Episode 104: Board Meetings | A Product of Your Climbing Environment
In this episode, Nate and I break from our recent Top 5 format, and sit down to have a discussion about how climbers are a product of their environment. Whether it’s gym, crag, comps and teams, or simply being mentored, we all become what we practice, and often times that is dictated to us by outside forces.
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Kris Hampton 00:00
What's up everybody? I'm your host Kris Hampton.
Nate Drolet 00:01
And this is Nate Drolet.
Nate Drolet 00:02
And together we form, Eyedea and Abilities. Any any clue? Do you know?
Nate Drolet 00:05
Not a bit
Kris Hampton 00:05
They are former Minneapolis rap group signed to Rhymesayers, early Rhymesayers. Idea passed away several years ago. But based on their names, Eyedea and Abilities, who would you be?
Nate Drolet 00:11
Abilities?
Nate Drolet 00:11
Hahaha. The look on your face when you just said that. I can accept that. I'll be Eyedea. Ah, we are sitting here in my sunroom again in Lander. I don't know why we chose the warmest possible place to sit right now.
Nate Drolet 00:20
I don't know. I was thinking that as well and then we closed the door to really seal ourselves off.
Kris Hampton 00:27
Yeah, but we did, so. Sitting here and Nate is about to head back to Rifle because Rifle has this strange draw on people that keeps them coming back there. So we're just trying to wrap some things up before Nate heads back. And we decided to try and knock out two Board Meetings tonight. One is going to be fun. One is going to be nuts and bolts. And Nate decided fun first.
Kris Hampton 00:28
Yes. Dessert first.
Kris Hampton 00:43
Dessert first, he says. So we're going to talk a little bit about being a product of your environment. And this was your topic, I believe.
Nate Drolet 01:24
Yeah
Kris Hampton 01:24
And I think it's a good one. I think it's interesting. What prompted the idea to talk about this?
Kris Hampton 01:29
You know, actually, I it kind of stemmed back I remembered a conversation I had while we were in Akron, Ohio at the is it the Rock Mill gym?
Kris Hampton 01:39
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 01:39
We were there.
Kris Hampton 01:39
Wow. That was like our first workshop.
Nate Drolet 01:40
Yeah, it was one of the very first ones.
Kris Hampton 01:41
Yeah, shout out Rock Mill.
Nate Drolet 01:41
But so we were doing the clinic and it's you know, it's a bouldering only gym. We were doing that, like the open session where people can walk up ask us questions. So this one guy, we start talking back and forth. I watch him climb. And he'd only been climbing like, maybe a year or so and, you know, was climbing fairly well. And at one point, he kind of pulls me aside and he's like, "Hey, Nate." He's like, "Do you think I could ever climb 5.13?" and I mean, he had, you know, I watched him do like two V6s.
Kris Hampton 03:11
Yeah, I remember this guy. Yeah,
Nate Drolet 03:12
I was like, "Yeah!". I was like, "Hell, you get a little fitness and you could do it in like a month."
Kris Hampton 03:18
Haha. Right
Nate Drolet 03:18
And he was just like, "Really?". I was like, "Yeah, like, totally". He was like, "Well, I I've only ever met two people who've ever climbed 5.13 and they're like, really strong."
Nate Drolet 03:30
Like, so this for him was like a life goal. And it was one of those things where I was just like, "Man, like, you know, if you like lived around people who only climbed 5.13, like you'd be like, 'Oh, cool. Yeah, I'll just go ahead and climb 5.13 right now.' "
Kris Hampton 03:30
Right, right
Kris Hampton 03:44
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's funny, I hadn't really thought about it in the context of this conversation, but when I started trad climbing, the you know, the idea was that.... that was not a pun, by the way.... I'm Eyedea, you are Abilities. The idea was
Nate Drolet 04:07
Hahaha. I completely missed it.
Kris Hampton 04:09
Haha I almost did too. The idea was that 5.12 trad was really, really hard, so that's what I believed and 5.11 seemed like this barely attainable goal. You know, and it took this huge mind shift and to to climb harder. And then it was the same thing when I started sport climbing. There weren't any climbers in Cincinnati at the time climbing 5.14. There were a couple who had done it, but no one at the time was doing it, so it just seemed like this crazy hard thing. And I got through 5.13 really quickly because I had a few friends who were doing it, so I just believed I could you know. Then it then I definitely slowed to a crawl after that, because I just didn't have many people climbing at that grade.
Nate Drolet 05:03
Yeah. Yeah, it's much easier to copy other people. Like, if you can see... if everyone else else around you is doing it, then you're like, "Well, okay, like, you know, this won't, like, I guess I'll just do this too". Like, it doesn't occur to you that it will be a challenge if everyone else can do it.
Kris Hampton 05:19
Right.
Nate Drolet 05:20
So yeah, that kind of is what prompted it was thinking back on this conversation and really just thinking like if this guy could have like, a different perspective of or even just like, realize that, like, yeah, he's way better off than he even thinks he is.
Kris Hampton 05:35
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 05:36
Like, you know, he could easily achieve his goal and then shoot beyond it.
Kris Hampton 05:40
Yeah. And I think that that kind of leads into the one of the, you know, the first things that we decided was a component of this environment that sort of dictates who you become as a climber, to some degree, is that the people you climb with play a gigantic part in it. You know, in all sorts of ways. In your belief in what's possible and just in the idea that you get to watch it be done just makes it that much easier for you to learn.
Nate Drolet 06:13
Yeah, yeah.
Kris Hampton 06:14
Even even beyond just believing it.
Nate Drolet 06:17
No, totally.
Kris Hampton 06:19
In fact, I would say, you know, having known you, relatively early on when you move to the Southeast, and then watching you kind of make pretty big leaps when you were climbing regularly with Jimmy Webb, Brian Voges, Brad Weaver, that crew. I think that's a large part of it.
Nate Drolet 06:43
Oh totally.
Kris Hampton 06:43
You got to go out and climb with those guys.
Nate Drolet 06:45
Yeah. I mean, if all your friends flash V10, then you're like, "Well, it can't be that hard."
Kris Hampton 06:51
Right. Haha
Nate Drolet 06:52
"Hey, guys, let me just try this for like, 10 minutes real quick before we walk on." But yeah, I mean, that was like, huge, like, being able to just see that. I mean it...that was just it, too. It wasn't like, those guys weren't just like mutants. I didn't... I never saw them as something just extraordinary or unbelievable. They just all had really great work ethic and like, they really believed in themselves. And I mean, yeah, they never had a doubt that they would climb well.
Kris Hampton 07:23
Yeah, you got to see the behind the scenes of it. And I think that's what a lot of people miss when they just see these climbers in the magazines or in the videos or whatever. They see the big send. It seems like magic. You got to see the work that got put in and all the things that contribute to them climbing well.
Nate Drolet 07:41
Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. It definitely like shaped a lot of my climbing. I mean, especially like, with all three of those guys and I mean, so many others like Nate Draughn. Rami Annab, like, I mean, just so many other guys that I've been able to climb around that have been amazing. But uh, yeah, for me, that was huge.
Kris Hampton 08:00
Yeah. And I think it can go the other way just as easily.
Nate Drolet 08:03
Totally.
Kris Hampton 08:03
Like you... this whole topic came from a guy who'd only seen two other people climb 5.13. But he at least had the audacity to ask, you know, "Do you think I can do this?" because he had met two people who had. What if you're in an area where no one's ever climbed 5.13 ? You know, how do you begin to believe it?
Nate Drolet 08:26
Oooh. It's hard. I mean, it's, you know, they're like the very rare cases of people who come out, guys like James Litz, who, you know, the people who really jumped ahead of everyone else.
Kris Hampton 08:38
James Litz is the Rodney Mullen of of climbing. I hadn't thought about that until you just said that.
Nate Drolet 08:45
I thought Dave Graham was Rodney Mullen.
Kris Hampton 08:46
No. Dave? No. James Litz.
Nate Drolet 08:47
They're both kind of wizards.
Kris Hampton 08:49
I like James Litz.
Kris Hampton 08:50
I like James Litz better
Nate Drolet 08:50
Okay,
Nate Drolet 08:51
For this?
Kris Hampton 08:52
For this.
Nate Drolet 08:52
Okay.
Kris Hampton 08:53
Yeah. Yeah, because Dave had a whole crew around him.
Nate Drolet 09:00
That is true.
Kris Hampton 09:01
Yeah. Rodney was solo. James was solo.
Nate Drolet 09:07
Yeah, I mean, it's...it's difficult, like because it is very much a game of perception. Like, you know, you have... if you don't believe that you can do something, it'll never happen. Like, it's this whole idea of like, a growth mindset.
Kris Hampton 09:21
Yeah
Nate Drolet 09:22
Like, and I think that's, you know, it's funny, I think for me, like, went for a long time, like, I guess I always believed like, I was like, "Yeah, of course, I'm just gonna climb V11", like, because it was to the point to where everyone around me I ever knew pretty much had climbed V11. And once I got there, I was just like, "Oh", like, I don't, I don't know, like I get I feel like without realizing I had put a barrier between myself and like, what was beyond that.
Kris Hampton 09:48
Right
Nate Drolet 09:49
And it took me a long time to start to like believe that, to actually believe that I could climb harder. Which is like a funny thing to think about because it's just like, well, you just get better and stronger and you're gonna climb harder, but I don't know, it just didn't quite work that way for me.
Kris Hampton 10:02
Yeah. And that's, yeah, I agree. I mean, it does seem like it should be this exact correlation, but it really just isn't. I, you know, looking back, I think I've probably been strong enough to climb V11 for quite some time. It's just never been something that I really put that much belief into, enough belief that I would actually go out and put time and effort into it, you know, into the actual climbing of a V11. I put tons of effort into getting strong enough, but never believed that I had gotten to that level, per se, so never went out and actually tried the thing.
Nate Drolet 10:48
Yeah, no, it's I mean, it's a huge thing. Like, I remember, I think this is maybe three summers ago, something like that. I was climbing with Alex Stiger, who is a coach climbing coach in Colorado. And I was climbing with her in Rocky Mountain National Park a bunch and at that point, that year, I had already climbed ten V11s and she was just like, "Nate, how many V12s have you done?" and I was like, "Ah... I haven't climbed V12 yet" and she was like, "What are you doing?" and I was like, "What do you mean?". I was like, "V12 is hard" and she was just like, "You just need to go do one. Like you need to go confidently try one because you're going to do one" and it took me a long time. Like I was just like, "Nah, you're crazy." But it was actually like her saying that, that later on that year, like that winter, I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna try one." And I went out to try to The Shield and almost did it in like in my very first session and did it, you know, shortly thereafter, within the next week.
Kris Hampton 11:46
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 11:48
But it was because
Kris Hampton 11:48
I think that's big, having someone who, even if they're not someone who's just being an example of it constantly, having someone who believes in you to that point, who you...even if you don't believe them, at first will eventually sink in and you go, "I don't know, maybe they know something I don't", I think that's important to have. I mean, you've said it to me multiple times, "I think you would do really well on this", or "I think you would really like this" and I'm like, "I hadn't even considered that I might do well on something like that". Like I have my... the things I know that I do well, and that wasn't one that I had ever even thought about. And then I try it and I'm like, "Oh, maybe I can do this", you know. So I think that's super important.
Nate Drolet 12:37
Yeah, the people you are around.
Kris Hampton 12:38
Gotta have people around you.
Nate Drolet 12:39
I mean, and also. just one more example, like, I was telling you, I was reading Jonathan Siegrist's blog about doing The Bleeding. And he said he went up to Mill Creek and was super intimidated because everything seemed sandbagged and heinous and he was like, "Ah, I don't know, maybe I won't even try it this weekend while I'm here." And then the person he was climbing with was just like, pretty much just like peer pressured him into it and was like, "No, like, you're gonna get on this" and he ended up doing like, third go.
Kris Hampton 13:06
Right.
Nate Drolet 13:07
But like, you know, someone even like Jonathan Siegrist, like, still has the same kind of feelings.
Kris Hampton 13:12
Yeah, totally. I think that's really big. I think Jonathan Siegrist is an interesting segue into this next topic because he's kind of an old school climber who grew up in the new school era and I think that's benefited him in a lot of ways. And the what we're going to talk about is the era that you come up in or grow up in or do most of your climbing in, I think really does quite a bit to dictate your climbing style and what you believe you can do and I mean the places you go to climb and what you're intimidated by, all of this.
Nate Drolet 13:59
Oh, yeah.
Kris Hampton 14:00
You know, I came up, oddly, actually, I came up in an era when bouldering and sport climbing were starting to get popular and because I have this like....
Nate Drolet 14:14
Hatred?
Kris Hampton 14:15
It wasn't a hatred yet. It didn't start as a hatred. It started as like this strange belief that the older school knew better. Then I just, like blocked out bouldering and sport climbing, and was like trad climbing is way cooler. Specifically offwidth climbing because no one likes it. And I didn't realize that there are a lot of smart people out there who didn't like it for a reason. But the fact is, coming up trad climbing, really wanting to be a good trad climber totally dictated my style of climbing for a long time.
Nate Drolet 15:02
Yeah,
Kris Hampton 15:03
You know, it was very much like three points on at all times. You know, very rarely do you break that rule. The best looking movement is slow and controlled. You know Chris Sharma wasn't around yet, so, of course we didn't know about jumping. Chris Sharma was the very first person to jump ever.
Nate Drolet 15:25
I don't think anyone did it before him.
Kris Hampton 15:27
No, no one ever had. So that totally dictated, you know, the type of climbing I did. And and it's very easy and I've had this argument 1,000 times, but it's very easy to think that today's climbers, for them to think that trad climbing is so much harder than sport climbing and I just disagree completely. I think it's the other way around actually. Being relatively well versed in both, I think it's the other way around. Because I've seen traddies, you know, the guys that did a lot to teach me go get on sport climbs well below the grade they're climbing in trad and just get wrecked because they don't have the skills to sport climb. They don't train in the gym every day, you know. So it just totally dictated the way that I climbed. Sport climbing was really hard, especially having to be dynamic. And that's just the way I learned to do it. Even though I learned in a bouldering gym for the most part.
Nate Drolet 16:34
Yeah, it's funny. Yeah, no, I think there's a lot that comes with the era that you started climbing. Everything from like what was popular at the time, you know, what your ethics were, things
Kris Hampton 16:47
What kind of tights you wore.
Nate Drolet 16:48
What kind of tights you wore.
Kris Hampton 16:51
They are leggings now.
Nate Drolet 16:53
Even just like the speed at which you approach climbing. Like so this is one thing that kind of like, grinds my gears is that people still like, when someone's trying to get into sport climbing, people will be like, oh, you know, you know, you need to top rope for a really long time.
Kris Hampton 17:10
Haha. Right. Right.
Nate Drolet 17:11
It's like, no, that is the worst thing you can do like. So I was climbing at the Red and buddy of mine came down from Canada. He had bouldered a handful of days with me back in high school, but never really climbed otherwise, and took him out to the Shire. I lead up a 5.7, he followed it after me. By follow I mean, I pulled the rope and he led it because I didn't tell him anything else. I was like, "Okay, here's what you do." and like, he's a doctor. He's smart. He handled it. I was like, "This is how you clip." I didn't show him what backclipping or Z clipping was because I was like you, it was like, in my mind, he's only going to learn the one right way. Like you're just gonna go up, you're gonna clip, you come back down. And then I just like went back up and cleaned it for him. But uh, yeah, that day he did a 7, an 8 a 9. Almost did the 10. And what was funny was a bunch of med students were out on their like spring break, so they come over, and he's on the 10 and just pumped out of his mind. Of course, it's like, basically his first day rock climbing and he's now four pitches in
Kris Hampton 18:11
Right
Nate Drolet 18:11
Up on a 5.10.
Kris Hampton 18:12
Yeah
Nate Drolet 18:13
And in leading all of them because he doesn't know any better and he has a great friend like me. And so he's up there. And he's like, tries to reach up and clip way above his head and I was like, "Man, it's gonna be way easier if you just get it next to your hip". He's like, "Okay". Once again, blind trust. So gets up and now he's on a huge jug, the bolt's unclipped at his hip, and he just can't do anything. He's like, "What should I do?" and he's way off the ground. I was like, "Yeah, just go for the next move. I'll catch you." So he goes for it, takes a huge whip. I give him a nice soft catch. It's great. And he was like, "Oh, that's awesome". And he comes down, starts talking with the med students, because you know, he's a doctor, or he was in residency at the time. And they are like, "How long you've been climbing?" and he was like, "Ummm...it's like,"
Nate Drolet 18:56
"This is my fourth...this is like this my fourth climb." And they're like, "No, we mean like, you know, total". He was like, "This is my first day" and one of them was like, "You're leading on your first day?" and my buddy Matt looks at me. He's like, "Nate, what's leading?"
Kris Hampton 18:56
"Six hours"
Kris Hampton 18:57
Hahaha
Nate Drolet 19:05
And so then, I like, had to explain to him that other people toprope. But the thing is, it's like I've seen it so many times, and this is something that like I dealt with is that you top rope forever and then there's this huge build up as if leading, lead climbing is just this scary, terrifying thing.
Kris Hampton 19:30
Right
Nate Drolet 19:31
And then people are just paralyzed by it.
Kris Hampton 19:34
Yeah
Nate Drolet 19:34
Where it's like if you just start that way, using, you know, learning from someone who's safe and you learn how to do it correctly, like it's not a big deal. Like it shouldn't be a big deal. But that is very much, I think, a generational thing.
Kris Hampton 19:47
Yeah, totally is and I mean, I think this, you know, blurs the line between the people you have around and the era because if you're climbing around people of another era, they believe you should be taught in a certain way.
Nate Drolet 20:02
Yeah
Kris Hampton 20:03
You know, and not that that's a bad thing, to climb around people of another era, but you have to be careful of being led down the wrong path by someone who just doesn't know any better, you know. And, and those people were conditioned in the same way, you know, by something in their environment. And it's totally true. I mean, when I was, when I started climbing, it was just common to go out and start leading. Like there, you didn't have to go through a million classes, and no one told you all the rules of leading and you know, "You can't do this, and you can't do that" and we just didn't know. You figure it out.
Nate Drolet 20:48
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 20:49
You know, and I think that's, I think that's a better way, in a lot of ways. I mean, I definitely understand the gym's need to teach people the right ways, because they have liability issues and all these things. But if you're going out with your friends, and you're like, "Oh, you can't lead belay now, because you haven't top rope belayed for 17 hours", then you're crazy. Just teach them how to lead belay, and it's gonna be fine.
Nate Drolet 21:19
Yeah. No totally. I think another thing that you the era that you came up with, and how that affects you is the what type of training was popular at the time.
Kris Hampton 21:37
Yeah, totally.
Nate Drolet 21:38
And I think, you know, I think like, good, simple, straightforward training ideas have been around for a long time. I mean, if you look at, like, what good climbers have done for a long time, it's not that different from what we do now. But I think what has always caused problems is what gets popular.
Kris Hampton 21:59
Right
Nate Drolet 22:00
So it's like, okay, like bodybuilding style, or like, a lot of aerobics, you know, running, not running, doing yoga, like, doing all sorts of like, fitness training, or, you know, maybe, I think it was maybe like, 7-8 years ago, I feel like hangboarding really got, like, hit its peak. Like, suddenly, like, it's not like anyone really knew totally what they're going to do with it, but they were just like, "I need to be hangboarding"
Kris Hampton 22:23
Right, right.
Nate Drolet 22:24
You know, then it was like periodization and then not periodization like, but really, for a long time like people I feel like there has been smart training ideas that have been around but it is very easy to get influenced by the popularity and the hype that's around you.
Kris Hampton 22:43
Yep. What do you think..right now do you feel like there is a leaning toward one discipline or another? Like we were joking about before we started recording that your climbing is sort of dictated by Chris Sharma. Like did you start climbing in the pre Sharma era? Did you start climbing in the Sharma as a sport climber era, Sharma as a boulder era or Sharma as a sport climber, part two era? Or maybe it was Sharma DWS. You know, so it's a lot of people's preferred style was dictated by Chris Sharma and his his phase at the time. Do you think there is a preferred discipline right now is it?
Nate Drolet 23:32
Training.
Kris Hampton 23:34
Oh boy, you might be right there.
Nate Drolet 23:36
Like and you know, I say that half jokingly but I feel like right now training is very popular.
Kris Hampton 23:41
It really is.
Nate Drolet 23:42
And the thing is it works. Like it definitely does.
Kris Hampton 23:44
And I'm not gonna say it shouldn't be popular.
Nate Drolet 23:45
Yeah. You know, if done correctly.
Kris Hampton 23:47
We do make a living that way.
Nate Drolet 23:48
Yes. If done correctly, at the right dosage, it works really well.
Kris Hampton 23:53
Was "dosage" a Chris Sharma pun?
Nate Drolet 23:55
At the right Dosage Four....it's done really well.
Kris Hampton 24:00
Hahah
Nate Drolet 24:02
But I mean, in all honesty, like, I think that is, I don't know, I can't think of anything. Like and it's tough to like, try and look outside the bubble that is like everything I read is about training, training and stuff like that. And like, if someone comes up and wants to talk with me, you know, most likely it's, they want to talk with me about training, so like this is obviously what I hear the most about. But I think we're kind of in a wave where that is what is popular. And even there was an interview with Alex Megos and Dickie Korb on... I can not remember the podcast. It was a German podcast, but the podcaster, he was just like, "So what's your take on the American... what the Americans are doing right now? It seems like they're really excited about their barbells." and he was very aggressively like poking fun and Dickie Korb was like, "No, I think it's good. I think like, you know, training, if done well, is a good thing. Like you know, we should shouldn't be turning into power lifters like, but if you're doing it well, like, it can be good."
Kris Hampton 25:05
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 25:06
But so if even like the outside European perspective is that we're now all turning into lifters who climb not climbers who lift, then, you know, maybe it is becoming a thing.
Kris Hampton 25:17
Yeah, I mean, I think it, I think it is kind of one of the things that sort of permeates all of the disciplines.
Nate Drolet 25:27
Aid?
Kris Hampton 25:30
Yeah, aid climbers don't really train, do they? Maybe they do. I don't know. Do people still aid climb? For god's sake.
Nate Drolet 25:35
I hope not.
Kris Hampton 25:39
Because I think now and maybe it's just that there are more climbers in general, but it certainly seems like there are a lot more climbers who are totally open to doing all three: bouldering, trad, sport. And do them all regularly within a year, you know, and that wasn't the case when I was coming up in climbing.
Nate Drolet 26:01
Totally
Kris Hampton 26:01
You know, people were sport climbers, or they were boulderers, or they were trad climbers. You didn't really mix them up very often.
Nate Drolet 26:10
Yeah
Kris Hampton 26:12
So you might be right. Training might be the popular style of the era right now,
Nate Drolet 26:18
Sport, trad, bouldering and training
Kris Hampton 26:20
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 26:23
Yeah, no, I think that's actually an interesting point that there are more people who are multidisciplinary, which I think has been great. Like, I think one of the greatest things to happen to sport climbers is bouldering. Like, consistent bouldering mixed in with sport climbing is amazing.
Kris Hampton 26:39
Yep. I think that's true with trad climbers, too. I mean
Nate Drolet 26:43
Yeah,
Kris Hampton 26:44
If you look at all of today's best trad climbers, they're all bouldering at a relatively high level, training in the gym, sport climbing at a relatively high level. You know, they kind of do it all. So I think that's been extremely beneficial for rock climbing in general is this pervasiveness of bouldering.
Nate Drolet 27:07
Yeah no, I totally agree.
Kris Hampton 27:10
Do you think that the, the training as a sort of a, you know, the popular trend of the era, does that break up by area where you're climbing? Are there are there zones where people don't train as much? .
Nate Drolet 27:32
For sure. For sure. I think this I mean, this is like, coming from the Southeast, like, people are getting more into training. But I feel like they're always a few steps behind from what people do in the West. Like in Colorado, and further west, they're just, yeah, a little more obsessive with stuff like that.
Kris Hampton 27:50
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 27:51
And in the Southeast, also, there's kind of this attitude that you shouldn't be trying too hard.
Kris Hampton 27:58
There's a stigma against it.
Nate Drolet 27:59
Yeah, it's like, "Oh, that's cool if you climb hard, but it's way cooler if you climb hard without trying to climb hard."
Kris Hampton 28:05
Yeah, totally.
Nate Drolet 28:06
You know, it's, it's kind of that weird thing. But
Kris Hampton 28:11
We're trying to change that over at Crux Conditioning with Paul Corsaro.
Nate Drolet 28:15
Yes.
Kris Hampton 28:15
So go see him if you don't mind the stigma that all the old school Southerners put on you.
Nate Drolet 28:21
Yeah, if you want to climb hard, but don't mind trying, you know, go to Crux
Kris Hampton 28:25
Crux Conditioning.
Nate Drolet 28:28
Um, what are your thoughts on that?
Kris Hampton 28:30
Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I think there are areas where it's different and that's, you know, that's one of the other aspects of this product of your environment that we decided to talk about is th area, and your you know, the area style that you grew up in is going to make a huge difference in your climbing. And I was...I rewatched recently Wind and Rattlesnakes, the film about the history of Lander climbing
Nate Drolet 28:59
Oh, yeah, I've been meaning rewatch that.
Kris Hampton 29:00
And there's a scene where Steve Bechtel is talking about BJ Tilden. And he says, "You know, BJ has developed his whole style around this area." And at first I was like, "Oh, you know, he's totally right" and then I was like, "I'm not sure he is." I think maybe the area has developed BJ's style. Because there are monos on 5.10s here. You know, they are tiny little crimps on 5.11s. There are huge moves on 5.10, 5.11.
Nate Drolet 29:31
Yeah
Kris Hampton 29:32
So coming up through that style, his fingers have gotten really strong. He's gotten really strong at shallow monos. He's gotten really good at getting his feet high and making giant moves to precise pockets on starting on slabs and then going to vertical and lightly overhanging and then steep things, you know. So this area has really dictated what type of climber he's going to be and in particular, BJ has done a great job of branching out but his his core stye, another pun there. Haha
Nate Drolet 30:11
I see what you did there.
Kris Hampton 30:13
His core style is very much built by Wild Iris.
Nate Drolet 30:19
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 30:20
And I think that happens to a lot of climbers.
Nate Drolet 30:22
I completely agree. Yeah, what are some, you know, and it's funny too, because it it's a style of both both the area and the weather of the area. So for instance, you look at like, people who live in the UK, and where it rains all the time, because of the area that they live like, they're amazingly strong. Not the greatest rock climbers.
Kris Hampton 30:47
Right
Nate Drolet 30:48
Like they send hard but like, they're just viciously strong, because they just don't get to climb outside all that often.
Kris Hampton 30:56
They spend all their time in the cellars getting crazy, crazy strong.
Nate Drolet 31:01
And no sunlight.
Kris Hampton 31:03
Hahaha. They're a little pale.
Nate Drolet 31:04
Yes.
Kris Hampton 31:06
No, no shade thrown. Another pun.
Nate Drolet 31:08
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 31:09
I'm getting good at this.
Nate Drolet 31:10
Oh, God. This is worse than my dad jokes. What are some other areas that you see...ooh, I actually have a really good one. So one of my favorite climbing styles of all time is a Drew Ruana. He's a younger climber and he grew up climbing in Smith and very much how BJ like has been formed by this area, like you watch him he is such a precise climber and he can climb....and he climbed there when he was like tiny and it's big moves on like bad, small holds. Precision.
Kris Hampton 31:43
Yep.
Nate Drolet 31:43
And he can climb so large and like very precise and it's cool to see. He's just got like a really rad style, especially for someone his age. Like normally you see people like kind of teenagers like they lean more towards like a gym, like a gym-style, like a gymnastic, like climbing gym style
Kris Hampton 32:00
Right.
Nate Drolet 32:01
But he just moves really well. It's cool to see.
Kris Hampton 32:05
Yeah, very deft with his feet. And, you know, just exudes that he's a good skilled climber, rather than just a super strong climber
Nate Drolet 32:15
Totally.
Kris Hampton 32:16
Which is what we see from a lot of younger climbers who come up in the gyms. Yeah, totally. And I mean, just to, since you use Drew Ruana, I'll use Dru Mack. I mean, Dru Mack is definitely a Red River climber.
Nate Drolet 32:33
Oh, yeah.
Kris Hampton 32:33
He's, he can hang on forever and ever and ever and, and knows that that's his, his wheelhouse. You know, and that's because that's what you need to be able to do in the Red. You know, you don't need to be precise, like Drew Ruana. You can just paste your foot anywhere on any of the 42 jugs that are nearby nd just keep climbing, keep hanging on.
Nate Drolet 33:00
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 33:01
And that's not to say Dru Mack is not a good rock climber, because he is. But that's just to say his style has been very much dictated by the style of the area.
Nate Drolet 33:11
Yes, totally. You know, and this is something Dave McLeod used to talk about. How, back in the day, this was before videos, if you wanted to see like a great climber, and you're from the UK, like you needed to go to France and go watch these French climbers just swim their way up, overhanging limestone.
Kris Hampton 33:30
Right. Francois LeGrand
Nate Drolet 33:30
Because the way they moved, yeah, the way these guys moved, because that was the way you just moved there, like was just incredible. And like, having gotten to go to Ceuse last summer, like, it's cool. You can definitely tell the French climbers. Like they have just very much their own style.
Kris Hampton 33:48
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 33:49
It's cool to see.
Kris Hampton 33:52
Yeah, and I think, you know, we've talked a little bit about the weather and how the rock sort of determines, you know, the style of climbing on the rock, determines what type of climber you are. And there's also the availability of routes in your home area.
Nate Drolet 34:12
Oh, yeah.
Kris Hampton 34:13
That really can dictate what type of climber you are and what you know what levels you're able to reach. I was I was listening to The Ledge podcast with Alex Megos one day hiking up to Wild Iris. And he commented, and I had to stop and rewind it because I couldn't believe what I'd heard, but he he said that they were talking about a list at the Frankenjura that's the top 100 list, the 100 hardest routes in the Frankenjura. And he mentions that everything on that list is 8c or harder, which is 14b and that blew me away. Coming up in the Red River Gorge, when I got to 13c, there were five.
Nate Drolet 35:03
Yeah
Kris Hampton 35:03
You know, and there were maybe only eight routes harder than that, you know, something like that. So to have 100 routes at 14b and harder at your disposal for you to be able to test out and try and find the ones that fit you so that you can get stronger to try the ones that don't fit you to move on to the next grade, that's huge in your development as a climber. So I think that's a massive, massive advantage.
Nate Drolet 35:36
Oh, I completely agree. I mean, you look at I mean, that's one of the reasons I think, why so many Europeans for climbers are... they just outstrip the Americans is because they go to so many areas, like they learn from so many areas, they have access to so many routes. Like I think Ondra, whenever he was, I don't know, something really young, but still wildly strong like 12, he like dedicated a year more or less to just onsighting.
Kris Hampton 36:01
Right.
Nate Drolet 36:02
And he could do that, because he had just thousands of routes at his fingertips.
Kris Hampton 36:05
Right
Nate Drolet 36:06
Which is rad. Like, I think, yeah, there's a huge advantage to that. And,
Nate Drolet 36:12
And while, it's a, while it's a huge advantage to you, as a beginner climber to live in the Red River Gorge, it's not a huge advantage when you're a 13+ climber. You just don't have that much to choose from. You know, but when you're, if you're looking to climb 5.12, the Red River Gorge is a fucking amazing place to be
Nate Drolet 36:36
Almost endless.
Kris Hampton 36:37
Yeah. So, I mean, I think that's, I think it just goes without saying that the two best sport climbers on the planet right now are guys who were from areas where there are thousands and thousands of hard routes to try.
Nate Drolet 36:52
Yeah, no, totally. And I think even saying "area" also, kind of two more things on and these are joined together. And one is, how easy is it for you to travel to different areas, like to different styles?
Kris Hampton 37:06
Right
Nate Drolet 37:07
So if you're somewhere where you can climb on sandstone, granite, limestone, like gneiss, all within a few hour drive, like you can develop a lot of skills and like, really round yourself out much better than, you know, if you only have like Southern sandstone or something like that.
Kris Hampton 37:25
Yep, absolutely.
Nate Drolet 37:27
But also, any area can also shape you in that. And we see this with people who live out West where the weather's always good. They just climb outside all the time, and never take the time to like actually train. Which some people can get really strong and very good with climbing just outside and for some people, it just doesn't work as well for them. And so maybe the best thing would be instead of just going outside just but because you can year round, like on the days when it's in the 90s like maybe you should actually train.
Kris Hampton 37:58
Yeah, yeah, I work with quite a few people who are in that situation where they want to be climbing outside all the time. And it's kind of a constant struggle to say, "Well can we dedicate a block of time to flipping the ratio to more indoor time, less outdoor time. We don't have to stop climbing outside but let's flip the ratio and cherry pick the days outside instead of hoping for a good day in the middle of summer when it's the worst conditions. "
Nate Drolet 38:26
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 38:28
Yeah, totally true. Let's, let's talk about the the last one and then I think we both probably have some questions about this. But it doesn't just come down to the the area, the outside, the people. I mean, since the advent of gyms, gyms have been very different.
Nate Drolet 38:56
Totally
Kris Hampton 38:56
And and being from Cincinnati, which which actually was one of the earlier areas to have several gyms, the two gyms that we had were radically different from each other. Climb Time started as like a 20 foot top rope walls. We had one really steep, almost a roof, lead wall and and we had a giant 45 and, and a couple of other small bouldering walls at the time and then it's since expanded its bouldering options, turned the lead wall into a bouldering wall and still has the you know, the top rope walls that essentially have just become bouldering walls, you know most of the....most everything ends halfway up. So it's it's a really amazing bouldering gym and then we had Rock Quest which had some of the the first like big, steep walls, had a huge roof out the ceiling. You know, so when it was built, it was this pretty state of the art sport climbing gym. And you can tell the difference between the people who climb mostly at Rock Quest and the people who climb mostly at Climb Time. They're radically different climbers. The people from Climb Time, can do huge moves. They can grab much smaller holds, and they fall off about 12 feet up off time. And the people from Rock Quest can't do the hard moves at all, but can climb forever and ever. I mean, that's, that's totally a gross generalization, but, but it's pretty easy to see the difference between the two.
Nate Drolet 40:46
Yeah. No, I mean, I think that happens everywhere. Like most cities or towns have I mean, a lot of places have multiple gyms now, which is kind of crazy. But like, it's very common to have like a training gym and then like, you know, the more flashy gym
Kris Hampton 41:04
Yep, totally.
Nate Drolet 41:05
And, yeah, I mean, when I was in Houston, I went to one of the newer gyms, and it's, it was absolutely beautiful. Like, it was amazing. I mean, literally everything you could imagine. But at the same time, it was like, you know, a lot, most of the people there were like, on their phone, like texting on their phone, like playing on their phones, doing stuff like that. Like, the type of setting was not maybe conducive for people who want to prepare to climb outside
Kris Hampton 41:32
Right
Nate Drolet 41:32
And things like that. So while it was like beautiful and a ton of fun, and like I had a blast, like, you know, if I wanted to prepare to go climb hard, like that's not where I'm going to go. But you know, for a lot of people, that's not... like going to different gyms isn't an option.
Kris Hampton 41:48
Right. Yeah, I mean, I think that's, I think that's a big thing that you need to really pay attention to is what are you preparing for and is your gym... is are the people you climb with, are these things that you're doing preparing you for whatever your goals are? Let's talk a little bit about
Nate Drolet 42:12
Get rid of your friends.
Kris Hampton 42:14
Haha. Get rid of all of your friends.
Nate Drolet 42:16
Fire them. You can do that.
Kris Hampton 42:19
Let's talk a little about like how to how to sidestep, how to avoid the pitfalls that your environment might be kind of putting right there in your way. So let's start with the gym pitfall that we just were just talking about. What are the ways you can avoid becoming very steeped...there's another pun... in your gym style? Hahaha
Nate Drolet 42:50
I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that
Nate Drolet 42:52
Um... man... trying to climb with different people, so like change what nights you go if you can. I'm a big fan of both climbing alone and with people. I think it's really important to do both. Like a lot of people...I've noticed this trend with a lot of people who like to who are really psyched on training, also end up being the people who like train alone a lot, or they climb alone a lot.
Kris Hampton 42:52
Haha
Kris Hampton 43:22
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 43:23
And, you know, it's definitely not like a hard and fast rule, but it's fairly common and I think that can be a real shortcoming.
Kris Hampton 43:31
Yep.
Nate Drolet 43:32
Like, I can't say how off like, how often enough when I talk to people, they're like, "Hey, I'm stuck in a plateau." One of my first questions is, "When you're in the gym, who do you climb with?" and they'll be like, "Oh, you know, I climb with, you know, my boyfriend or my girlfriend or whatever and I'm stronger than them and then maybe that's about it. If there's some someone else like trying the same problem, I'm already trying, I'll climb with them, but otherwise no one." It's like, they never have someone like right next to them pushing them and like when they're like, "Ah...I don't want to try that thing" like it, you know, secretly it's like, they don't want to try boulder because it's gonna be hard for them. There's....instead of having that other person who's just like, "Hey, we need to go get on that", like, "You need to go get on that", like, they can just kind of go get on something else.
Nate Drolet 44:18
They are like, "Uh I'll just go to the hangboard because I could always use stronger hands."
Kris Hampton 44:18
Yeah
Kris Hampton 44:22
Right. One of the things I like the most about climbing with other people is just making up boulders too.
Nate Drolet 44:27
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's been a ton of fun these last few days climbing with you in the Machine Shop
Kris Hampton 44:31
Because you're gonna make up things that I wouldn't think to make up and I'm gonna make up things you wouldn't make up.
Nate Drolet 44:37
Yeah. And I like climbing on things that I think are stupid. They make me better, so I love climbing with you. It's great. Like you make up a lot of good, stupid boulders.
Kris Hampton 44:44
Hahaha, Come on now. My boulders are classics.
Nate Drolet 44:47
Haha. Yes. In the Machine Shop.
Kris Hampton 44:51
They're classics, man. Come on now.
Nate Drolet 44:54
Yeah, but it's been great because it's like, very much of the things that you make up, like I would never even see or notice.
Kris Hampton 45:02
Right
Nate Drolet 45:03
And then I think vice versa for the most part.
Kris Hampton 45:05
Totally. Yeah. So I think that's really important way to break out of your style if you're in the gym, sort of being dictated to by the setting style of the gym is make shit up and have your friends make shit up and play around, make up silly things, you know, and do ludicrous things. That's, that's huge. Area style. How do you sidestep getting trapped in that? I mean, we've seen people do it right. There are people like Michaela Kiersch, who is a Red River climber, but can go out and do things like Necessary Evil. And I mean, that's really fucking impressive and it's because she and I think because she also does what you mentioned. Let's spend some time in the gym training really hard, training the things that aren't what we get in our area.
Nate Drolet 46:05
Yeah, she's a really strong boulderer.
Kris Hampton 46:07
Yeah
Nate Drolet 46:07
Like having bouldered around her just a little bit like, I've always been really impressed with how well she boulders. Which yeah, as a Red River climber, the trap a lot of people fall into... Rachel Melville...is that
Kris Hampton 46:21
Hahahah
Nate Drolet 46:21
They just want to keep getting more and more endurance
Kris Hampton 46:24
Shots fired
Nate Drolet 46:24
Yes. She knows I love her. "Go bouldering" is what I'm trying to say. If you're living in the Red, you don't need more endurance, because that's what you already do.
Kris Hampton 46:36
Haha. Right. Right.
Nate Drolet 46:37
Instead, you should be bouldering in your other time because you don't need more fitness. You've already got it from where you climb.
Kris Hampton 46:44
Yeah, I fell into the trap. I mean, you know, I was trying to train specifically for the Red, so I was just getting more and more and more pumped.
Nate Drolet 46:53
Yeah. And you got to the point where you could shake on almost anything
Kris Hampton 46:57
Right
Nate Drolet 46:57
Until you couldn't and what you couldn't you were falling on.
Kris Hampton 47:00
Right. Yeah, if I could pull on it, I could shake on it. That's pretty much what it came down to. Yeah. So I think yeah, I mean, I think something like what Michaela does is really smart. Travel, go bouldering, climb on other types of rock
Nate Drolet 47:16
Mix it up
Kris Hampton 47:17
Try hard things on those other types of rock, get frustrated, you know
Nate Drolet 47:21
And even where you live
Kris Hampton 47:22
And train a shit ton
Nate Drolet 47:23
Yes.
Kris Hampton 47:23
If you have to.
Nate Drolet 47:24
Yeah, if you have to, like that's what you should do. But even like, depending on where you live, like you can climb other styles. You know, like if you're in the Red
Kris Hampton 47:33
Totally
Nate Drolet 47:33
Some of my favorite routes in the Red are really hard little boulder routes.
Kris Hampton 47:37
Yeah, absolutely.
Nate Drolet 47:38
Like those are I think some of the absolute best
Kris Hampton 47:40
And really amazing vert routes. Swahili Slang.
Nate Drolet 47:44
Yeah no, there's some great technical routes. I was just... when we were making that list with Dru Mack, I was super proud of him that he put No Redemption on the list.
Kris Hampton 47:53
Yeah, totally man
Nate Drolet 47:54
You know, nice technical route.
Kris Hampton 47:56
Dru's list was good. It was a variety, which a lot of people skip over in the Red.
Nate Drolet 48:01
Yeah, because you can get suckered into just climbing on the Undertow or Madness cave or, you know, basically just the entire Motherlode which is great climbing, but it is one niche style.
Kris Hampton 48:14
Yep. And it can be vice versa. I mean, I'm not going to call you out here Lee Smith because you've definitely switched things up and I'm really impressed by that, but it used to be that Lee and you know, there are lots of other people like this who they deemed themselves not very good at the steep routes. They weren't inspired by the steep routes, so they spent all their time doing the few but really good vertical routes that the Red has to offer.
Nate Drolet 48:48
You know, here the best way to get better at something is to avoid it.
Kris Hampton 48:51
It's totally true.
Nate Drolet 48:52
Yeah
Kris Hampton 48:53
I mean, especially if you're willing to to just make up that you did cool things. That's what I would do not... Lee never did that. I would, that's what I would do. I would just make some shit up and then never have to actually get good at it.
Nate Drolet 49:06
Haha
Kris Hampton 49:08
People you climb with. We already answered this one. You just get new friends for God's sake.
Nate Drolet 49:13
Yeah, yeah, leave your friends. They're slowing you down.
Kris Hampton 49:18
Haha
Nate Drolet 49:18
But for real this is actually like kind of a tough one and topic of a future episode.
Nate Drolet 49:25
That we will be doing but you know, sometimes like there are people that are amazing to hang out with, maybe they're even great to boulder with but you don't need to go sport climbing with them. Like they're just a drag. They want to do two pitches and call it a day, they're scared, they're, you know, whatever. They don't want to try hard. They're not motivating you to try hard. And you know, like they can be awesome people to go out and get dinner with or like, hang out with but maybe if you like if your goal is to climb harder, like maybe like make a separation. Be like, "Hey like let's go on a group of four Like, you can find another, like, you can have another person to climb with who like, wants to be on your same plan of like hammocks and snacks."
Kris Hampton 49:25
Yes
Kris Hampton 50:08
Yep
Nate Drolet 50:08
"And I'll climb with someone else who wants to like, try hard."
Kris Hampton 50:12
Yeah, totally. Just don't put your damn hammock across the trail.
Nate Drolet 50:15
Yeah, don't do hammocks.
Kris Hampton 50:16
You can bring it to the crag if you just hide in the woods, where no one can see you.
Nate Drolet 50:20
Haha.
Kris Hampton 50:20
Yeah, no, I agree. And I talked a little bit about this in the episode with Scott and Tyler, about being good partners, that sometimes you just have to have to go looking for people that are better for your rock climbing and cultivate those relationships instead of just accepting that what you have is what you got. And that can be really fucking tough to do, but I think sometimes it's just necessary.
Nate Drolet 50:49
Yeah. Yeah, no, totally. Like I, I look at my best seasons, especially of sport climbing, and it's always been when I've had, like my best climbing partners, like, as far as the people who motivated me the most, the people that just like we like could draw off each other's energy. And it's like, those same seasons were also their best seasons as well.
Kris Hampton 51:12
Yeah, I think it has to be, you know, they have to have similar goals to you at that time. It doesn't have to be you're both working on the same route, or even that you're both working on the same grades.
Nate Drolet 51:24
Totally
Kris Hampton 51:25
You just have to have similar goals in terms of you want to put a similar amount of dedication into your goal and they coordinate with each other. You know, you and I haven't climbed outside a ton together, largely, because since we've been working together with the Power Company, I've been almost exclusively focused on the business. So I haven't been and I know that I haven't been, able to be a good outdoor climbing partner, you know and that's just something I have to sacrifice right now. I do want to get back to that and I look forward to being able to spend next winter and in Hueco and climbing together more, you know, or in the Red or wherever we end up, climbing together more outside because I know that I haven't been able to be a good partner to this point, because I'm always distracted by something work related. And I think that's important to know. I think if, if era is your problem, then you're just screwed. You should just give it up.
Nate Drolet 52:39
By "it" you mean your pride?
Kris Hampton 52:41
Yeah. Pride and climbing in general.
Kris Hampton 52:43
Haha. Yeah, no, no, I think you know, I think you just have to have an open mind, just look around. And rock climbing is really fun in lots and lots of different ways, so just try to let go of these ridiculous beliefs that you've held on to because of what, whatever era you came up in, and realize that things are changing, and they're gonna change with or without you. So if you want to be angry, and you know, always just frustrated at the way the world is, then you're welcome to do that. But if you want to have fun rock climbing, and you want to get better at rock climbing, then maybe accept that change is needed.
Nate Drolet 52:43
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 53:24
Yeah. Have you ever... have you had any favorite moments where someone of the new, of a newer generation than you like kind of motivate you or inspired you?
Kris Hampton 53:36
Yeah, you know, I, I've talked about this one on the podcast before
Nate Drolet 53:41
Was this when I broke the banana?
Kris Hampton 53:42
Haha no but I actually just told that story the other day. No, and this is this is kind of a gym thing in that and a fixed mindset thing to some degree, where I was able to.... there was this V8 or something in the gym on the 60 and I was able to do it without this huge dyno that was intended. I was just able to do the move in a fairly comfortable way. It didn't, I didn't understand why you had to do this big dyno. But then I saw this younger kid just do the dyno, and I was like, "Holy shit, I can't do that." And if of course my ego is immediately like, "Well, that's stupid", you know, "He would never do that 90 feet up if he's pumped, but I would do it my way". But instead, I sorta forced myself to try it and when I realized I wasn't even sure how to do it, I just asked him, like, "Hey, we do that again. Like, I think it's cool". And I watched him do it again and then in four or five tries, I was able to do it his way. You know, he was never able to do it my way though.
Nate Drolet 55:05
Hahah
Kris Hampton 55:05
Haha.
Kris Hampton 55:08
No, but that, you know, and that's happened a lot of times where I've watched the way younger climbers who are really, really stoked or really bouncy or whatever, they just have different attributes than me whatever they are. That I've watched them and gotten really inspired to, to climb more or climb harder or climb different, or whatever. Happens all the time.
Nate Drolet 55:35
Nice. That's all I got
Kris Hampton 55:37
How about you?
Nate Drolet 55:38
Yes, actually
Kris Hampton 55:39
You are one of the younger climbers, actually,
Nate Drolet 55:41
Ironically, well, it's funny because like, I have to go back in, because you practice being so like snappy and bouncy all the time, just because you're trying to get out of sloth mode.
Kris Hampton 55:50
Yeah, I think I think I'm out of it.
Nate Drolet 55:52
I know, you were saying that today. I think you....well, here's what's funny,
Kris Hampton 55:55
Damn near out of it.
Nate Drolet 55:57
Because like, I... forever, like one of the biggest breakthroughs for me was learning how to do what I've later like started referring to as "rooting" and like, what we turned into, like the Applied Body Tension, like, entire process and so that's like how I love to climb. Like, for me, it's like, I want to get as extended as possible, like on a steep wall, because that's like, for me, that's such a fun form of mastery
Kris Hampton 56:20
Right
Nate Drolet 56:20
And so we were just in the gym the other day, and, you know, you had that little crimp problem where like, everyone was just jumping to a hold and even like, people who were like, a bit taller than us, and I was just like, "Okay, I'm going to do this keeping my foot on", because in my mind, that's like, step one is like, "How do I do this, like, do the big move, keeping the feet?". And so I did it that way and then afterwards, I was like, "Man, but this is going to be harder for them for me just to like jump to the edge." So then it takes me like twice as long to do it that way.
Kris Hampton 56:52
Right
Nate Drolet 56:52
So it's funny that I actually like have to remind myself to like revert back and you're the it's even funnier, that you're the one that reminds me that I need to be like, more springy sometimes.
Kris Hampton 57:02
That is pretty funny haha
Nate Drolet 57:03
Like, yeah. So like, that's definitely one example of kind of the opposite. But one for sure, years ago, I was watching the youth comp in person and it was a girl from Stone Summit, who she was on lead and just watching her climb, she just committed to every move 100%. Didin't matter if it was a jump, didn't matter if it was horrible feet, if everything looked awful, she was just like, even if she was like pumped and falling apart like it never showed and she was just committing so well. And it was cool because it like looking at that, I was like, "I don't do that." Like I know for a fact, not on my best day do I do that.
Kris Hampton 57:43
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 57:44
And but I can also recognize it, like, if I can teach myself how to do that, like, I will, I mean, tomorrow I would climb a letter grade harder.
Kris Hampton 57:54
Yeah
Nate Drolet 57:54
Unquestionably.
Kris Hampton 57:56
You totally just reminded me of another young climber that I'm continually inspired by. Is it continually or continuously? Could it be both?
Nate Drolet 58:08
.....Yes.... I don't know. I'm not the English guy.
Kris Hampton 58:11
Well, I'm, I'm always inspired by this person. I'm continued to be. And that's Kerry Scott.
Nate Drolet 58:17
Oh, yeah.
Kris Hampton 58:17
I mean, since we, since we met her in the gym, at Triangle Rock Club, I didn't expect to see her climb as well as she climbed.
Nate Drolet 58:31
Oh, I totally remember because she was fore running, because she was one of the coaches and it was the kids comp and she was forerunning one of the problems and we were standing next to each other and she like went up and I like leaned to next you and I was like, "She's climbing really hard."
Kris Hampton 58:42
Hahaha
Nate Drolet 58:42
Like, I mean, yeah,
Kris Hampton 58:45
Yeah, she's super strong, and a really good climber and, and I didn't expect to see it and I was surprised by it. And it wasn't that I didn't expect to see it because she was a girl or anything else. It was just because a lot of climbing coaches end up becoming coaches before they become good climbers, and they never get around to becoming good climbers, because they're trying to be good coaches. And that's totally fine. But it's the majority, I would say, and that's what I expected to see and that didn't happen. And then after she, after she did Proper Soul, which we talked about on the podcast, she didn't she didn't stop there and she didn't just keep reaching for the next higher grade. She also went back and did things like The Racist, which
Nate Drolet 59:43
Super proud, first female ascent.
Kris Hampton 59:44
Yeah. Which I think might be the proudest ascent I know of that she's done. I mean,
Nate Drolet 59:52
I don't know.... She did Coal Train, which
Kris Hampton 59:54
Coal Train is badass, but
Nate Drolet 59:56
I think Megos said is like, top five in the world.
Kris Hampton 1:00:00
But The Racist has these massive, massive moves that
Nate Drolet 1:00:04
Oh I'm familar
Kris Hampton 1:00:05
A lot of people would have told her, "You can't do it."
Nate Drolet 1:00:09
Yeah, no I remember when I first moved to the New, people straight up told me. They're like, "No it doesn't go, like for your size", like and she's...I mean maybe only half inch or inch taller than me, I think.
Kris Hampton 1:00:20
Yeah and just the fact that she's extra, ultra positive, always smiling and just a super cool human
Nate Drolet 1:00:28
Yea
Kris Hampton 1:00:29
You know I think I think if I had to pick a young climber today that I was most inspired by, it would probably be her.
Nate Drolet 1:00:40
Nice.
Kris Hampton 1:00:42
So I think that's about all we got here and we got another podcast to do.
Nate Drolet 1:00:47
Yep
Kris Hampton 1:00:48
So we need to wrap this thing up. And you guys already know where to find us powercompanyclimbing.com, @PowerCompanyClimbing on Instagrams, on Facebook's and on the Pinterest machine. You can look for us on Twitter, but you know the deal. We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.