Stay ConnectedThe Cutting Edge presents in-depth interviews with the world’s best climbers, just back from great new climbs, along with historical perspective from the editors of the American Alpine Journal and local experts. This podcast is hosted by Jim Aikman and produced by the American Alpine Club.
The Cutting Edge is generously supported by Feathered Friends.
Our guest this episode is the Czech climber Marek Holeček, among the most successful alpine climbers of the past two decades. Holeček has climbed new routes all over the world, from Kyrgyzstan to Patagonia, Antarctica to Afghanistan. Two of his biggest successes came in the past five years, when he was already in his 40s: new routes on Gasherbrum I in Pakistan and Chamlang in Nepal, both of which were honored with Piolets d’Or. His new route up 7,162-meter Baruntse in Nepal, climbed in late May with Radoslav (Radek) Groh, is of similar stature. Holeček and Groh climbed the west face of Baruntse, 10 kilometers west of Makalu, in four days. Near the top, a fierce storm arrived a day and a half earlier than expected, and they had to fight to the summit, where they were pinned down for four nights. Finally, on their ninth day out from base camp, the storm let up enough for them to descend about 1,000 meters. After one more night, strung out and threatened by avalanche danger, and with no one left in their tiny base camp to help them out, they were picked up by a helicopter and flown off the lower mountain. Holeček said the route was the hardest he'd climbed yet, out of more than 40 expeditions. AAJ editor in chief Dougald MacDonald interviewed Holecek in late July. Since most of Holeček's interviews and videos are in Czech, this is a rare opportunity for English speakers to hear directly from one of the great alpinists of our time. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com), with additional support from Polartec, Gnarly Nutrition, and Lowa Boots. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
Ines Papert from Germany accomplished many of her greatest climbs while raising a small child. In this special episode, Sarah Hart interviews Ines about the challenges of combining motherhood with intense ambition as a climber, about forging new paths for women, and about climbing with your romantic partner. Ines and her partner (now husband), Luka Lindic from Slovenia, just finished a trip to Alaska, where they climbed a hard new route on Mt. Huntington. In part two of this episode, Lauren Miller speaks with Ines about the Alaska trip and their beautiful new route. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional Support from Gnarly Nutrition, LOWA Boots, and Polaretc. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
In late April, on their third trip to Alaska's remote and forbidding Mt. Neacola, Ryan Driscoll, Justin Guarino, and Nick Aiello-Popeo made the first complete ascent of the north face (a.k.a. the Medusa Face). The New Hampshire–based trio followed the line of a visionary 1995 attempt by Topher Donahue and Kennan Harvey until high on the wall, then added another full day of sustained climbing to top out, before descending the unknown east face. And this was only AFTER they had been avalanched out of their base camp earlier in the same month. It's a wild, wild story, and Ryan and Justin tell it in-depth, with Chris Kalman asking the questions. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Lowa Boots, Polartec, and Gnarly Nutrition. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
For more than a decade, Maryna Kopteva has been one of the world’s most accomplished climbers in a demanding style: big-wall first ascents on remote, high, and cold mountains. The Ukrainian woman has done new routes on Great Trango Tower in Pakistan, Tengkangpoche in Nepal, and the Golden Sentinel in India, among others. And what makes these climbs even more special is that they all were done with very small teams of women. For this reason, we interviewed Maryna for our special series called “In Her Own Words: Conversations with Female Alpinists.” This interview, led by Canadian climber Sarah Hart, not only gives insight into Maryna’s career, it also gives us a view into the climbing culture of Ukraine and other former Soviet states, where team cohesiveness and working together are often valued more than individual accomplishments. To a large degree, this approach helps explain why Maryna and her small teams of Russian and Ukrainian women have had such impressive success on high mountain walls. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Lowa Boots, Polartec, and new sponsor Gnarly Nutrition. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
Our guest in episode 38 is the globe-trotting adventurer Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, who in February pulled off a mind-blowing feat of climbing: the first ever south to north traverse of the full Fitz Roy massif in Patagonia. This is the same spiky ridgeline that Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell traversed in 2014, but Sean did it in the opposite direction and he did all alone. And even though, as you’ll hear, he definitely wasn’t in any hurry, he took only two days longer than Tommy and Alex, despite carrying 10 days of food and self-belaying most of the climbing. The traverse entailed more than 4,000 meters of vertical gain, and except for the rappels, he did it all free, with pitches up to 6c (5.11). Chris Kalman interviewed Sean in El Chaltén, where he has been living for the past year. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Polartec and Lowa Boots. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold need no introduction. Our show with them about the speed record on the Nose of El Cap (Episode 8) was by far the most popular we've ever done. Now they're back to chat with Chris Kalman about the CDUL Traverse: the Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. The two spent 36 hours in July doing 11 of the Park's most classic climbing routes and summiting 17 peaks. This traverse took place last summer, but the interview is brand new, and we also asked Tommy and Alex to reflect on their experiences climbing in the time of COVID, traveling vs. staying home, the opportunities for great adventures right in your own backyard, and what they're working on now. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from new sponsors Lowa and Polartec. This episode was also sponsored by Coros Vertix. The Cutting Edge podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo by Adam Stack.
Lynn Hill needs no introduction to the Cutting Edge audience: She is arguably the most ground-breaking female rock climber and big-wall free climber in the history of the sport. We asked Lynn to come onto the show not to talk about her climbs, however, but about her experiences as a woman climber, both at her peak as a professional (she free climbed the Nose of El Capitan in a day in 1994) and today. About the unconscious bias she and other women have faced in climbing, and about the challenges that remain. This episode kicks off a special series of the Cutting Edge called "In Her Own Words: Conversations With Female Alpinists." These interviews were conducted by Canadian climber Sarah Hart, who wrote a major article in AAJ 2020 about the state of the art of women's alpinism and a new system for increasing coverage of high-level women's climbs in the pages of the AAJ. As part of this project, Sarah interviewed several women about the unique challenges they have faced as leading female climbers. More episodes in this series will appear in the coming months. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Polartec. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo of Lynn Hill by Bob Carmichael.
Priti and Jeff Wright are wrapping up the kind of year that most climbers only dream about. The young tech engineers took a sabbatical from work to experience "A Year in the Life of Colin Haley," inspired by the world-roaming alpinist who is one of their mentors. The result was more they could have imagined, despite all the obstacles of Covid-19: a summit of Cerro Torre, the "Six Classic North Faces of the Alps," and the first ascent of a 7,000-meter peak in the Karakoram. It's van life on steroids! AAJ contributor Lauren DeLaunay got all the details. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This show is produced by the American Alpine Club.
Yuh-hai-has-kun (Mt. Robson) is one of North America's greatest peaks, despite rising to less than 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet. In early October, Ethan Berman (U.S.) and Uisdean Hawthorn (Scotland) completed a rare new route to the summit, climbing a 2,000-meter line up the Emperor Face, left of the classic Infinite Patience. In this episode, we speak with both men about their profound experience on the mountain, and we also chat with Barry Blanchard, who put up Infinite Patience in 2002 with Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet, after many attempts. It's a Robson double-header! The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.
Chris Weidner and Bruce Miller worked four years on a new free climb up the Diamond, the northeast face of Longs Peak in Colorado. The Gambler's Fallacy (5.13b/8a) is one of the hardest routes up this cold granite wall, which rises to over 14,000 feet or 4,300 meters. In this episode, Chris talks about the process and partnership that led to this beautiful new free climb. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo courtesy of Jon Glassberg of Louder Than 11.
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