17: Charlie Boscoe, Ex-IFSC Commentator
Charlie is a broadcaster and writer who preceded Matt Groom as an IFSC commentator and EpicTV host. In this episode, we’ll learn about his rough start to IFSC commentating in 2016, ways that he thinks the IFSC could improve competitions, and get some insight into what it’s like traveling around with athletes. He also shares his unique story about traveling to North Korea!
Timestamps
Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Introduction/giving some love to North America
8:59 - Kicking IFSC's door in for a job
14:25 - Hardest year: 2016 commentary
18:02 - A trip to North Korea
26:21 - Improving IFSC Production
31:42 - Charlie's biggest commentary mistakes
37:51 - Repetitive Commentary
43:42 - The handoff to Matt Groom
46:23 - Why he left IFSC
51:03 - Post-IFSC work
52:50 - What it's like traveling around with climbers
56:40 - Dirtbag vs serious pro climbers
1:07:12 - Ideas to make competitions more entertaining to watch
1:13:18 - Secret beef between climbers?!
1:18:16 - Discord Q: What changes would you like to see for comps/broadcasting?
1:20:47 - Discord Q: Get Rid of ISO?
1:23:03 - Discord Q: How could IFSC grow the sport?
1:30:44 - Where to find Charlie
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For a start, we had six World Cups in six weeks.
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We did Meiringen, Japan, two in China, one in India, and then Innsbruck in six weeks.
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And as I say, I knew you know yourself when you've messed up.
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You don't need anyone to tell you.
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There aren't many climbers who live their lives like true elite athletes.
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Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Coming podcast.
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I'm your host Jinni, and I'm excited to introduce my guest, Charlie Boscoe.
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Charlie is a broadcaster and writer who preceded Matt Groom as an IFSC commentator and Epic TV host.
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In this episode, we'll learn about his rough start to IFSC commentating in 2016,
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ways that he thinks the IFSC could improve competitions,
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and get an inside look as to what it's like traveling around with elite level athletes.
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Hope you enjoy this episode with Charlie.
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Okay, cool. Let's get right into it then.
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Well, how are you doing today?
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I'm good, thank you. Yeah, would like to be outside sitting in the sun, but I'm sadly in my studio.
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I know, I'm so sorry. It looked really nice.
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Yeah, that's fine.
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But you're getting ready for your busy trip back to Europe today then?
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Yeah, flying to England tomorrow. So, busy, busy times packing and got to be out early tomorrow.
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So yeah, trying to wrap up work and pack and it's a familiar position to be in.
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Well, thanks for taking the time to be here with me today then.
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No problem at all.
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And so you're British, but you and you like lived in various places in Europe.
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So why did you decide to settle down in Canada?
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Just a general lifestyle, really. I've always really liked North America.
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Always the first time I came, I remember the first time I came to America, I just thought, wow, this is just great.
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I love it here. But then Trump happened and that kind of changed my perception of America slightly.
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And decided that Canada might be the right option.
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And also I'm self-employed and health care would be a huge issue in the States.
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So Canada was kind of the better solution in a way and probably retains a bit more of a European feel because it's bilingual.
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A lot of the schooling is bilingual. So it feels slightly, slightly more European, slightly more familiar, I think, to a European than the States does.
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But the States is still my favorite place to go on holiday and still go as often as I can.
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But yeah, we decided that Canada was right. Just overall lifestyle, especially here where we are, it's the warmest place in Canada, which isn't saying that much, but it means we get nice long, hot summers.
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Well, yeah, I feel like I have not heard many people say that they love the like North America.
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I mean, is it like the nature? Because also, I think Europe has great mountains and nature and everything.
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Yeah, it is. It's partly that. I mean, what you don't really have in Europe that you have here is wilderness, true wilderness.
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And the first that first trip I did to the States probably 10 years ago and we went around Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah.
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And I just couldn't believe the size of everything, the scope of it, and that the big sky that Montana is famous for.
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I just love that feeling of space and wilderness. But also I did my bachelor's degree in politics and specialize in American politics.
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And I've just always been fascinated by American history, politics. I just think it's probably the most interesting country to study.
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And I mean, I went to D.C. I was like a pig in mud. I was honestly, I could have spent a month walking around D.C.
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just geeking out on American history. So I've always been fascinated by the country socially, politically.
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And then when I actually visited, I realized I actually love the landscapes as well.
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And 99.9% of Americans, like any country, are fantastic. I really enjoyed virtually everyone I came into contact with.
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So I don't know. I just sometimes think I was just born on the wrong continent.
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I just always as long as for the last 10 years or so just always felt like I wanted to live in North America. And it's it's delivering. I really like it.
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That's awesome. And that's just like so weird to hear. I feel like because I mean, maybe because I'm American and I'm surrounded by Americans.
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Everyone also just has like the grass is greener side where they don't want to be here.
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So it's really interesting to hear the opposite perspective. Well, I think.
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I was I love the thought of what America is supposed to be and the kind of romantic notions on which it was founded.
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And I know that obviously at times it's strayed a bit from that.
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But still, the the idea behind America is very inspiring to me and very appealing.
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And you there is certainly I don't like using the word freedom.
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It kind of reminds me of George Bush a bit too much. But there is a sense of freedom and anything being possible here.
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More so than there is in Europe. I've really noticed that you really feel like anything is possible there.
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Oh, I guess like what are you missing there in terms of feeling like anything's possible?
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We're really straying onto some of my pet topics here, but I talked to I talked to people who've lived in both continents and a good friend of mine lived,
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was a naturalized American, lived here, well, lived in America, Canada for 20 years and now is in Europe.
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And I said to him, what will be the biggest difference when I move there?
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What will I notice more than anything? He said in America, anything is possible.
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And he said that immediately. And his theory, you have to remain nameless because he's a climber, so people might know who he is.
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But his theory was that perhaps life in some European countries is just a little bit too easy and it kind of removes your drive a little bit.
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So we lived in Austria for five years and it's the most fabulous place to live.
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But the government's kind of got your back. You know, they'll pay for your schooling right through university.
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You have exceptional health care. You have amazing child benefits.
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You have all these amazing government programs and are not against them in any way.
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But I do think that in a way that the fact that you don't really need to do much and you'll have a really comfortable, pretty affluent,
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enjoyable life, I think in some ways isn't good for people's motivation.
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And I think the states in particular, anytime I'm in the states or work with people down there,
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they're kind of aware that they're out there on their own in the world.
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The government has got their back to have only just got their back, if at all.
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And as I say, I'm not advocating for one or the other, but I do think it gives people a little bit more fire in their belly here.
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Yeah, I mean, I can't say I like that. I'm not always secure.
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But that's an interesting perspective.
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And I have to say Canada to me is kind of a happy middle ground where we do have universal health care.
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You do have more generous social support, but it's still a long way off what you would get,
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certainly in Austria or one of the more left-wing European countries.
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So no, I agree. I mean, I would, for me personally, I would feel quite nervous living in the states,
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being self-employed, having to pay for my own health care.
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So Canada to me is that nice blend of like, we're not completely screwed if something goes wrong,
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but we kind of need to take care of ourselves. And yeah, that's the right balance for me.
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Yeah, sounds like you found the perfect spot.
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I love talking about the difference between Europe and North America.
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It's one of those topics I just find super interesting.
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Yeah, I really enjoy the philosophizing over it, but I guess it's not what people on this podcast want to hear about.
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They want to hear about, I mean...
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Well, they might be a little curious, but yeah, maybe you'll get some questions after.
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But for now, since it is a climbing podcast, we'll start getting into that stuff.
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So for those who don't know how you're involved in the comp climbing world,
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yeah, how did you get involved and how did you get there?
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So I've been climbing, started climbing seriously when I left university. So it was 2006.
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Anyone doing the maths will appreciate that.
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That means I've got a birthday this year that ends in a zero, which is amazingly depressing.
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So yeah, started climbing, seriously climbing in 2006.
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I kind of dabbled with it before then, done lots of outdoor sports and ended up in Chamonix
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and stayed there for a long time and I wanted to be a mountain guide
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and did a lot of guiding in the Himalayas and Andes and North Africa.
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That was the path I was going to follow and I just was suffering more and more with long-term injuries.
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I've got a really bad hip, really bad back and I just thought, man, you can't do a physical job.
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You just haven't got the body to do a physical job.
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So I decided not to pursue the guiding anymore, which was pretty heartbreaking.
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It took me a few years to get over that one.
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But then I was kind of fishing around for what to do and I lived in Chamonix
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and a good friend of mine, Jack Goldard, was presenting Epic TV's Climbing Daily Show and he was stopping.
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Apparently, the reference that he gave to Epic TV was,
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you should get Charlie because he knows about climbing and he likes the sound of his own voice.
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I went for a screen test.
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I know I'm the only person that went for a screen test, so I kind of got the job by default.
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I did that for two years and obviously working at Epic TV, you get to know all the climbers.
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We went to some IFSC events and after a couple of years, I was looking for a new challenge.
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I thought, well, the IFSC, I've been to some of their events and seen what they do.
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So I got in touch with them and I basically refused to not let them give me a job.
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I learned a good lesson in the process actually because they weren't looking for a new commentator.
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They had a guy and I wasn't necessarily fishing for the commentator job.
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I thought, well, I know how to present on camera and I know about climbing and I'm well connected
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and surely there's something we can do.
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But they really weren't looking for anyone.
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Then they said, look, we're already sorted for next season.
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We appreciate your interest, but we're having a meeting tomorrow in Annecy to kind of sign everything off.
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By this stage, I was living in Innsbruck, so Annecy was seven hours away.
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I said, well, look, how about I just drive over to Annecy and we could at least talk.
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So I got in the car, drove seven hours, got in the room, basically just kind of made my pitch and got the job.
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So it was a good lesson that actually the door might appear to not be open,
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but if you just kick hard enough, it might well open.
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So did you start out as the commentator?
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Yeah, yeah. So I started out as a commentator.
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But that was I wasn't pitching for a specific job.
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I was just saying, hey, it feels like there's some things I could do for you that would be help.
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And I didn't have the commentator job in mind.
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I feel a little bit bad for the guy who was commentating.
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But yeah, that's what I got.
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Yeah. So you just like replaced the old guy.
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They just like decided, oh, we're not going to fire this other guy now.
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How can I put this? I don't think they were distraught at having to replace him.
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Can I put it that way?
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I think they might have been OK with someone landing on their lap who they thought could do it better.
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Well, that must have been quite a shock.
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Yeah, it was. It was.
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But then obviously, I started doing the IFSC job and that ended up being five years.
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And now I got into it. Basically, he's Jack Galdart, who now runs Big Mountain Brewing in Chamonix, the beer company.
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It was him. I owe it all to Jack.
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Wow, that's interesting. Kind of brutal. I didn't know that's how you got there.
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Yeah, I mean, it sounds more brutal than it was.
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I was just thinking, I just thought, look, I've just left Epic TV and know all these people.
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I can do all this stuff. The IFSC Federation, by that stage,
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it was really clear climbing was going to be an Olympic sport. It wasn't even a secret.
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It's just obviously about to happen.
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And my thought was there must be something we can do together.
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I wasn't expecting that they would get rid of the connotation, give me his job.
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It certainly wasn't my intention by any means, but that was just how it ended up.
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Yeah, I mean, like through no fault of your own, I was just kind of surprised that they just threw you in there right after.
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That's like kind of wild to me.
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Me and the old commentator, we've chatted since we get on fine.
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He knows I wasn't hoaching his job.
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I had in mind a kind of climbing daily style job at the IFSC kind of presenting or making content around the events.
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So, but it worked out great.
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But it made for it was a big challenge to start with, for sure.
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Yeah, I'm glad you guys were able to clear the air.
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But yeah, going into the first year that you commentated for them in 2016, you did mention that it was a really hard year for you.
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So what happened there?
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Yeah, that was savage.
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Honestly, I just don't think you have many years in you like up my 2016.
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So I wrote a guidebook to Chamonix.
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So I was wrapping that up.
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That was going to be published in September 16.
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And obviously, as you get towards the end of writing a book, the workload increases, the importance and the stress and the timelines all tighten.
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So I had that.
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And then I did a project for National Geographic in the Dolomites in Italy.
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So every weekend I wasn't at the IFSC.
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I had to, at the start of the summer, go, right, these are the weekends I can do with a friend of mine who's a photographer.
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I'm going to be in the Dolomites and we're going to be hiking and bivouacking to take pictures of sunrise and doing VFRAs.
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There's all this stuff going on.
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So the book, the National Geographic thing, and then the IFSC job comes along.
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And obviously the IFSC job is pretty intense.
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But back then it was far more intense.
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Matt Groom was staying with me last week and I told him a million times that he just doesn't know he's born.
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This is what we did that first year.
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For a start, we had six World Cups in six weeks.
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So we did, yeah, so remember we did Meiringen, Japan, two in China, one in India, and then Innsbruck in six weeks.
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So I was in Asia for a month in the middle of all that.
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But the reason it was so savage was firstly I was learning the job.
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I've done some live commentary before, but it's like this whole, it was completely overwhelming the job, just doing the job.
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But there was a team of three of us.
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So that was me and two guys.
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One of them did the live directing and one of them did the graphics and any other job that needed doing in the broadcast beyond direction and me commentating.
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So three of us.
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So we would turn up in an arena and we would be laying the cables around the side of the arena with tape, taping them down, mounting cameras onto lead walls, installing the cameras.
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We were doing the manual setup of the broadcast.
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And then I would somehow try and learn this massive new job and actually do the commentary.
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And then as soon as the event finished, the guy who had been directing started editing the highlights while me and the other guy then went around the arena, pulling up all the cables, reeling them in, cleaning the cable as you put it back on, loading the truck, like manual labor.
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And then when that was done, the highlights would be ready.
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I'd write the voiceover, we'd record the voiceover, put them together, put it out on YouTube.
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So I was kind of doing, I was doing the manual labor of setting up a broadcast with cables and multiple cameras, doing the commentary and then also creating highlights package, usually about three o'clock in the morning, because that was how long it took when everything had finished.
194
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And then we'd go into multiple events and we had, I think that was the most events we ever had in one year.
195
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We had Youth World Championship, six events in the first six weeks.
196
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It was just a crazy year.
197
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And it was just the most overwhelming job to me.
198
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And as I mentioned, had all these other things going on.
199
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So that when I had a week off, I was just immediately straight into something else. And I went at the end of the year, just before the end of the IFC season, I went to North Korea for five days.
200
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And I'd always wanted to go, always wanted to go to North Korea.
201
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And so that was tourism, but it was still stressful.
202
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Like it's not, it wasn't like going and lying on the beach in Spain.
203
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So that was kind of, that was weighing on my mind for a couple of months before it. And when I was there, it's pretty full on being there.
204
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Yeah. I remember in 2016, just before Christmas, going for a hike with a friend of mine and I just couldn't walk up this hill.
205
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I was psyched. My body just completely shut down.
206
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So that's a bit of a long answer and I'm not trying to be over dramatic.
207
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It was a fantastic year. I mean, I talk about cramming a lot into a year.
208
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But I was pretty relieved when IFC started supplying a bit of help.
209
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So I wasn't, you know, literally laying the cables out in arenas and stuff that I could work, because a little bit more on my part of the job.
210
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So, but yeah, that if every year had been like 2016, there's no way I would have lasted five years.
211
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Yeah. I mean, that is a lot. And I'm also kind of curious about North Korea, because I don't think I know anyone who's been there.
212
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I didn't. Yeah. How do you even like get a tourism visa there?
213
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Well, now as an American, you can't. So that ship is the sail for you now.
214
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That's okay. Not planning on it.
215
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No, but I'd always been fascinated by it. As I said, my background, my academic background was in politics.
216
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North Korea, just the idea that a state can exist outside the world, essentially on seemingly on another planet.
217
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That was fascinating to me. And so you can actually go as a tourist.
218
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I don't think they've had anyone in since Covid, but pre-Covid, they had I think about 2000 people were allowed to go every year.
219
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And so you pay a travel agency and they sort out the visa for you.
220
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And it just so happened that I was in China just before one of their trips.
221
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And I thought, right, this is my chance. I'll never get the chance to go again.
222
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Were you scared to go? Yeah. Yeah. Very.
223
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Because if the if the wind changes, they could just if they took me prisoner, no one's coming to get me.
224
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You know, SEAL Team Six aren't going to land in a helicopter. That's it.
225
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Like it's it's over. So I was always aware that you are one stupid comment or one stupid action away from getting in trouble.
226
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And now I was I was definitely scared to go.
227
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I wouldn't go back even though it all went off smoothly.
228
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But I was glad I saw it. And I think there's always a bit of a moral dilemma going to places where you don't agree with the people that run it.
229
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But I do think because there's essentially giving them money.
230
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But I do think that it's made me a better person and certainly more proactive in standing up for what I believe in.
231
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So I'd like to think and obviously there's a bit of sugar coating going on, but I'd like to think that it made me it's been a net benefit.
232
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And but I would say that. But it was it was amazing to go. It was fascinating.
233
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It was horrifying. And if Americans are ever allowed back in and you feel like you want to adventure, then it's definitely an adventure.
234
00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:37,120
Yeah, not for me, but yeah, other people sounds it sounds very terrifying.
235
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But I'm glad you had that experience. And you know what they do.
236
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They make every effort to make it not terrifying. Right.
237
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I've heard. Yeah. But that kind of makes it more terrifying.
238
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Yeah, it's it's it's like petting a really aggressive dog or whatever.
239
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And it'll sit there quietly. But, you know, in a second, it could just bite your arm off. And yeah, they're really trying to make it seem as if it's no big deal.
240
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I mean, just quickly again, we're not talking about climbing.
241
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But as just to give you an idea, we went to we drove to the DMZ.
242
00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:23,120
The demilitarized and part of that was funny because there were people on the South Korean side taking pictures,
243
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like taking selfies, saying, oh, look, that's North Korea. I'm so close to North Korea. I'm seeing I'm standing here.
244
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I'm in North Korea. And they were kind of getting a bit of an adrenaline rush just taking a picture of the border.
245
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But yeah, when we when we drive in there, you drive along these highways and there is no traffic.
246
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:47,120
You just it's like there's been an Armageddon. You just this one vehicle on the highway.
247
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And we pulled into a service station. I think we were 13 in our group and you pull it into the restaurant and they go, oh, oh, yeah, sure.
248
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:03,120
Yeah, we can feed you. Yeah. Yeah. Here's a table with 13 places.
249
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So obvious that they knew we were coming and they'd been preparing all day for it. And they put out the most elaborate kind of buffet.
250
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And they'll have a hundred dishes like that big, full of tiny little stuff and just to try and show you the massive abundance they have,
251
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which obviously is complete nonsense. So it's it's a very interesting place to experience.
252
00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:34,120
Oh, yeah, that's crazy. I do like talk about it anywhere else.
253
00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:39,120
I feel like I would love to hear more about it, but we also have to talk about climbing.
254
00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:45,120
No, I haven't. No one's ever really asked me. I mean, friends have never never talked about it.
255
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:49,120
No, it's an amazing experience to go and it makes you appreciate your freedom.
256
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And when when I see. Honestly, when I see some of the things people complain about in the Western world and some of the outrage that you see,
257
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:04,120
I just think you you don't know how good you've got it.
258
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I'm not saying that our world, our part of the world is perfect by any means, but if you have the right to protest and make your feelings heard,
259
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then you already have it better than every single person in North Korea.
260
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So I think it's made me appreciate what I have and made me more willing to fight for it.
261
00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,120
And I think that's a good thing. Yeah, definitely gives you some perspective.
262
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:33,120
So, OK, yeah. So back to 2016. So that was the end of your 2016.
263
00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:38,120
So the years after did it like were there fewer World Cups?
264
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:43,120
So it was less on your plate or was it just you weren't doing any of the book stuff anymore.
265
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:48,120
So it was also easier. Yeah, I had a little less on around it.
266
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Obviously, by then I'd had enough practice doing the job that I wasn't why kind of drowning in the difficulty of the job.
267
00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:02,120
I was starting to get my head around it a little bit. We didn't have the same calendar.
268
00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:09,120
I said to them at the end of the first year, look, I'll do as many events as you want, but I'm not doing four back to back in Asia.
269
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I'm not going away for a month again.
270
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:19,120
You want to do that? No problem. But I'll have to check out one or two of them.
271
00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:24,120
And I think they probably realized it was a bit brutal.
272
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:28,120
So, yeah, we had a few less events. I had a bit less going on around it.
273
00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:35,120
And I was starting to get to grips with the job, but it was still bloody hard. It's a hard job.
274
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It's not hard like digging ditches in North Korea, but it's still mentally a very taxing and demanding job and it requires a lot of it.
275
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So I still found it tough. But yeah, it was and we got a little bit of extra help with the actual broadcast production.
276
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We had a few people at Kent Wong.
277
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There's a little bit of the heavy, literally heavy lifting of carrying boxes into arenas.
278
00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:03,120
So, yeah, it did get easier that next year, but it's still tough.
279
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:09,120
Yeah. And so like earlier you mentioned that it was just like two other people doing production in the background.
280
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And then you got like a few more people.
281
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:17,120
How has the production improved in the years that you were commentating?
282
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:23,120
I guess like past that. And if you have any insight into it, how has it improved since you've left?
283
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:32,120
I, after a couple of years when I wasn't just kind of overwhelmed by what I was doing and I was kind of getting to grips with it, I was getting my feet under the table.
284
00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:35,120
I was making the job my own a little bit.
285
00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:40,120
I really started to push in the off season to really work on what we were doing.
286
00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:52,120
And I had a lot of ideas, many of which might have been complete nonsense, but I was really keen to try and make the product better and make the broadcast better.
287
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And not many of that.
288
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I didn't feel there was a huge appetite for that.
289
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:08,120
I think most people seem to feel that what we were doing was fine and we should just keep doing it.
290
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:13,120
And I was really, I really wanted to do a bit more than that.
291
00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:21,120
So the improvements that were made were not that huge.
292
00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:25,120
I mean, it got a bit better. It got tightened up a bit.
293
00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:30,120
So much of what you can do to make it better is free.
294
00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:37,120
But I still got frustrated that there was a lot of things we could have done that were free and require no money, no effort.
295
00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:39,120
And would have made it better.
296
00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:52,120
I mean, to give you an example, I used to sometimes put together highlights, real at the end of the year and say, look, these are the things that we could just cut out tomorrow and it will cost you nothing.
297
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:54,120
It'll just look better.
298
00:27:54,120 --> 00:28:01,120
So, for example, a lot of the World Cups, a person will stand with a clipboard.
299
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:04,120
What do you call clipboards in America? There's another name for them.
300
00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:07,120
No, it's clipboards.
301
00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:09,120
I've never heard of that.
302
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:14,120
I was in Denver last week and I said, have you got a clipboard? And the woman went, what? And they had another name for it.
303
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,120
No, it's always been called a clipboard.
304
00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:19,120
She was from Tennessee.
305
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:21,120
Oh yeah, must be weird down there.
306
00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:40,120
So, there'd be a person, generally a middle-aged guy, standing in the doorway on the entrance to the stage and they'd put their head out and the head judge would go, you know, send the climber out and the guy with the clipboard would call the climber out.
307
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:53,120
And I would, I just said tiny little things like it looks crap when there's a guy with a clipboard, poke his head out of the athlete door in the final in front of a big crowd.
308
00:28:53,120 --> 00:29:05,120
It would be so much better if he was standing around the corner and him and the judge communicated with the radio and we never see him and the climber bursts out of an empty door that they don't shuffle past some person holding a clipboard.
309
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:12,120
It sounds ridiculous, but when you're watching it's just this tiny little mess that isn't necessary.
310
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:20,120
And I also thought there's a lot you could do with how you filmed it, where you put the cameras.
311
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,120
So there was, there was a lot I wanted to do.
312
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:30,120
And it did incrementally kind of creep up, but I thought there are a lot of easy wins that we left on the table.
313
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:37,120
But I have to give a big credit to Matt Groom because since I left he's really pushed and pushed and pushed.
314
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:43,120
And they are now doing a little bit more content behind the scenes.
315
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:49,120
They started a podcast recently, some of the hosts on that are a little bit shaky.
316
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,120
Come on.
317
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:57,120
No, I'm only kidding. I'm looking forward to listening to it.
318
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:01,120
But no, there is a little bit more content coming around the scenes.
319
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:08,120
But that took a, you know, there's been a lot of pushing on Matt's behalf and I was pushing before that.
320
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:15,120
So it has incrementally got a little bit better, but I think you could, there's an awful lot you could do with it to make it a lot better.
321
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,120
And just for the record, it went okay.
322
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:22,120
I did mess up a little on the intro, but the rest of it went okay.
323
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:23,120
Was it live?
324
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:24,120
It was live.
325
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:31,120
It was live. That's what I was nervous about because I mean, usually during this I can cut out whatever stupid thing I say.
326
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,120
And then, yeah, I'm definitely not used to live.
327
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:38,120
So props to you for doing that for five years.
328
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:39,120
It's exciting though, eh?
329
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:51,120
That's by far the most enjoyable element of doing the IFSC job is that you are live and you are, yeah, you can't make a mistake.
330
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,120
And it is happening in real time.
331
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,120
I really enjoy that element of it, but it definitely is.
332
00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:04,120
Why do you like that you could just say something stupid and have it live on forever?
333
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,120
It's just, it's more of a challenge, isn't it?
334
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:12,120
It's the reason that when you go for a run, you don't just, you know, you don't run as slow as you can.
335
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,120
You run as fast as you can.
336
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:19,120
It's that there's a challenge to doing something difficult and that's really appealing.
337
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:29,120
And when you're getting it right, it's the best feeling in the world. But by the same token, when you make a mistake, it is really, it really sticks in your gut.
338
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:39,120
But yeah, the thrill of being live and hearing the countdown in your headphones is just something I really relished and still do whenever I get the chance to do it.
339
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:44,120
Well, I guess speaking of mistakes, do any stick out to you from your five years there?
340
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:51,120
I mean, the whole of the first season, I was pretty crap, basically.
341
00:31:51,120 --> 00:32:04,120
I just, yeah, I hadn't appreciated the leap from just being a casual fan to actually having to talk about it all the time.
342
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:15,120
Because you think you know it and then actually something happens and you aren't sure what should happen next or what you're supposed to say.
343
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:22,120
And yeah, I remember we were in Mumbai. It was at the end of that month in Asia. I was honestly, I was so over it.
344
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:29,120
You're living on the road for a month away from family and with people who I'd only met five weeks earlier.
345
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:37,120
And they were nice, nice people, but it's a month's a hell of a long time. And I was so bloody over it.
346
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:47,120
And we had an event in Mumbai and I don't remember who it was. Might have been Rustam going off. Anyway, he got a top, but he didn't touch the zone on the way.
347
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:58,120
He found a way to do it without touching the zone. And I didn't know that if you get the top without touching the zone, you get the zone. You get awarded the zone.
348
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:07,120
Should have known it, didn't know it. And I called it wrong. And then obviously I got this eight hour flight back from Mumbai the next morning.
349
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:14,120
Just thinking, I can't believe I did that. And it is pretty mind. It doesn't matter. In the grand scheme of things, it's a climbing competition.
350
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,120
I mean, it doesn't matter. You wake up the next morning, the world's still turning.
351
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:24,120
But it's still annoying when you feel like you've not done as good a job as you should have done.
352
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:35,120
And it definitely bugged me when I made a mistake. But yeah, I certainly would not go back and listen to any 2016 broadcast because I would just want the ground to swallow me up.
353
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:41,120
Did you get like a lot of hate comments about that that happening?
354
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,120
I don't always read the comments.
355
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:58,120
I mean, the thing is, you actually know when you've done a good job, when you haven't done a good job. And I didn't not read comments.
356
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:06,120
And we actually on our WhatsApp group, if there were any really funny comments about me personally, we would share them on the WhatsApp group.
357
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:18,120
Not if it was, I hate Charlie. He's a complete idiot. That's boring. But if someone came up with something like a witty insult about me, we would generally someone would spot it and then they'd share it on the WhatsApp group.
358
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:22,120
And we kind of have a laugh about it like a unique insult. Yeah.
359
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:29,120
If some people come up with the most amazing stuff, really.
360
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:45,120
But no, I don't. I didn't make a point of reading it. And you know when you've done a good job. And the first thing anyone said to me, everyone says when you say you're in broadcasting, if they want to give you some advice, is they'll say be yourself.
361
00:34:45,120 --> 00:35:00,120
And I just always, always, always tried to do that. Because if you're yourself, some people will like you, some people will not like you. If you pretend to be something you're not, a lot less people will like you.
362
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:19,120
So I didn't kind of, didn't read too much about what people were saying about me because I thought I'm just trying to do the best job I can. I'm trying to genuinely be myself as best I can within the constraints of being professional and the job I've got.
363
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:32,120
But if people don't like it, they don't like it. And so, and as I say, I knew you know yourself when you've messed up. You don't need anyone to tell you. And there are definitely some broadcasts you finish and you think, yeah, that wasn't great.
364
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:41,120
Or that was, that was a bit flat. Or you made a mistake or you should have said this. I don't need anyone to tell me that.
365
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:54,120
But I did have people whose opinion I valued who would tell me what they thought. And if I, sometimes you'd finished a broadcast and you think, I don't know about that one.
366
00:35:54,120 --> 00:36:12,120
I'm not sure how that went. Then I read the comments and sometimes people would say nice things and bad things. But some people would say unpleasant things. But you can't live by what people say about you because A, some people will like you and some people won't.
367
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:31,120
But also, it's a specific type of person that goes on YouTube and leaves a comment. I am an average YouTube watcher. You know, it's like my go-to for something to watch is YouTube. And I can honestly say I've never left a YouTube comment.
368
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,120
Well, you're not helping the algorithm.
369
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:38,120
No, tell me about it. I don't even subscribe to things. I don't really get what.
370
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:39,120
Oh, come on.
371
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:43,120
No, I know. Sorry. I'm pretty sure I'm subscribed to this.
372
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,120
Oh, well, thank you.
373
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,120
Yeah, I think I've subscribed to about four things.
374
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,120
Oh, wow. Such an honor.
375
00:36:50,120 --> 00:37:07,120
But yeah, you don't need someone to tell you, you've done a bad job. And I know full well when I've done a bad job. So, I don't stress about it. I was, I really enjoyed the episode with Matt, by the way. I got so much love on that.
376
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:21,120
My ego was this undeserved, in my ad. Matt's there on his own merit. But yeah, I was surprised. He reads everything every time. You've got to have a pretty sick, you need a sick hide to do that.
377
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:30,120
You've got to have a hide like a rhinoceros to deal with that because reading not nice things about yourself and you're trying your best.
378
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:45,120
You've flown to the other side of the world and you're jet lagged and you're away from your family. And then people give you a hard time for their perceived, your perceived failures. That's pretty hard to take. So I'm kind of impressed that he reads it all.
379
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,120
Yeah, take some guts.
380
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:48,120
Tough guy.
381
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:54,120
Yeah, I guess speaking of Matt, do you have any like go to phrases or anecdotes like he does?
382
00:37:54,120 --> 00:38:02,120
No, I enjoy the Matt Bingo. And then people pointed out some of mine.
383
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:03,120
Yeah, what are those?
384
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:18,120
Coming out next. Apparently I used to say all the time, penultimate. Apparently I use the word penultimate a lot. But just to give people an insight, I used to, you have 26 men, 26 women in the lead semifinals.
385
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:25,120
There's 52, 52 people are going to come out and they're going to fall off at some stage.
386
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:36,120
So in a lead, in one lead semifinal in a year when you might have six lead World Cups, World Championships, Youth World Championships with three age categories.
387
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:49,120
I, and with bouldering the 20 climbers in the semifinal, 20 men, 20 women, that's 40. I remember I calculated that basically in the course of a season, several thousand people will come out and start climbing.
388
00:38:49,120 --> 00:39:00,120
And in the vast majority of cases are going to fall off at some stage. You just can't avoid repeating yourself.
389
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:08,120
And so, yeah, I definitely, apparently penultimate was one of them. Yeah, coming out next. I'm trying to remember.
390
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:20,120
I don't feel like people kind of latched onto mine in the same way they have with Matt. I'm kind of jealous. He's like got this following of people that are playing Matt Bingo. I don't get the impression people did that with me.
391
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:28,120
But yeah, in a sport like climbing, it's basically, it's not basically, it's completely impossible not to say the same thing over and over again.
392
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:39,120
The way to think about the IFSC job is imagine the next time you watch a climbing comp and you have to talk from the second it starts until the second it ends.
393
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:49,120
And you can't stop talking. So you can't go for a pee break. You can't rewind and say anything again.
394
00:39:49,120 --> 00:40:00,120
You have to talk from second one to the end of whatever it is, four hours without a break and without pausing.
395
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:10,120
Watch it back. And if you didn't say anything that you'd like to change, then you should immediately call the IFSC and take Matt Griebus job.
396
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:16,120
Yeah, it's impossible not to repeat yourself. So I must have had, I definitely had some.
397
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:22,120
Yeah, I feel like people probably underestimate how difficult the job is.
398
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:26,120
Because I mean, they're like sitting there and watching and they can point out all these little things.
399
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:32,120
But it's easy to sit at home and go, oh, he's not noticed this or he's not said that.
400
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:37,120
And then you lie back on the couch for five minutes and you go, oh, he's not noticed this.
401
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:44,120
And you think, yeah, OK, well, instead of the five minutes on the couch, since the TV came on, you've had to be talking.
402
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:51,120
I always tried and tried to keep in perspective. It's not in North Korea. It's not digging ditches.
403
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:58,120
It's not a hard job, but it is more mentally challenging than I think people realize.
404
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:06,120
Because when you're sitting at home, it's so easy with a cup of tea every 10 minutes to point out a mistake made by the commentator.
405
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:11,120
When you've just had the last 10 minutes with no stress, nothing to think about, no one talking, you're it.
406
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:16,120
All you're doing is sipping your cup of tea and then you suddenly come out with this insight.
407
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:27,120
That's great. But if you've not had that break and you've just been on for three hours up until that point, it's a very it's a very different thing.
408
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:32,120
And it is a hard job as much as a job talking about climbing can be hard.
409
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:41,120
Yeah, especially commentating through the really slow points like when they're waiting for podiums or something like that.
410
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:43,120
I don't even know what you talk about.
411
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:53,120
This is one of the things that I was always. I was just the guy in their ears and you need to tighten this up.
412
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,120
We don't need all this dead time. We don't want all this dead time.
413
00:41:56,120 --> 00:42:03,120
You watch Free Ride World Tour, the skiing, the podium is instantaneous.
414
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:08,120
I mean, the person's come down, they barely got their helmet and goggles off and they're getting thrown on the podium.
415
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:18,120
And there is so much dead time in those broadcasts and it's really hard to fill it.
416
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:20,120
And it doesn't really need to be there.
417
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:27,120
I would I would take apart the formats, but easy for me to say.
418
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:35,120
But yeah, there is there's a lot of dead time and filling it is when Mike Langley and I so Mike and I was probably before your time.
419
00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:39,120
I started watching fairly recently, so quite likely.
420
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:49,120
And for a couple of years there was an investment in having a co commentator pretty much permanently or certainly for European events and world championships.
421
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:56,120
And Mike and I really worked on our partnership and we were always geeking out.
422
00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:58,120
Could we do this? Can we say this? Could we put it better?
423
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,120
What about the pitch and the tone and the speed?
424
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,120
And we were always trying to figure it out.
425
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:16,120
So when I had Mike there and him and I had spent hours and hours on Zoom calls discussing how to do it better and how we could improve those long pauses weren't too bad.
426
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:27,120
But yeah, they feel bloody long when you with you with someone who may not be that responsive or when sometimes there is just nothing to say.
427
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:29,120
And you just have to keep up this stream.
428
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:33,120
So, yeah, it's a credit to Matt.
429
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,120
He does a great job filling those silences.
430
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,120
And yeah, I think he certainly does it a lot better than I did.
431
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:42,120
It does the whole job a lot better than I did.
432
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,120
But he he's especially good at silence filling.
433
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,120
Yeah, that's quite a skill.
434
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:55,120
What are some like tips that you gave Matt during the time of handoff or is there anything you hear him doing now that you want to give him feedback on?
435
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:57,120
No, no, no.
436
00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:04,120
The pattern for my work life has been that I've had a job then Matt's come along and done it better than I did.
437
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:10,120
So he no, he doesn't need any advice from me.
438
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:15,120
I mean, he did a couple of World Cups with me, so he kind of knew what he was getting into.
439
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:29,120
And obviously, we talked a lot beforehand about what life would be like doing the job and things you perhaps don't see from a viewer's perspective that he would need to think about.
440
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:36,120
But in terms of how to do it now, he doesn't he doesn't need any advice from me.
441
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:48,120
I also think you have to you basically have to completely lose it the first year or two, just basically be overwhelmed.
442
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:50,120
Not I was crap.
443
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:54,120
Matt was not crap, but he he wasn't as good as he is now.
444
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,120
But I think that's just something you have to go through.
445
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:58,120
You could get all the advice in the world.
446
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:10,120
But until you've done a full year of traveling, making the highlights, finding co commentators, doing interviews, filling the dead space till you've done it all.
447
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:12,120
There's this no real point getting advice.
448
00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:13,120
You just got to do it.
449
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:17,120
So no, I didn't I didn't have a lot of advice from I still don't know how he does a great job.
450
00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:19,120
Yeah, I mean, that's kind of like every job.
451
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:23,120
The issue is just that yours is very, very public facing.
452
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:24,120
Yeah, exactly.
453
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:33,120
Exactly. And people are there to most people get a job and they're completely crap at it for six months and then they figure out how to do it.
454
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:38,120
And the difference, as you say, is that everyone's watching you be crap at it for six months.
455
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:44,120
But Matt came in, I think, and immediately was pretty good at it.
456
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,120
But he's got an awful lot better.
457
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,120
And I think he's really owning it now.
458
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:50,120
He really is the voice of it.
459
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,120
And no, I got no advice.
460
00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:56,120
He stayed with me last week or two, anyway, a while ago for a week.
461
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,120
It was really good to have him.
462
00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:00,120
But yeah, obviously, we're comparing notes.
463
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:02,120
I don't like this person.
464
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:08,120
I kind of bitching away, not just bitching away, but you can kind of say, so what do you think of this person?
465
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:09,120
I found him a bit tricky.
466
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,120
I found this person a bit tricky.
467
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:18,120
So it's kind of fun to compare notes on how we'd found working with different people and the circuit in general.
468
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:19,120
And it was really fun.
469
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:23,120
We had a really good time talking about it, and it was really good to have him.
470
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:24,120
He's doing a great job.
471
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:25,120
OK.
472
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:31,120
And you did decide to leave after five years.
473
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,120
Yeah, I guess, why did you decide to leave the gig?
474
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:42,120
Please excuse this brief intermission, but I would just like to remind you that if you are enjoying this podcast, please follow and rate it on your preferred listening platform.
475
00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:47,120
If you're watching on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion and thoughts in the comments below.
476
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:53,120
Anything helps to push this podcast out to more people and get even more amazing guests on.
477
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:55,120
Back to the show.
478
00:46:55,120 --> 00:47:02,120
I think when I started, it was clear climbing was going to be an Olympic sport and it was going to be in 2020.
479
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:08,120
And when I started in 2016, 2020 seemed impossibly far away.
480
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:13,120
If you try and picture five years from now, your brain can't really do it.
481
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:19,120
So in my head, there was always a very logical five year time span to do it in.
482
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:25,120
And I definitely could and would have stayed.
483
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:37,120
But when we talked earlier about how stressful that 2016 year was and how full on it was, and I still found it very challenging and I'm still always trying to get better.
484
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:44,120
And I still got nervous before every broadcast, but I did kind of just know how to do it.
485
00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:52,120
And when it got to 2020, obviously, the whole world had a pretty tricky year.
486
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,120
So I had a lot of time to think about it.
487
00:47:54,120 --> 00:48:05,120
And I thought the next five years don't feel as challenging, nerve wracking, exciting, terrifying as it did five years ago.
488
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:22,120
And I think if, as I said, there's a lot I would like to have done and I really would love to have been striving constantly to make it better and to really improve what we were doing.
489
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:30,120
But if that, if it was going to just be more of the same, which is what I felt it was going to be, then it just didn't excite me in quite the same way.
490
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:40,120
And yeah, it's not a job you can do half heartedly.
491
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:44,120
As I've said multiple times, it's not hard, hard, but you need to be up.
492
00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:51,120
And if you're there thinking, just collecting a paycheck here, you just can't do the job.
493
00:48:51,120 --> 00:49:02,120
You've got to be up. And when I realized I wasn't as excited about it anymore, I thought, well, it's just not right to do it if I'm not excited.
494
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:16,120
So, yeah, it just felt like the logic, I guess I'd always had in the back of my head, I'd never said it, but I suppose I'd always had in the back of my head, the Olympics would be kind of a logical place to finish.
495
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:21,120
And as that approached, nothing really changed my mind about that.
496
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:26,120
Yeah, I guess I kind of see a theme here where you are always seeking a new challenge.
497
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,120
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
498
00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:42,120
And I think as in a way, although you're always trying to get better and although it still makes you nervous and it's still difficult, it was less and less challenging.
499
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:47,120
But it still required the same amount of energy. You still got to be on the road.
500
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:55,120
You still got to be away. You still got to be just as up and as excited, whether it's your 100th World Cup or your first.
501
00:49:55,120 --> 00:50:00,120
And I just wasn't sure that I could keep that up.
502
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:05,120
And I just didn't think it was right. I kind of felt like I was running out of steam a little bit.
503
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:12,120
So, yeah, but I mean, I could have for sure I could have stayed.
504
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:20,120
And if I felt like it was going to be as challenging as it had been, then I would definitely have stayed.
505
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:26,120
But yeah, just the prospect of kind of just doing more of the same didn't really excite me.
506
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:31,120
And I thought, well, what was I? So I was 36 when I stopped.
507
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:37,120
And I was kind of thinking, well, if I do another five years, I'll be 41.
508
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:44,120
So do I really want to be 41 looking for a new job because I'm sure I'll be done with it by then?
509
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:50,120
Or do I just do it forever? And I thought, bloody hell, I can't do it until I'm 65 or whatever when I retire.
510
00:50:50,120 --> 00:51:00,120
So it was just trying to not outstay my welcome and finding a logical time.
511
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:05,120
Yeah, it just felt like the logical time. And so what have you been up to since then?
512
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:11,120
What are your new challenges? Well, most of my work now is writing.
513
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:16,120
So I have a permanent part time job as in the content department.
514
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:20,120
Amazing company called Fatmap recently acquired by Strava.
515
00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:26,120
So I guess I kind of work for Strava now, writing and managing other writers as well.
516
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:32,120
So most of my work is writing. Also, get do some commentary.
517
00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:36,120
I mean, when I left IFSC, I just thought, well, I won't be doing any more climbing commentary.
518
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:43,120
But then very flattered. The Fedim's rung a few times. I think I did four last year.
519
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:47,120
And yeah, I didn't put myself out as commentator to hire.
520
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:54,120
But if someone calls you up and offers you some enjoyable work in a nice part of the world, then I'm definitely into that.
521
00:51:54,120 --> 00:52:01,120
So do that. Yeah. Some commentary enough to keep my hand in.
522
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:06,120
And also working on some very exciting projects within the climbing world.
523
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:11,120
I'm definitely not done by any means in the climbing world.
524
00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:15,120
Yeah. And we will have to see what comes of them.
525
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:18,120
I'm assuming you're nothing you're allowed to talk about at this moment.
526
00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:25,120
No. But put it this way, if it happens, you won't be going, I know, I remember Charlie was saying he had some projects.
527
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:30,120
I wonder if they ever worked out. If you never hear from about it, you'll know it didn't work out.
528
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:37,120
And you'll also know if it does work out. So yeah, we'll see. Working hard on a few things behind the scenes.
529
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,120
But I will have to just take the fifth.
530
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:45,120
Hopefully it will work out and we'll be really excited to see.
531
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:49,120
So yeah, you've been very involved in the climbing community.
532
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:53,120
You did a lot of traveling for the job with a bunch of athletes.
533
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:58,120
Would like when you look back on that, was that a fun time for you or was it mostly just stressful?
534
00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:07,120
It's both. I think like any job, any experience, it's not all unicorns and rainbows.
535
00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:13,120
There are definitely some World Cups and I'd be sitting in the airport thinking, I just cannot be bothered.
536
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:21,120
Squeezing into an economy seat for 11 hours to fly to some city in Western China for a World Cup that no one's going to come to.
537
00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:35,120
For sure. But by the same token, there are a lot of great people and you do get to spend a lot of time with pretty exceptional people.
538
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:39,120
A lot of people on the circuit would never be known to the public.
539
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:48,120
Could be a physio from a team, could be anyone. Head coach who I really got on with.
540
00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:53,120
So a lot of people wouldn't even be well known to the public and I really enjoyed their company.
541
00:53:53,120 --> 00:54:01,120
So I enjoyed hanging out with a lot of the people on the circuit and enjoyed a lot of the travel.
542
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:03,120
I got to see a lot of the world I wouldn't have seen.
543
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:11,120
I've always had jobs where I traveled a lot and I really enjoy that feeling of always kind of moving around.
544
00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:16,120
So I enjoyed 90% of the travel.
545
00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:20,120
But yeah, there's definitely moments where you just do not want to go.
546
00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:29,120
And there are definitely moments where you get two hours sleep because you jet lagged or because the hotel's next to a highway.
547
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:34,120
And you've got to be up next morning and just as excited for that league semifinal.
548
00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:37,120
And sometimes that can be really hard.
549
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:47,120
It's just kind of turning yourself on when actually all you want to do is be jet lagged and drinking coffee.
550
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:55,120
So yeah, it's like any job. Parts of it are really fun and easy and parts of it are crap and tiring.
551
00:54:55,120 --> 00:54:59,120
Yeah. And you've also interviewed a lot of athletes.
552
00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:08,120
Are there any favorite interviews you've done that come to mind or people who are really easy to talk to, people for me to reach out to in the future?
553
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:12,120
Not so much interviews.
554
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:23,120
I think the nice thing is actually spending time with people where they're not being interviewed because an interview inherently is a very, it's quite a formal setting.
555
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:30,120
I know me and you are talking now, but I'm in the back of my head thinking, don't say anything terrible on this podcast.
556
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:36,120
You know, there's a filter. You wouldn't want to cut it out if I said something really good though.
557
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:41,120
Oh, that's true. But no, you've kind of got this. There's a kind of filter it's running through.
558
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:45,120
So when you're interviewing the athletes, it's never quite the same as when you're just chatting.
559
00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:56,120
So I think I really enjoyed getting to know some of the athletes and understanding what being an elite athlete is all about.
560
00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:05,120
And there aren't many climbers who are, who live their lives like true elite athletes.
561
00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:14,120
There's still that kind of dirtbag culture where maybe their diet's not great, they don't sleep as much as they should or all this stuff.
562
00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:20,120
But spending time with people that are bona fide elite athletes is amazing.
563
00:56:20,120 --> 00:56:26,120
And I really enjoy getting to pick the brains of a few of the top climbers, but it was rarely in an interview setting.
564
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:33,120
It was normally somewhere less formal than that. So that was an amazing insight.
565
00:56:33,120 --> 00:56:39,120
Yeah, for sure was getting to understand what the life of an elite athlete is like.
566
00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:44,120
Doesn't actually look that appealing, I have to be honest. But that's how you get good.
567
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:54,120
Can you think of who is like the most dirtbag pro climber that you know and like the most elite athlete lifestyle person that you know?
568
00:56:54,120 --> 00:57:05,120
In terms of dirtbagging, I can say this because I like him a lot. Jim Pope from the UK always used to crack me up.
569
00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:12,120
I remember one summer, him and Will Boese were just kind of slumming it around the World Cups.
570
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:18,120
And I just loved their kind of irreverent British style of doing things.
571
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:25,120
And they were just so stoked that they were spending their whole summer climbing in front of 10,000 people in Chamonix,
572
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:33,120
going to Briensom, going to Arco and like experiencing all these places and having these massive experiences.
573
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:39,120
And they were just dirtbagging it around. And I just loved it. I loved. I'm not even sure.
574
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:44,120
Even now, five years later, I think it was maybe it's summer 18, 17, 18, something like that.
575
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:49,120
I'm not even sure now that anyone's doing that. But I remember those guys, Jim coming in.
576
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:55,120
He said, oh yeah, we slept in the woods. We found this awesome spot in the woods and they were on a really tight budget.
577
00:57:55,120 --> 00:57:59,120
And you just had like a baguette. And I said, oh, what are you having on your baguette?
578
00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:03,120
He said, I'm having baguette on my baguette. It's all I can afford.
579
00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:06,120
And everyone was, I loved it. I thought it was great.
580
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:13,120
And obviously Will's pretty strong right now and Jim's still going strong.
581
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:16,120
They're both making good careers for themselves.
582
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:22,120
But I loved seeing them at that kind of early stage, just really enjoying the lifestyle.
583
00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:27,120
But I'd be harsh to call them dirtbags. They're both pretty serious people.
584
00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:31,120
But they were kind of, they were definitely slumming it around Europe. I loved it.
585
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:35,120
I thought it was exactly what you should be doing when you're young and carefree.
586
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:39,120
Like they would sleep in the woods before a World Cup?
587
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:41,120
Yeah, it was just, it was crazy.
588
00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:48,120
And I also ran into Jim in Xiamen Airport in China.
589
00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:52,120
And he was supposed to fly the day before and I was in departure. I said, what are you doing here?
590
00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:57,120
And he always, there's been some long tale about how his flight got canceled or whatever.
591
00:58:57,120 --> 00:59:01,120
He'd had to like move around Xiamen Airport, finding different spots to sleep.
592
00:59:01,120 --> 00:59:06,120
But then he was absolutely delighted because he found a bit of cardboard somewhere
593
00:59:06,120 --> 00:59:10,120
and managed to sneak in behind some seats and sleep for three hours and uninterrupted.
594
00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:18,120
Yeah, I had Hachioji World Championships in 2019. I hung out with Jim a lot and we had a really good time.
595
00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:19,120
He's a great guy.
596
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:25,120
So he was, Jim Pope in his early days was probably my favorite semi dirtbag,
597
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:28,120
albeit he was absolutely crushing in the World Cups at the time.
598
00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:30,120
So it wasn't harmonious performance.
599
00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:34,120
In terms of elite athletes, Yanye obviously.
600
00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:40,120
Everyone always said that I give Yanye too much love on the commentary.
601
00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:45,120
It's probably valid, but she's the best climber pound for pound who's ever lived.
602
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:47,120
So she probably deserves it.
603
00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:51,120
And Adam, Adam Ondra.
604
00:59:51,120 --> 00:59:57,120
You know, that guy, that guy is into climbing more than anyone else.
605
00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:03,120
And I went, there's one season where it just always seemed like me and Adam were on the same flight,
606
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:06,120
we're on the same bus, we were staying in the same hotel.
607
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:14,120
I just seemed to be everywhere I went, I was running into him and kind of just spent lots of time chatting.
608
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:17,120
And yeah, he is so into it.
609
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:24,120
And he is an exceptional physical specimen.
610
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:31,120
But I would say if people think that he's this genetic freak and that is their excuse for not being Adam Ondra.
611
01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:33,120
If they just say, well, I can't be Adam.
612
01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:36,120
He's got the perfect build for it in his hands.
613
01:00:36,120 --> 01:00:39,120
He's got the most perfect hands for climbing.
614
01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:42,120
I've never seen a hand more designed for climbing.
615
01:00:42,120 --> 01:00:49,120
But like, if people think that that is why he's Adam Ondra, then they are kidding themselves.
616
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:53,120
The reason he's Adam Ondra is because he thinks about it more than anyone else.
617
01:00:53,120 --> 01:00:56,120
He focuses on it more than anyone else.
618
01:00:56,120 --> 01:01:01,120
And he sacrifices more to be good at it than just about anyone else I've ever met.
619
01:01:01,120 --> 01:01:05,120
So if people want to know why Adam Ondra is Adam Ondra, just follow around for a month,
620
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:12,120
do what he does for a month and you'll be no doubt why he's the guy he is.
621
01:01:12,120 --> 01:01:16,120
So I always found Adam a very interesting athlete.
622
01:01:16,120 --> 01:01:21,120
OK, so they kind of take everything seriously, like their sleep, their nutrition, their training.
623
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:23,120
Yeah, and I remember hearing about this.
624
01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:26,120
One of Michael Schumacher's teammates in Formula One said to him,
625
01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:31,120
I can't go as fast as Michael around turn three at Monaco, whatever it was.
626
01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:34,120
And the team boss said, look, don't worry about turn three.
627
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:36,120
Just just follow around for a month.
628
01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:40,120
Just do what he does for one month and you'll you'll get it.
629
01:01:40,120 --> 01:01:51,120
And so that's where I kind of stole that story to relate to Adam is is the level of thought he gives everything is insane.
630
01:01:51,120 --> 01:02:01,120
There is no element of climbing or climbing comps that he has not micro analysed and thought about on a level beyond anyone else.
631
01:02:01,120 --> 01:02:04,120
He is completely obsessed with it.
632
01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:08,120
I mean, head over heels, besotted with climbing.
633
01:02:08,120 --> 01:02:13,120
And yeah, it's it's just.
634
01:02:13,120 --> 01:02:17,120
I think it's it's an easy way out to say he's a genetic freak.
635
01:02:17,120 --> 01:02:20,120
And the same is true of Janja.
636
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:23,120
Well, I'll never be them. Look at them.
637
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:30,120
You honestly probably won't be them, but you could get a hell of a lot closer if you lived like they live and you did what they did.
638
01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:34,120
I mean, this is I don't know.
639
01:02:34,120 --> 01:02:40,120
I don't know how anyone thinks this is true, but there was this kind of perception that Janja didn't need to train.
640
01:02:40,120 --> 01:02:45,120
She's so good. You know, she she doesn't she doesn't train as much as everyone else.
641
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:47,120
So she could get away with less.
642
01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:50,120
But I know someone that trains with Janja a lot.
643
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:53,120
And this person said Janja is great.
644
01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:55,120
I really like her as a me.
645
01:02:55,120 --> 01:03:02,120
I mean, I like her as a person, but this person who trained with her said when Janja trains, it is war.
646
01:03:02,120 --> 01:03:07,120
It's on. It's not less of a little boulder and a play around.
647
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:18,120
And when it's training, like it is on and the blinkers are on and she is training and she trains harder than anyone else.
648
01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:25,120
So, yeah, I think the kind of seeing what it takes to be elite.
649
01:03:25,120 --> 01:03:30,120
And I think those two, I think most people would say those two are.
650
01:03:30,120 --> 01:03:36,120
Adam's maybe not the most dominant comp climber of all time, but the best climber of all time.
651
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:39,120
And Janja is the best comp climber of all time.
652
01:03:39,120 --> 01:03:46,120
And understanding that and Jakob Schubert was the same, by the way, also a late shout out in that answer for Jakob Schubert.
653
01:03:46,120 --> 01:03:49,120
If you ever get talking to Jakob over dinner, he's like.
654
01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:53,120
He's like Adam, he's just so into it.
655
01:03:53,120 --> 01:03:56,120
And I think it shows. Yeah, I would love to talk to them one day.
656
01:03:56,120 --> 01:04:00,120
I feel like they they just like have so much love for it.
657
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:08,120
I remember one time in like one of the post comp interviews after Jakob won, he gave like a really great post comp interview.
658
01:04:08,120 --> 01:04:13,120
I feel like a lot of times in the interview, people just say like the same things.
659
01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:18,120
But he just like could not stop talking about how great it was and how much he enjoyed it.
660
01:04:18,120 --> 01:04:21,120
So I love seeing that. Yeah.
661
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:31,120
And if you could have two things, I think as an athlete to succeed, passion and desire would be the two traits I would choose.
662
01:04:31,120 --> 01:04:37,120
You've got to love it more than anything. If training is a chore, forget it.
663
01:04:37,120 --> 01:04:45,120
Training is always a chore once a week. But if in general you find training a chore, you might as well give up now.
664
01:04:45,120 --> 01:04:49,120
You've got to be so passionate about it and you've got to be driven.
665
01:04:49,120 --> 01:04:54,120
You've got to have that desire to succeed. And a lot of the climbers, a lot of athletes in general,
666
01:04:54,120 --> 01:05:00,120
they'll get to, if we relate it to IFSC terms, regular semifinalist.
667
01:05:00,120 --> 01:05:05,120
And they just don't have that fire in their belly to do what's next.
668
01:05:05,120 --> 01:05:11,120
And I think one thing I realized is desire isn't about saying you want it.
669
01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:15,120
It's about being willing to do what it takes to get it.
670
01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:21,120
And so everyone, you'll never meet a regular World Cup semifinalist who goes, yeah, I'm good. I don't want to get any better.
671
01:05:21,120 --> 01:05:27,120
They'll all say they want to get better, but they don't do what is required to take that next step.
672
01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:31,120
And I wouldn't. I'm not holding myself up as an example of this.
673
01:05:31,120 --> 01:05:35,120
I couldn't be bothered, but that's why I haven't succeeded.
674
01:05:35,120 --> 01:05:42,120
So I'm not in any way saying, look, I know I'm talking about because I've lived it.
675
01:05:42,120 --> 01:05:50,120
But it's, yeah, if you spend enough time on the circuit, you won't be in any doubt why the best people are the best.
676
01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:53,120
And you also watch a lot of other sports as well.
677
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:59,120
Do you still watch like every competition or do you ever, you just like can't be bothered?
678
01:05:59,120 --> 01:06:07,120
No, sometimes I can't be bothered. I mean, I don't think a lot of the comps aren't entertaining.
679
01:06:07,120 --> 01:06:17,120
So a lead semifinal, for example, probably watch the last hour because that's when we all know people are actually going to get into the final.
680
01:06:17,120 --> 01:06:22,120
And with a Boulder comp, normally I'll have it on, but it's kind of in the background.
681
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:26,120
And this is something I've been banging on about for years.
682
01:06:26,120 --> 01:06:32,120
You're asking a lot of people to get them to watch the week before, four hours.
683
01:06:32,120 --> 01:06:38,120
Not many people are going to just sit down and zone in for four hours.
684
01:06:38,120 --> 01:06:48,120
So, yeah, I do watch the comps, but if it's nice and sunny outside and people want to go climbing, I'm not staying in to watch the World Cups, put it that way.
685
01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:54,120
But I'll at least watch the key moments for virtually every World Cup.
686
01:06:54,120 --> 01:07:00,120
And if it suits me and if it suits, I'll watch the whole thing.
687
01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:03,120
But yeah, I don't arrange my weekend around it.
688
01:07:03,120 --> 01:07:08,120
Okay, that actually perfectly segues into the next thing I wanted to know.
689
01:07:08,120 --> 01:07:13,120
Because you mentioned that you don't find it particularly entertaining sometimes.
690
01:07:13,120 --> 01:07:17,120
How do you think it could be made more entertaining to watch?
691
01:07:17,120 --> 01:07:20,120
Slash the number of people in a lead semi.
692
01:07:20,120 --> 01:07:25,120
Why do we have 26? Where did 26 come from?
693
01:07:25,120 --> 01:07:27,120
There's just no need for that.
694
01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:30,120
And then you've got the cleaning break in the middle.
695
01:07:30,120 --> 01:07:33,120
So lead semis is a quick fix.
696
01:07:33,120 --> 01:07:34,120
How many?
697
01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:38,120
Put 15 in wall. 15? I don't know.
698
01:07:38,120 --> 01:07:40,120
Whatever number.
699
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:50,120
But if you made it 20 instead of 26, that's a dozen less people to watch.
700
01:07:50,120 --> 01:07:56,120
And lead semis, with a few exceptions, people make mistakes.
701
01:07:56,120 --> 01:08:01,120
Sometimes you get someone awesome who's kind of out of place in the semi finally.
702
01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:07,120
They will make the final, but more or less haven't done any statistical analysis on this.
703
01:08:07,120 --> 01:08:10,120
But more or less the people that get in the final climb after the cleaning break.
704
01:08:10,120 --> 01:08:15,120
So that's the second, the last 13 make it into the final.
705
01:08:15,120 --> 01:08:19,120
So I would slash the number of people in a lead semi final.
706
01:08:19,120 --> 01:08:25,120
I didn't agree when it happened that the men's and women's finals in the bouldering should be separate.
707
01:08:25,120 --> 01:08:28,120
That seemed to divide opinion.
708
01:08:28,120 --> 01:08:33,120
Maybe I was biased because I was the poor guy who was suddenly going to have to talk for four hours instead of two.
709
01:08:33,120 --> 01:08:40,120
But I did not agree with that and I still don't agree with it now.
710
01:08:40,120 --> 01:08:42,120
I think you could have a split screen.
711
01:08:42,120 --> 01:08:49,120
You could even say on the last boulder, which is when the final is likely to be decided, they'll climb separately.
712
01:08:49,120 --> 01:08:53,120
But up until that, we're going to run them together.
713
01:08:53,120 --> 01:09:00,120
And you immediately halve the amount of time that the competition takes and you don't have the action.
714
01:09:00,120 --> 01:09:06,120
And people are right in that you may miss something for sure, but we can get a replay.
715
01:09:06,120 --> 01:09:15,120
And to me, occasionally missing something and seeing it 10 seconds later on the replay is better than a four hour broadcast.
716
01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:18,120
So I never I was never into that at the time.
717
01:09:18,120 --> 01:09:20,120
I'm not into it now.
718
01:09:20,120 --> 01:09:31,120
I would find a much more dramatic and easy to understand format for bouldering. Not saying I have the answers.
719
01:09:31,120 --> 01:09:41,120
But when the scoring is so complex, it's really it makes it tougher to watch.
720
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:43,120
It makes it really tough to commentate.
721
01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:47,120
I guess like what is particularly complex about it?
722
01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:50,120
Just understanding the potential.
723
01:09:50,120 --> 01:09:57,120
I mean, we're climbing boulders and somehow we have a scoring system that's four numbers.
724
01:09:57,120 --> 01:10:05,120
And I'm sure there can be a better way than that.
725
01:10:05,120 --> 01:10:13,120
And I think you could make bouldering so much more dramatic and easy to understand.
726
01:10:13,120 --> 01:10:23,120
And I definitely have some ideas on that, but I don't want to give them away in case I ever get the opportunity to put them to use.
727
01:10:23,120 --> 01:10:28,120
Like if there was ever a comp that I was involved in, I would love someone to come and say, what do you think?
728
01:10:28,120 --> 01:10:30,120
We're going to do a comp. Give me a format.
729
01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:33,120
I'd love to kind of dream something up.
730
01:10:33,120 --> 01:10:36,120
And I think there's a ton you could do with it.
731
01:10:36,120 --> 01:10:39,120
So, yeah, slash lead semi-finals.
732
01:10:39,120 --> 01:10:46,120
Boulder semi-finals are great just the way they are, but I would also put the men's and women's finals together again.
733
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:49,120
I would come up with a simpler scoring system.
734
01:10:49,120 --> 01:10:51,120
There'd be good places to start.
735
01:10:51,120 --> 01:11:07,120
Yeah, I think in the Clown Climbing Discord for the podcast, someone mentioned that it would be interesting to have like a gym that just does a bunch of like experimental competition formats.
736
01:11:07,120 --> 01:11:10,120
Sounds like something that you might be interested in.
737
01:11:10,120 --> 01:11:11,120
Yeah.
738
01:11:11,120 --> 01:11:15,120
I mean, and this is kind of what I was talking about.
739
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:17,120
I was always thinking, look, how do we make this better?
740
01:11:17,120 --> 01:11:18,120
Yeah, okay.
741
01:11:18,120 --> 01:11:19,120
This is a format.
742
01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:20,120
That's fine.
743
01:11:20,120 --> 01:11:22,120
We know that this format is going to the Olympics.
744
01:11:22,120 --> 01:11:23,120
It's fine.
745
01:11:23,120 --> 01:11:24,120
It's all decided.
746
01:11:24,120 --> 01:11:30,120
But in the off season, why don't we just get a bunch of climbers together and say, hey, let's try some formats.
747
01:11:30,120 --> 01:11:32,120
Let's try some new scoring systems.
748
01:11:32,120 --> 01:11:33,120
Let's run it.
749
01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:34,120
Let's see.
750
01:11:34,120 --> 01:11:35,120
It doesn't cost much.
751
01:11:35,120 --> 01:11:37,120
We rent a gym for a day.
752
01:11:37,120 --> 01:11:41,120
We'll get some youth climbing teams from wherever you want.
753
01:11:41,120 --> 01:11:44,120
And we'll just fire them on the walls and we'll try some stuff out.
754
01:11:44,120 --> 01:11:46,120
Let's try a new style of setting.
755
01:11:46,120 --> 01:11:47,120
Let's try two zones.
756
01:11:47,120 --> 01:11:48,120
Let's try three zones.
757
01:11:48,120 --> 01:11:49,120
Let's try numbering the holds.
758
01:11:49,120 --> 01:11:51,120
Let's try something.
759
01:11:51,120 --> 01:11:53,120
That's what I'd love to see.
760
01:11:53,120 --> 01:11:56,120
I'm not saying I'm not sitting here saying I've got all the answers.
761
01:11:56,120 --> 01:11:57,120
You listen to me.
762
01:11:57,120 --> 01:11:58,120
The sport will be amazing.
763
01:11:58,120 --> 01:12:06,120
But I think what you could do is invest some time and resources into exactly what you just suggested.
764
01:12:06,120 --> 01:12:07,120
Let's just see.
765
01:12:07,120 --> 01:12:08,120
Let's try it.
766
01:12:08,120 --> 01:12:09,120
Let's do something.
767
01:12:09,120 --> 01:12:10,120
Doesn't work.
768
01:12:10,120 --> 01:12:11,120
Doesn't matter.
769
01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:12,120
No problem.
770
01:12:12,120 --> 01:12:13,120
We've got to work in format.
771
01:12:13,120 --> 01:12:14,120
We're in the Olympics.
772
01:12:14,120 --> 01:12:15,120
It's all good.
773
01:12:15,120 --> 01:12:16,120
You know, we're fine.
774
01:12:16,120 --> 01:12:18,120
But can we be better?
775
01:12:18,120 --> 01:12:19,120
That's what I'd love to see.
776
01:12:19,120 --> 01:12:21,120
Yeah, that's my dream.
777
01:12:21,120 --> 01:12:24,120
Like, if I could have a gym, I would so do that.
778
01:12:24,120 --> 01:12:26,120
And it would be so much fun.
779
01:12:26,120 --> 01:12:28,120
It's just so expensive.
780
01:12:28,120 --> 01:12:34,120
Yeah, I went to the World and North Climbing Summit in Bulgaria last year.
781
01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:39,120
Yeah, I concluded you need a lot of money to open a decent climbing gym.
782
01:12:39,120 --> 01:12:41,120
That's my biggest takeaway.
783
01:12:41,120 --> 01:12:42,120
Yeah, big dream.
784
01:12:42,120 --> 01:12:51,120
If anyone's out there who wants me to help out with their gym or give me some money to make a gym, let me know.
785
01:12:51,120 --> 01:12:55,120
Can I just also put myself forward for that as well?
786
01:12:55,120 --> 01:12:56,120
Sure.
787
01:12:56,120 --> 01:12:57,120
Yeah.
788
01:12:57,120 --> 01:13:04,120
And if something happens for you and you're interested in me helping out with your competitions in your gym, let me know.
789
01:13:04,120 --> 01:13:11,120
Yeah, sadly, unless I find a million bucks behind the couch, I'm a million bucks short of opening a gym.
790
01:13:11,120 --> 01:13:14,120
But you never know, we can't but dream.
791
01:13:14,120 --> 01:13:16,120
Well, now we have a goal amount.
792
01:13:16,120 --> 01:13:17,120
Exactly.
793
01:13:17,120 --> 01:13:18,120
Let's start a crowdfunding.
794
01:13:18,120 --> 01:13:20,120
Yeah.
795
01:13:20,120 --> 01:13:29,120
But yeah, something else interesting that I heard you say before, I think on another podcast was that you think climbers are too friendly with each other.
796
01:13:29,120 --> 01:13:32,120
Do you still feel like that's the case?
797
01:13:32,120 --> 01:13:33,120
Yeah.
798
01:13:33,120 --> 01:13:41,120
Look, I'm not and I've said this on a few occasions and I think sometimes people have taken it the wrong way, which is my fault.
799
01:13:41,120 --> 01:13:42,120
I should be playing it better.
800
01:13:42,120 --> 01:13:44,120
And no problem with people being friendly and respectful.
801
01:13:44,120 --> 01:13:46,120
That's great.
802
01:13:46,120 --> 01:13:54,120
But I think climbing sometimes doesn't feel like it's about winning.
803
01:13:54,120 --> 01:13:58,120
And I think it should be about winning.
804
01:13:58,120 --> 01:13:59,120
It's a competition.
805
01:13:59,120 --> 01:14:03,120
And if you can be friendly with the person you compete against, more power to you.
806
01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:06,120
If you can't, I don't really care.
807
01:14:06,120 --> 01:14:07,120
I want it to be a competition.
808
01:14:07,120 --> 01:14:15,120
And I think that in some ways, one of the things holding the sport back or holding the athletes back, you know how I said about Adam and Yan,
809
01:14:15,120 --> 01:14:18,120
you're an example and Jacob have to.
810
01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:22,120
Jacob really should have gotten more of a shout out.
811
01:14:22,120 --> 01:14:23,120
They are competitors.
812
01:14:23,120 --> 01:14:29,120
They make no secret of the fact that they want to win and they want to beat the person next to them.
813
01:14:29,120 --> 01:14:44,120
And I think sometimes climbing is kind of mired in this culture that it doesn't matter if you don't win as long as your friend wins or, oh, I didn't mind coming second today because I really like this person that was first.
814
01:14:44,120 --> 01:14:48,120
I don't think that is the way it should be done.
815
01:14:48,120 --> 01:14:51,120
I think it's fine to be competitive.
816
01:14:51,120 --> 01:14:52,120
It's fine to want to win.
817
01:14:52,120 --> 01:14:55,120
It's fine to be disappointed when you don't win.
818
01:14:55,120 --> 01:14:57,120
And we could do with a little bit more of that in climbing.
819
01:14:57,120 --> 01:15:03,120
And that's how the sport will become more competitive.
820
01:15:03,120 --> 01:15:07,120
But I think people have sometimes mistaken that for me saying everyone should be ruthless.
821
01:15:07,120 --> 01:15:10,120
It should be like the UFC.
822
01:15:10,120 --> 01:15:11,120
It's not that at all.
823
01:15:11,120 --> 01:15:15,120
But we people need to be open about the fact they want to win.
824
01:15:15,120 --> 01:15:18,120
And I really like climbers that just say, yeah, I want to win.
825
01:15:18,120 --> 01:15:19,120
I really like winning.
826
01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:20,120
I don't want to be second.
827
01:15:20,120 --> 01:15:29,120
And I think when we I think as there's more more money in the sport and the Olympics, I think we'll see it become more genuinely competitive.
828
01:15:29,120 --> 01:15:33,120
So you don't think it's like we should have some more some more drama.
829
01:15:33,120 --> 01:15:35,120
All publicity is good publicity.
830
01:15:35,120 --> 01:15:38,120
There should be some beef between athletes.
831
01:15:38,120 --> 01:15:42,120
I mean, I got I got no problem with that, but I don't think that's net.
832
01:15:42,120 --> 01:15:51,120
I don't think the UFC model where basically you're trying to sell pay per views and the way to sell pay per views is to say the most outrageous thing you can about your opponent.
833
01:15:51,120 --> 01:15:53,120
I don't think that's the right model for climbing.
834
01:15:53,120 --> 01:15:58,120
I don't think climbers need to be having overt rivalries on social media.
835
01:15:58,120 --> 01:15:59,120
I don't think it's bad.
836
01:15:59,120 --> 01:16:02,120
I don't think it's a bad thing if they do.
837
01:16:02,120 --> 01:16:11,120
Golf is probably a good example of where when live golf came along a couple of years ago, the players really started going after each other.
838
01:16:11,120 --> 01:16:13,120
It really got people interested in golf again.
839
01:16:13,120 --> 01:16:15,120
Oh, I don't think I heard of this.
840
01:16:15,120 --> 01:16:21,120
So private league came along in golf and some people defected from the existing federation.
841
01:16:21,120 --> 01:16:28,120
It's not a federation, but essentially defected to this private league because it could make a load more money.
842
01:16:28,120 --> 01:16:35,120
And then some players stayed with the more traditional events and there became this kind of battle between the players, which hasn't actually been resolved.
843
01:16:35,120 --> 01:16:39,120
But it's I think it's it's made people more interested in golf.
844
01:16:39,120 --> 01:16:42,120
And that's not necessarily right for climbing.
845
01:16:42,120 --> 01:16:47,120
But I don't think we need social media beefs and people genuinely make it clear.
846
01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:48,120
They don't like each other.
847
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:50,120
That's too much.
848
01:16:50,120 --> 01:16:54,120
You can like your competition, but you can also be desperate to beat.
849
01:16:54,120 --> 01:16:59,120
And I think people just people being open about the fact they want to win and dropping this.
850
01:16:59,120 --> 01:17:05,120
Yeah, I don't mind if I win as long as you win type thing, I think would make sport more competitive.
851
01:17:05,120 --> 01:17:08,120
I think it would be funny, though, if there was beef.
852
01:17:08,120 --> 01:17:10,120
There is beef.
853
01:17:10,120 --> 01:17:12,120
It's just you don't hear about it.
854
01:17:12,120 --> 01:17:14,120
Oh, no. Yeah.
855
01:17:14,120 --> 01:17:15,120
Interesting.
856
01:17:15,120 --> 01:17:18,120
You can't expect me to elaborate on that.
857
01:17:18,120 --> 01:17:20,120
I know. I know.
858
01:17:20,120 --> 01:17:24,120
But it's just it's hard when you like bring that up and then.
859
01:17:24,120 --> 01:17:26,120
Yeah, I was dangling that carrot.
860
01:17:26,120 --> 01:17:28,120
Yeah. Yeah.
861
01:17:28,120 --> 01:17:30,120
Something to find out in the future, I guess.
862
01:17:30,120 --> 01:17:37,120
Well, I guess I wouldn't be giving away the world's biggest secret if I said that the IFC circuit is several hundred people.
863
01:17:37,120 --> 01:17:42,120
And when you put several hundred people together, some of them don't like each other.
864
01:17:42,120 --> 01:17:50,120
So it would be, you know, nobody I'm sure thinks that every climber likes every other climber equally.
865
01:17:50,120 --> 01:17:55,120
I mean, inevitably in any walk of life, people like more than others.
866
01:17:55,120 --> 01:17:58,120
So that is just as true in climbing as anywhere else.
867
01:17:58,120 --> 01:18:04,120
But as I say, I don't believe that airing those beefs in public is is necessarily the way to go.
868
01:18:04,120 --> 01:18:07,120
But you could still be competitive and overtly competitive.
869
01:18:07,120 --> 01:18:09,120
I still think that would be great.
870
01:18:09,120 --> 01:18:13,120
Yeah, I think that covers all the questions I had.
871
01:18:13,120 --> 01:18:17,120
So we can move into some of the discord questions that popped up.
872
01:18:17,120 --> 01:18:25,120
I think the first one we might have touched on a little bit, but if you have anything else to add to it,
873
01:18:25,120 --> 01:18:31,120
what changes would you like to see both how comps are run in general as well as how broadcasts are handled?
874
01:18:31,120 --> 01:18:34,120
I would like to see the broadcast just tightened up.
875
01:18:34,120 --> 01:18:39,120
You know, let's let's be more creative with how we film it.
876
01:18:39,120 --> 01:18:44,120
Let's have more personnel in the broadcast truck so the director can have a little less workload.
877
01:18:44,120 --> 01:18:46,120
He can have more shots to choose from.
878
01:18:46,120 --> 01:18:50,120
He can have people help him choose the shots.
879
01:18:50,120 --> 01:18:53,120
Let's let's get the event running that bit slicker.
880
01:18:53,120 --> 01:18:56,120
Let's not have the guy standing in the doorway with the clipboard.
881
01:18:56,120 --> 01:18:59,120
Let's not have a 20 minute break before the podium.
882
01:18:59,120 --> 01:19:01,120
You know, none of this costs a penny.
883
01:19:01,120 --> 01:19:03,120
An extra person in the Obi-Jan costs them.
884
01:19:03,120 --> 01:19:05,120
A few bucks.
885
01:19:05,120 --> 01:19:07,120
You know, you just tighten it all up.
886
01:19:07,120 --> 01:19:09,120
Let's make it look neat on camera.
887
01:19:09,120 --> 01:19:14,120
Let's let's curtain the side of the wall so you can't see the scaffolding.
888
01:19:14,120 --> 01:19:17,120
There's all this stuff, you know, that's easy, easy fixes.
889
01:19:17,120 --> 01:19:20,120
So I would tighten the whole thing up.
890
01:19:20,120 --> 01:19:29,120
And I would, as you say, I've already said what I would do with lead format, older format.
891
01:19:29,120 --> 01:19:34,120
I don't have the answer, but I would love to see some research being done into how it could be better.
892
01:19:34,120 --> 01:19:37,120
By the way, all this could be nonsense.
893
01:19:37,120 --> 01:19:41,120
And someone might be listening to this and thinking, I don't think that's the answer.
894
01:19:41,120 --> 01:19:42,120
And they could well be right.
895
01:19:42,120 --> 01:19:45,120
So I'm not holding myself up as the guy with the answers.
896
01:19:45,120 --> 01:19:47,120
But if you're asking, that's what I'd do.
897
01:19:47,120 --> 01:19:56,120
Is it is this like coming from previous other broadcasting experience that you've had that these like ideas come to you or just looks bad to you?
898
01:19:56,120 --> 01:20:00,120
When I was at IFC, you're watching.
899
01:20:00,120 --> 01:20:06,120
You're one of the few people who watches every second that's broadcast in a year.
900
01:20:06,120 --> 01:20:09,120
And so you just notice all these things.
901
01:20:09,120 --> 01:20:11,120
God, it always looks a bit messy around the side of the wall.
902
01:20:11,120 --> 01:20:13,120
I wish there weren't people walking around.
903
01:20:13,120 --> 01:20:20,120
I wish the stage was a bit higher so that when we had the camera from the crowd height, we weren't looking at the back of people's heads.
904
01:20:20,120 --> 01:20:23,120
None of this is going to transform the sport.
905
01:20:23,120 --> 01:20:28,120
But it's the stuff I notice and it's the stuff you could fix tomorrow.
906
01:20:28,120 --> 01:20:31,120
But no, it's it's just from observing it.
907
01:20:31,120 --> 01:20:43,120
And yeah, I mean, obviously I work on other broadcasts and a lot of what the IFC do is is really good and a lot of it's better than other people.
908
01:20:43,120 --> 01:20:47,120
But sometimes I'll go to another job and I think, well, the way they did that was really good.
909
01:20:47,120 --> 01:20:49,120
IFC should think about that.
910
01:20:49,120 --> 01:20:52,120
So it's just observation, really.
911
01:20:52,120 --> 01:20:53,120
All right.
912
01:20:53,120 --> 01:20:54,120
Next question.
913
01:20:54,120 --> 01:20:58,120
I think there's been a lot of talk about getting rid of ISO lately.
914
01:20:58,120 --> 01:21:00,120
What do you think about that?
915
01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:03,120
If it should be removed and what you think would work instead?
916
01:21:03,120 --> 01:21:07,120
You should get rid of it for sure.
917
01:21:07,120 --> 01:21:16,120
But obviously that requires a reimagining of the format because obviously if you're the last climber, you get to see everyone else do it.
918
01:21:16,120 --> 01:21:22,120
So again, I'm not going to sit here and say, here's what you should do.
919
01:21:22,120 --> 01:21:25,120
Here's the answer.
920
01:21:25,120 --> 01:21:28,120
But I would get rid of ISO for sure.
921
01:21:28,120 --> 01:21:35,120
And probably the main reason I would do that is going back to making the sport more overtly competitive or exciting.
922
01:21:35,120 --> 01:21:38,120
We don't see any reactions.
923
01:21:38,120 --> 01:21:48,120
So if I'm on a boulder and I don't top it and I go back into ISO and you top it, no one sees my face reacting to what's happened.
924
01:21:48,120 --> 01:21:55,120
So there's no, it kind of takes all the emotion out of it because these people that are competing against each other, you can't even see them.
925
01:21:55,120 --> 01:22:01,120
And I think it would be great if there was a world championship on the line.
926
01:22:01,120 --> 01:22:04,120
And I know I didn't top the boulder and I'm watching you.
927
01:22:04,120 --> 01:22:07,120
And there's a camera on me watching my reaction.
928
01:22:07,120 --> 01:22:10,120
That's great TV. It's human emotion. It's drawing people in.
929
01:22:10,120 --> 01:22:15,120
And if you put people in a windowless room behind the wall, then you lose all that.
930
01:22:15,120 --> 01:22:22,120
So I would for sure have add that emotional human side to it and remove isolation.
931
01:22:22,120 --> 01:22:26,120
But the question is, what do you do with the format to enable that?
932
01:22:26,120 --> 01:22:31,120
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to that because yeah, I didn't really think about the emotional side of it.
933
01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:40,120
Because I think a lot of people's favorite climbers are the climbers who show how they're feeling the most like Stashe, for example.
934
01:22:40,120 --> 01:22:48,120
Yeah, Stashe is great. I was in Germany about six weeks ago and I went out for dinner with Stashe.
935
01:22:48,120 --> 01:22:55,120
She's great. Yeah, what a fun person. What a competitor.
936
01:22:55,120 --> 01:22:58,120
She is exactly the person I think about when I think about this.
937
01:22:58,120 --> 01:23:05,120
I would love to see Stashe's reaction when someone either does or doesn't beat her.
938
01:23:05,120 --> 01:23:08,120
I mean, that would just who wouldn't tune in to watch that?
939
01:23:08,120 --> 01:23:11,120
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
940
01:23:11,120 --> 01:23:16,120
OK, last question. How do you think IFSC could grow the sport?
941
01:23:16,120 --> 01:23:18,120
If you have any ideas for that.
942
01:23:18,120 --> 01:23:28,120
The need to find some way of linking what goes on in competitions with what goes on in a gym.
943
01:23:28,120 --> 01:23:39,120
Because climbing is a very high participation sport, but IFSC events relative to that number of participants have very low viewers.
944
01:23:39,120 --> 01:23:49,120
So you need to in some way make people all these millions of people that are going to a gym but aren't watching your competitions.
945
01:23:49,120 --> 01:23:54,120
You need to somehow link your comps to what they're doing.
946
01:23:54,120 --> 01:24:00,120
Because right now it feels in the climbing world like you've got gyms being built at an unbelievable rate.
947
01:24:00,120 --> 01:24:05,120
I mean, the rate that climbing gyms have been going up now is incredible and it's not slowing down.
948
01:24:05,120 --> 01:24:10,120
It's not for the foreseeable future next five years.
949
01:24:10,120 --> 01:24:14,120
It's not going to slow down. It's going to keep going and participation keeps going.
950
01:24:14,120 --> 01:24:20,120
And every time you build a gym, it doesn't spread out the people that are already climbing in that city.
951
01:24:20,120 --> 01:24:23,120
Just adds to the number of people who are climbing in that city.
952
01:24:23,120 --> 01:24:26,120
It is just growing at an insane rate.
953
01:24:26,120 --> 01:24:32,120
And yet I don't feel like interesting comps is scaling at the same rate.
954
01:24:32,120 --> 01:24:40,120
So you need to, yeah, you somehow got to find a way to make all those millions of people who are coming to the sport every year suddenly care about your comps.
955
01:24:40,120 --> 01:24:42,120
Any ideas?
956
01:24:42,120 --> 01:24:49,120
Plenty. But I think the things we've already discussed would be part of that.
957
01:24:49,120 --> 01:24:54,120
You know, make it better to watch. Bring the human emotion side into it.
958
01:24:54,120 --> 01:25:04,120
So tighten up the broadcast, make the format faster, slicker. I'm not advocating that climbing becomes a ninja warrior and it's all speed, speed, speed.
959
01:25:04,120 --> 01:25:06,120
Let's get it done as fast as we can.
960
01:25:06,120 --> 01:25:12,120
Put the men's and women's boulder finals together. Slash a number of lead semifinalists.
961
01:25:12,120 --> 01:25:16,120
Make the scoring a bit simpler. Let's have some emotion. Let's get the climbs out of ISO.
962
01:25:16,120 --> 01:25:21,120
Draw people in. Make the comps easier to watch. That's a huge part of it.
963
01:25:21,120 --> 01:25:32,120
So actually, do you think that maybe like speed climbing has a figure out since it seems like the general public prefers watching that over bouldering or lead?
964
01:25:32,120 --> 01:25:42,120
Yes. I mean, I'm not an average fan. I mean, when it's good, it's good.
965
01:25:42,120 --> 01:25:52,120
But there's definitely some speed World Cups where it doesn't feel that exciting. But I think as the world records have really begun to come down,
966
01:25:52,120 --> 01:25:56,120
you're kind of tuning in in case you're there for that world record.
967
01:25:56,120 --> 01:26:04,120
I think my assertion would be that speed climbing in the Olympics is more popular,
968
01:26:04,120 --> 01:26:10,120
but I don't think the viewership of speed climbing World Cups would suggest that it's the most popular discipline.
969
01:26:10,120 --> 01:26:16,120
Oh, sure. Yeah. So I don't think it is actually attracting a big audience.
970
01:26:16,120 --> 01:26:23,120
I think at the Olympics, people go, oh, I get that. Yeah, yeah. Whoever gets the top first is the winner. That's great.
971
01:26:23,120 --> 01:26:33,120
But I don't think that means a lot of climbers are watching it. And I don't think it's like the climbing audience at all.
972
01:26:33,120 --> 01:26:44,120
They had a speed route in Innsbruck when I lived there. And I remember talking to a well-known member of the Austrian climbing team who must remain nameless.
973
01:26:44,120 --> 01:26:51,120
He goes, have you ever seen anyone actually do the speed route apart from a warm up?
974
01:26:51,120 --> 01:27:00,120
He goes, the whole point of having speed in the Olympics was it was going to increase participation, get climbers interested in speed.
975
01:27:00,120 --> 01:27:08,120
He said to me, he goes, you ever see anyone working on their speed? Who is an athlete gunning for the Olympics?
976
01:27:08,120 --> 01:27:15,120
And he goes, people just use it as a warm up. And it's like a novelty thing.
977
01:27:15,120 --> 01:27:25,120
So I would love to change the format of speed as well. You know what I'd do with speed? I would change the route every year.
978
01:27:25,120 --> 01:27:36,120
So on the 1st of January, I'd say, right folks, here's the route. And you've got to learn a new one every year because when you have the Arco Rotmaster of a year,
979
01:27:36,120 --> 01:27:47,120
they have the dual and they set a route that's in Euro terms, it's like 7CAA and they race and the climbers race head to head against each other.
980
01:27:47,120 --> 01:27:56,120
And so every time they do it, they get better at it and they get faster. And so you've not only got to do the route, you've got to do it faster than last time.
981
01:27:56,120 --> 01:28:06,120
I think it's a great format, maybe not appropriate for lead comps. It feels slightly gimmicky. It feels slightly novelty.
982
01:28:06,120 --> 01:28:14,120
I don't think it's what lead comp should be. Lead should be about it being really hard and you falling off at some stage.
983
01:28:14,120 --> 01:28:24,120
I think speed could learn a lesson from it. How good would that be if they said, right, the speed route this year is in Euro terms 6B.
984
01:28:24,120 --> 01:28:33,120
Or this year it's 6C or this year it's 6A, whatever. And this is the route and now you've got to learn it.
985
01:28:33,120 --> 01:28:41,120
And you would see progression as the season goes on. People are figuring out the route. The times are falling all the time.
986
01:28:41,120 --> 01:28:47,120
Obviously you lose the world record element of it because every year the course would change.
987
01:28:47,120 --> 01:28:59,120
But yeah, the prospect that there might be a world record once or twice a season isn't nearly as entertaining to me as the idea of people really figuring out a new route every year and seeing them think a bit more.
988
01:28:59,120 --> 01:29:01,120
That would be interesting.
989
01:29:01,120 --> 01:29:12,120
I think what you mentioned earlier about people not doing the speed route unless they're pros, at least here in the US, it's just not accessible.
990
01:29:12,120 --> 01:29:17,120
You're not allowed to go on the speed route unless you're serious about it.
991
01:29:17,120 --> 01:29:22,120
I'm not sure if a lot of people would want to, even if that wasn't the case.
992
01:29:22,120 --> 01:29:31,120
I think for someone like me, I would love to try the speed route and make improvements, but I'm not allowed to.
993
01:29:31,120 --> 01:29:37,120
Well, okay. I think I've tried it a few times.
994
01:29:37,120 --> 01:29:44,120
And it's fun, but I don't see many people who make the leap from trying it to trying to be really good at it.
995
01:29:44,120 --> 01:29:48,120
They'll try it a few times and try doing the jump or whatever.
996
01:29:48,120 --> 01:29:54,120
It's kind of fun for a second, but I don't see anyone going into the gym working on the speed time.
997
01:29:54,120 --> 01:29:57,120
Is it not locked down for you guys?
998
01:29:57,120 --> 01:30:00,120
Yeah, I think in Innsbruck it just had an auto belay at the top.
999
01:30:00,120 --> 01:30:05,120
I've not been into the Innsbruck gym for a few years now, but that seems to remember that was the case.
1000
01:30:05,120 --> 01:30:09,120
Yeah, that's definitely not the case for us. I don't know if it would change.
1001
01:30:09,120 --> 01:30:16,120
I think there's just been too many accidents or something like that, so it's all very locked down here.
1002
01:30:16,120 --> 01:30:25,120
Yeah, in Europe in general, around skiing and climbing and outdoor use, there seems to be a little less restriction.
1003
01:30:25,120 --> 01:30:33,120
So I'm actually not sure, but I'm almost as sure as I can be that in the Innsbruck gym it just had an auto belay and you could use it.
1004
01:30:33,120 --> 01:30:39,120
Well, bringing it back to the beginning, we have some freedoms, but no freedom there.
1005
01:30:39,120 --> 01:30:49,120
No, sadly not. Freedom doesn't extend. Operation Freedom hasn't yet reached the speed wall in San Diego, but hoping it will one day.
1006
01:30:49,120 --> 01:30:55,120
Yeah, okay. Well, I think that's all the questions I had. Thanks so much for joining me.
1007
01:30:55,120 --> 01:30:59,120
Is there anything else that you want to shout out or let people know?
1008
01:30:59,120 --> 01:31:01,120
Sadly not, no.
1009
01:31:01,120 --> 01:31:04,120
Well, at least where people can find you?
1010
01:31:04,120 --> 01:31:12,120
CharlieBosco.com is my website and I am a very, very occasional Instagram user at Charlie Bosco.
1011
01:31:12,120 --> 01:31:20,120
And I could have a rant about the importance or lack of importance about social media, but suffice to say, I don't think Instagram is the key to a successful career.
1012
01:31:20,120 --> 01:31:25,120
So I use it very occasionally and that's probably not going to change.
1013
01:31:25,120 --> 01:31:29,120
But if you want to give me a follow, it's always nice to pick up some followers.
1014
01:31:29,120 --> 01:31:32,120
Always good for the ego to get a couple of followers.
1015
01:31:32,120 --> 01:31:38,120
Yeah, and if anyone wants to fight you about anything in a message or something like that.
1016
01:31:38,120 --> 01:31:45,120
Yeah, yeah. Always happy to ignore opinions or...
1017
01:31:45,120 --> 01:31:49,120
Always happy to correspond with people who are worthy of correspondence.
1018
01:31:49,120 --> 01:32:00,120
But if you send me an email telling me what a douchebag I was and how I always said the same things and I didn't know what I was talking about, then yeah, you may or may not receive a reply.
1019
01:32:00,120 --> 01:32:05,120
Alright. Okay, sounds good. Well, thank you again. It was amazing to chat.
1020
01:32:05,120 --> 01:32:06,120
Thank you.
1021
01:32:06,120 --> 01:32:09,120
Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast.
1022
01:32:09,120 --> 01:32:15,120
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Otherwise, you are a super fake climber.
1023
01:32:15,120 --> 01:32:26,120
If you're listening on a podcasting platform, I'd appreciate if you rate it five stars and you can continue the discussion on the free competition climbing discord linked in the description.
1024
01:32:26,120 --> 01:32:35,120
Thanks again for listening.
