site back online)
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

BOARD MEETINGS | When To Say Take

There are appropriate times to say "Take". There are also instances when saying it is only slowing your progress. In this episode, Nate and I sit down in Bozeman, Montana during our work at Spire Climbing Center to discuss a topic that many people don't realize that they don't fully understand. 
Don't forget to share the podcast with your friends, your enemies, and strangers on the street. They'll thank you, and so will we. 
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

PSA | Don’t Believe The Hype

With the amount of available information on training for climbing growing rapidly, it becomes increasingly harder to know what is worth keeping and what's trash.
I've been considering this type of episode for some time, but when I read a recent article from Climbing Magazine, I knew I had to do it. Among many uninformed statements in the article is one that states "a good way to build power is to try difficult moves when you're already tired."
Not only is this incorrect, but it's dangerous. 
I was all set to tear this article apart. Instead, I've decided to turn this into something positive, and make it a learning experience for all of us. Not everyone reading the article - or any article, post, book, whatever - can easily recognize which information is worth saving and what should be thrown out, so let's explore several ways that you can use common sense to recognize when to seek your information elsewhere. 
Don't Believe The Hype.
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Beth Rodden | Climbing and Parenting

When Beth Rodden redpointed To Bolt or Not To Be in 1998 she became the youngest woman to climb 5.14a. Fast forward 20 years and Beth's website lists her as "Mother - Pro Climber - Writer". Mother first. Climbing is growing up.
Beth and I sat down in Jackson, Wyoming while she was there to speak at The Teton Library Mountain Story series, despite delayed flights and a busy schedule. I wanted to know how climbing had changed for her since her son Theo was born, and what tips she might have for parents who are embarking on their own adventures.
One of the most accomplished climbers of all time, it hasn't been all smooth sailing for Beth, and we dig into that and how it's informed her decisions. Her entire identity was as a climber. What happens when you're climbing 4 or 5 NUMBER grades below your previous best? Are you still a climber? Where does your identity go?
Beth has a good hold on this, and we can all learn from it.
You can find Beth at www.bethrodden.com
See Beth's recommendations for kid gear HERE.
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Dr. Allen Lim | Fueling from Skratch

Dr. Allen Lim is a sports physiologist, author (you can find his great cookbooks below), and founder of Skratch Labs. We sat down at Skratch headquarters in Boulder, Colorado for what might be the most fascinating and easily digestible (pun intended) look at nutrition and hydration ever recorded.  Seriously.  
We talk how hydration works and why water just isn't enough. We also go into recovery and why Skratch decided not to mess with the magic of chocolate milk. Because I think it's important for you (and me) to understand, Allen explains the lineup of Skratch products and how and when to best use them. 
You can find Skratch Labs at www.skratchlabs.com
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Heather Weidner | Self Worth and China Doll

Heather Weidner doesn't need an introduction, but this episode certainly does. When I recently watched a film made about Heather's ascent of China Doll, putting her into a small group of women to have climbed 14a on gear, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. It seemed that given the current gender climate, the filmmakers, Jon Glassberg and Caroline Treadway, could have crafted a story that didn't depict Heather as so dependant on her husband, Chris Weidner, for not only support, but to also tell and show her how to climb the route.
Shortly after, Heather wrote a blog post indicating that she felt similar upon seeing the film, and I knew I had to talk to her about it. The omissions, the contradictions, and the lessons. 
You can find Heather online at www.heatherclimbs.com
You can find Jon Glassberg and LT11 at www.lt11.com
You can find Caroline Treadway at http://carolinetreadway.com/
You can see the film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vZG7FTDM9U
You can read Heather's blogpost at https://heatherclimbs.com/2017/12/08/the-china-doll-contradiction-behind-the-scenes-of-the-film/
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Justin Salas | Nonsighting

If you've heard of Justin Salas, you may refer to him as a "blind climber". You'd be wrong. He's a climber who happens to be blind, just like you're a climber who happens to have sight. 
I had the opportunity to session with Justin at Tension Climbing, and it was fascinating to get to observe and be a part of his process, and talking through it with him was just as interesting. The tools that Justin uses to climb into the V-double digits are the same tools that we use, and the same ones that many of fail to cultivate. We've got a lot to learn.
You can find Justin online at www.justinsalas.com
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.

Russ Clune | The Importance of Travel

Russ Clune has climbed in more places than you. That is, unless you're Brittany Griffith (maybe). Climbing since the late 70's, and having climbed in around 50-some countries, I wanted to know what the legendary Clune had learned from other climbers in other cultures, and how he's applied that to his own climbing. His climbing partners are a who's who list of legends: Wolfgang Gullich, Lynn Hill, Patrick Edlinger, Jerry Moffat, Todd Skinner, Ron Kauk, and many others. Russ not only fed off of their abilities, but noticed their tactics and their approach.
Travel is one of the most important and easiest ways to improve as a climber. It doesn't need to be travel to some exotic place. That scrappy limestone cliff in the backwoods can be a perfect place to learn a new technique.
And it doesn't have to be with superstar climbers. There can be as much to learn from how the eager 5.11 climbers conduct themselves as their is by watching Megos on his latest project. 
You can climb with Russ in the Gunks through www.alpineendeavors.com
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
 
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.