Dorothea Karalus drove over 400 miles, repeatedly, over several years to repeat Fred Nicole’s classic V13 La Danse des Balrogs in Branson, Switzerland. Through the process, she discovered that happiness wasn’t sending - it was a separate thing - and maybe, just maybe, this is what allowed her passage on the boulder. In this episode, Kris asks Doro to set the scene in Branson and describe the boulder field, the view, the atmosphere, and the boulder itself. They discuss passion reignited and...

Bjorn Pohl is a climbing journalist and podcaster who has covered climbing since the late 90’s, and has seen the impact of Fred Nicole on bouldering for the past 20 plus years. In this episode, Kris and Bjorn discuss Fred’s contributions, how he was also a top sport climber, the importance of hard repeats and Fred’s continued legacy. We also hear Fred’s response when his resume was questioned by one of the top climbers of the 1990’s! Check out more...

Will Anglin spends a lot of time thinking hard about hard bouldering. And good bouldering. And of course, doing as much of both as possible. As founder of Tension Climbing, Will has made sure his company - and his climbing - follows the philosophy “mastery over success”. Much like Fred Nicole, he measures his words and movements carefully, and has a reason for everything - often unspoken. In this episode, Kris and Will discuss the singular style of Fred Nicole, his true and most lasting...

Fred Nicole was never simply an athlete. He was an artist. Coming into bouldering via a different direction than you might think, Fred Nicole did indeed create art. Really, really difficult art. First, La Danse des Balrogs, the worlds first V13. But that merely opened a door to new possibilities. Moving in his singular style, he sought out new challenges, new boulders on which to be tested. Or was it the other way around? Was he the one doing the testing? After all, what is art if it isn’t...

Two of the legendary routes from the 90s are now at odds with each other. One of them was likely the first 9a in the world, but which was it? Hubble or Action Directe? In this bonus episode, we’re going to examine the circumstances, discuss where the debate began, and hear from the only two people in the world who have climbed both routes - Alex Megos and Buster Martin - to try and decide once and for all which route was really the world’s first 9a. Check out more here!

There’s no climber more qualified to discuss Action Directe than Alex Megos. He has the fastest ascent, the most ascents, and he is, in our estimation, the person who is carrying the torch that Wolfgang Gullich left behind.  In this episode, we discuss the visionary line of Action Directe, what makes it different and so present in our consciousness even over 30 years after the first ascent, and how the Frankenjura was the perfect training ground. We also get into Wolfgang, his presence in...

One of Australia’s best and most colorful climbers, Ben Cossey is, in his words, a Wolfgang Gullich froth dog. Action Directe is a life goal that he’s come close on, and plans to return to.  In this episode, Kris and Ben discuss the legacy of Action Directe, speculate on what might have been if Wolfgang had lived, and get very deep and nerdy on the sequences used by various ascentionists of the most famous sport climb on the planet. Check out more...

13d, 14a, 14b. (8b to 8c) Wolfgang Gullich was the first to climb them all. Now, with Action Directe, he was set to raise standards once again. In the Waldkopf region of the Frankenjura, Wolfgang left us his most enduring legacy: a 16-18 move masterpiece through single and two-finger pockets and powerful moves out an impossibly steep limestone bulge.  But it could have gone quite differently. He could have stayed in the alpine, free climbing those freezing big walls in Pakistan. Or it’s...

In 2000, Steve McClure completed a project Ben Moon had spent 120 days on and left unfinished, calling it Northern Lights and giving it 9a. The torch was passed. A few years later, he climbed a route that completed his journey - Hubble - saying that it might be more important to him than his own first ascents. One of which was Mutation, a candidate for the first 9a+ or even 9b in the world. In this bonus episode, Steve and Kris discuss the impact of Ben Moon and Hubble, the passing of the...

Buster Martin burst onto the UK climbing scene as a 16-year-old by climbing Bat Route, a famous 14b at Malham. And even though he took a break from climbing, he didn’t fizzle out entirely like many prodigies tend to do. Instead, he came back with a vengeance by climbing BOTH Hubble and Action Directe, becoming only the 2nd person to clip chains on both of these test pieces.  Buster joins Kris to discuss Raven Tor and Hubble, trading texts with Ben while working both routes, the debates around...

It’s hard to argue that any climber from the 90’s had a bigger impact than Ben Moon, and he did it from the launch of the decade.  While he wasn’t looking for controversy, he also wasn’t afraid to make a statement. All punk rock and dreadlocks, he established the first two 14b’s in France, with names like missiles aimed directly at the French. He defied British ethics to move the sport forward into the next century. And yes, he even broke Wolfgang Gullich’s streak of firsts by establishing...

If Lynn Hill kicked in the door at the start of the 90s, then Katie Brown ripped it from it’s hinges as the decade came to a close. On April 11, 1999, Katie onsighted Omaha Beach in the Red River Gorge, becoming the first woman to onsight 13d. (The route was later upgraded to 14a after hold breakage). But even before this feat, Lynn Hill called Katie the best sport climber in the history of the sport. On this episode, Katie Brown joins Kris to discuss Lynn Hill's impact on her and the...

If the 1990’s had a door, then Lynn Hill, one of the first American climbers to embrace the new European climbing ethics, definitely kicked it in. At the start of the decade, no woman had climbed 5.14, and one particular French superstar had said that no woman WOULD EVER climb the grade. And so Lynn, channeling the energy from the men who had always told her she couldn’t, rose up from an accident that nearly killed her to prove him wrong, and to change the course of women’s climbing...

The French vs. the British. Ethics wars. The hardest moves ever done on rock. A ghost in the forest and women showing the boys how it should be done. Host Kris Hampton tells the stories of rock climbing's most important ascents and characters from a decade that would prove pivotal in the development of the sport: the 1990s.  The legends are all here. Moon, Hill, Skinner, Tribout, Nicole, Gullich and MORE! Produced by Kris Hampton with help from Ryley Rush and Emily Holland for Plug Tone...