Cover art for 65: Lučka Rakovec, Slovenian Lead Climber

9/14/26

65: Lučka Rakovec, Slovenian Lead Climber

Lučka is a lead climber from Slovenia who recently won bronze at the European championships and came back to the world climbing scene after undergoing cancer-removing surgery in 2025. In this episode, we’ll hear about how her cancer diagnosis affected her climbing, training, and mental health, we’ll learn about the Slovenian team, and we’ll put together a tier list for the worst things that can happen in a lead comp.

Cover art for 64: Ella Fisher, Upcoming USA Lead Climber

8/17/26

64: Ella Fisher, Upcoming USA Lead Climber

Ella is a lead climber on team USA who made her first world series finals earlier this year in Prague! In this episode, we’ll learn about how she climbs the same lead routes all year round to train in Arizona, why she doesn’t want to move to Salt Lake City despite that, how a simple vitamin deficiency wrecked her body for a whole year, and how she went from placing 40th in world cups to making semis and finals in 1 year.

Cover art for 63: Antasyafi Robby Al Hilmi, Indonesia's New Speed Star

7/27/26

63: Antasyafi Robby Al Hilmi, Indonesia's New Speed Star

Robby is a speed climber from Indonesia who has already gotten 2 silver medals in the world series season this year! In this episode, we’ll learn about the climbing scene in Indonesia, speed climbing rituals and whether they’re actually helpful, we’ll hear this thoughts on the 4 lane and speed relay formats, and we’ll get insight into how he got so good at speed climbing after only training it consistently for 3 years.

Cover art for 62: Meagan + C Lad, The Beladies

7/13/26

62: Meagan + C Lad, The Beladies

Meagan Knecht and C Lad are both level 5 belayers in the USA who are also helping out with belay training videos for World Climbing. In this episode, we’ll debunk the myth that women can’t belay men or heavier climbers, we’ll learn about the problems with Assisted Braking Device (ABD) requirements in gyms, and of course, we'll talk about how to get into high level belaying and how they became SPONSORED belayers thanks to Trango.

Cover art for 61: Max Ayrton, World Climbing Routesetter (and cartwheel guy)

6/29/26

61: Max Ayrton, World Climbing Routesetter (and cartwheel guy)

Max is a World Climbing routesetter from Great Britain who most recently set for the bouldering world series in Bern 2026 and will be setting for Salt Lake in October as well. In this episode, we’ll learn about hold shaping, what happened when the Bern finals boulders got leaked early online, whether world cup routesetters can actually climb the boulders they set, and we’ll hear about his extremely hot take on “alternative” climbing moves...I had no idea that he was the infamous cartwheel boulder setter.

Cover art for 60: Samuel Richard, French New School Bouldering

6/15/26

60: Samuel Richard, French New School Bouldering

Sam is an 18 year old French boulderer who just recently won bronze at the 2026 Madrid world climbing series. You may also know him as the youngest person to ever do v17. In this episode, we’ll get insight into the world of new school climbing, how regimented routines and being locked in could push climbing further than ever before, and how he may want to just give up climbing one day.

Cover art for BONUS: Andy McVittie - Youth Climbing PT

5/4/26

BONUS: Andy McVittie - Youth Climbing PT

Andy is a climbing PT and this is his second time on the podcast. This time, he’s here with new research to talk about why youth climbers are maybe overdoing it with the climbing training, what early arthritis looks like, and the surprising dangers of outdoor climbing when it comes to competition climbers.

Cover art for 59: Felix + Emil Abrahamsson - Fantasy Climbing League Creators

4/27/26

59: Felix + Emil Abrahamsson - Fantasy Climbing League Creators

You likely know Emil from being one of the OG climbing Youtubers who has also competed in a few world cups for Sweden. With his brother, Felix, they have started a new Fantasy Climbing League platform! In this episode, we’ll learn about how the Fantasy Climbing League works, how they feel about sports gambling in climbing, who their top picks are for their teams, and their predictions for all things competition.

Cover art for 58: Sam Avezou, French Olympian + Short King

4/13/26

58: Sam Avezou, French Olympian + Short King

Sam is a French boulder and lead climber who has medals from several world cups and competed alongside his sister, Zelia at the Paris Olympics! In this episode, we’ll learn more about what it’s like growing up in a climbing family, tips for climbing as a short king, why he struggled in the 2025 season, and how he self-coaches.

Cover art for 57: Jackie Hueftle, Pro Climbing League Routesetting Director

3/30/26

57: Jackie Hueftle, Pro Climbing League Routesetting Director

Jackie was the routesetting director at the Pro Climbing League (PCL) comp and is also the co-founder of Kilter! In this episode, we’ll learn more about the unique challenges that came with setting for PCL, why she thinks it’s important to have more women setting for women’s comps, and how YOU could maybe try climbing the same exact boulders set at PCL.