Trail Chums Trail Chums

In this exciting episode of our podcast we talk to longtime climber and hiker Heike Puchan. She talks about hiking since the age of four and wild ice climbing expeditions in Greenland which could have seen her face to face with a polar bear.

Heike talks about being a woman in extreme outdoors sports such as climbing as well as the stigma she faced while climbing when she was pregnant. As well as being an accomplished climber, she has also successfully climbed all of the Scottish Munros (mountains over 3,000 feet (914.4 metres) and is on her way to completing the lower Corbetts (over 2,500 feet (762 metres) and under 3,000 feet.

Kat uses bouldering as exposure therapy to her fear of falling and Ema doesn't like to run in the dark. This month we are talking about all the fears that come with the sports that we do and how we overcome them (or deal with them at least), so unless you are Alex Honnold and don't register fear like the rest of us, this one might be for you!

In this month's episode, Kat and Ema, discuss the most popular outfit option for most male climbers - climbing shirtless. As women, the idea of ditching the shirt seems more intimidating, but are we just losing the opportunity for a more liberated climbing experience? Maybe if we climbed in sports bras we would be projecting V7s instead of V2s.