American Alpine Club Podcast

American Alpine Club Podcast
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The American Alpine Club Podcast is your guide to the climbing community. We're not your typical training podcast. Instead, we're covering the advocacy issues facing climbers, diving into forgotten and niche stories from climbing history, discovering undercover crushers, analyzing trends in climbing accidents, hearing from SAR professionals, and exploring the biggest cultural ideas in climbing with some of climbing's top athletes.

  1. Aug 7

    Geoff Powter: Searching for the Voice of Canadian Climbing

    Geoff Powter is this year’s winner of the H. Adams Carter Literary Award, and it’s clear why—mountain literature is the key to his heart. In this episode, we talk with Geoff about his prolific writing career, his search for the distinct Canadian climbing voice, and starting the magazine Polar Circus in order to find a home for it. We cover his earliest discoveries of climbing through mountain stories, and his thirteen years editing the Canadian Alpine Journal, as well as 27 years leading the "Voices of Adventure" interview series at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. Geoff sketches how these formative storytelling experiences have led him to writing several books, including his recent biography of Jim Donini, called "Survival Is Not Assured." We explore the philosophical and psychological heartbeat of climbing stories, and dive into how climbing literature evolved from a tone that was all seriousness and sacredness to embracing profanity and grit. Dive in to hear from one of the most formative voices in mountain literature today. You can hear more from Geoff, and the other awardees, at the AAC’s Annual Gala. Grab your tickets now at americanalpineclub.org/gala

    Geoff Powter: Searching for the Voice of Canadian Climbing

  2. Jul 24

    New Ways of Thinking Through Climbing Accidents

    This year, the AAC’s Accidents Editor Pete Takeda received a 30% increase in climbing related accident reports. In this, our annual Accident Trends episode, we look at the patterns of climbing accidents that happened in 2025, and discuss what these patterns reveal, and what all climbers can learn from them. From the human factors that influence accidents across disciplines, the emerging prevalence of toprope soloing accidents; the underappreciated danger of getting your knee stuck in an inversion offwidth; or the hidden dangers of a stick clip, to the continued high incidence of lowering accidents, we dive into some of the biggest trends and most poignant examples of accidents to learn from in this year's book, Accidents in North American Climbing 2026. *** If you’re a Partner level member or above, and opted in to receive Accidents, you’ll be getting your copy in the mail in the next month or two! If you aren’t a member yet, now is the time to take action, so you can get your copy, and dive into the details and learnings captured yearly in ANAC.

    New Ways of Thinking Through Climbing Accidents

  3. Jul 10

    All About Bolts: From Federal Policy, to A Day of Local Rebolting With Ryan Kuehn

    This episode is all about bolts. From the nitty gritty of yanking a bad bolt out of the rock at your local sport crag, to the big-picture policies that govern the practice of bolting and rebolting on America’s federal public lands. For the main part of this episode, we talk about the under-appreciated art of bolt replacement with Ryan Kuehn, one of the leads for the Anchor Replacement Program at the Boulder Climbing Community (BCC), an integral local climbing org for the Front Range of Colorado. We also start the episode with insights from the AAC’s Director of Government Affairs, Byron Harvison, who shares an update on the proposed implementation guidance of the EXPLORE ACT and PARC Act—the historic laws that preserved fixed anchors as appropriate in Wilderness Areas. Bryon explains how the proposed implementation policy, just released and open to public comment, will impact how climbers and LCO’s will place and maintain bolts and other fixed anchors on federal public lands moving forward. Dive in to get the full picture: from federal policy to a day of local rebolting. *** We would like to offer clarification on the statement at 15:29 which states that a MRA will be utilized by the BLM for routes which fail the casual use standard.  To be clear, the MRA is to be used when the BLM proposes to prohibit climbing in an area.  The proposed guidance states that a yet-to-be-determined process will be utilized to evaluate those routes that exceed the draft casual use standard.

    All About Bolts: From Federal Policy, to A Day of Local Rebolting With Ryan Kuehn

  4. Jun 29

    Sasha DiGiulian: Slinging Cacti, 8b Big Walls, and Recognizing Your Spot in Climbing History

    Sasha DiGiulian has done major ascents on big walls from Madagascar to Brazil to El Cap. She has told the story of these ascents in the American Alpine Journal—and now in the all new American Climbing Journal. With this unique perspective as a contributor to these journals of record, we asked her to weigh in on her history with the AAJ and ACJ, and why documenting climbing’s evolution matters. We touch on her recent ascent of Platinum Wall, a long 5.13d/8b El Cap climb, (full story on the Cutting Edge Podcast), dive into the overgrown, run-out, cactus-filled pitches of Bravo Les Filles (8b) in Madagascar, discuss what "significant" means in climbing these days, and the art of recognizing your place in climbing history. *** Inspired by Sasha’s bold, run-out questing on Bravo Les Filles? Join the Club or renew at any membership level in June, or donate $30 or more, and you can get our limited edition June tee—just use promo code QUEST. One day left! Because no climbing quest is complete without the AAC.

    Sasha DiGiulian: Slinging Cacti, 8b Big Walls, and Recognizing Your Spot in Climbing History

  5. Jun 12

    Belaytionship Therapy: Tools for Better Climbing Relationships

    What can you do if you and your romantic partner constantly bicker at the crag? How do you speak up if your climbing partner has a totally different risk tolerance than you, and you keep getting in way over your head on climbs because of that mismatch? What if one of your climbing partners dropped you, and you can’t quite trust them again? How do you move forward if you’ve witnessed an accident, and nobody seems to be understanding how the trauma continues to live in your mind and body? We sit down with Dr. Jennifer Dragonette, a Licensed Psychologist, trauma specialist, and Certified Single Pitch Instructor who is a clinical provider for the AAC’s Climbing Grief Fund Directory, to explore these questions through case studies of belaytionships you might find familiar. Dr. Dragonette leverages her expertise in couples therapy and DBT to illustrate where communication and therapeutic tools can help build stronger climbing partnerships and solve friction. If you’ve ever found yourself in need of a little belaytionship therapy, this epsiode is the place to start!

    Belaytionship Therapy: Tools for Better Climbing Relationships

  6. May 22

    Gym Climber Behaviors and Attitudes: A Look at the Data

    What percent of climbers THINK they always observe safety practices….vs. actually do? What are the unique risks for indoor climbers? Are climbers even interested in training, and is the training equipment climbers use reflective of what the climbing media loves to yap about? Has who climbers are—the demographic make-up of climbing—changed much in the last 7 years? Do indoor climbers even want to climb outside? What are the most popular disciplines of the sport, indoors and outdoors? Some answers will surprise you… AAC partnered with the Climbing Wall Association to help get their 2026 survey out to as many climbers as possible to collect data about climbers who use climbing gyms—their behaviors and interests. In this episode, we sat down with Garnet Moore, Executive Director of the Climbing Wall Association, and chatted about the survey, the report that came out of it, and some of the biggest takeaways from the data. Each nugget we discuss poses the question: what assumptions do we all make about the climbing community, that we should reconsider?

    Gym Climber Behaviors and Attitudes: A Look at the Data

  7. May 11

    Undercover Crushers: Brother-Sister Duo Vasya and Nadya Vorotnikov

    In this episode of Undercover Crushers, we talk to AAC members Vasya Vorotnikov and Nadya Vorotnikova about how exactly they crush so hard. While Vas isn’t totally undercover, he isn’t as well-known as he deserves. He’s a quiet phenom, having sent Jaws II in 2007 after the original climb Jaws, going at 14b, broke. The new version, Jaws II, was the second 5.15a in the United States. Nadya is likewise crushing, sending 5.14a a couple times in the last few years, and diving into route development in the South Platte of Colorado—one new climb that she contributed to, with her friend, Tal Wanish, is even featured in this year’s ACJ! In this discussion, the siblings describe learning to climb in Russia when they were little, immigrating to the United States and starting to compete in junior level competitions in the early 2000s, and what has shaped them into the climbers they are now. We dive into sandbagging, breaththroughs, climbing as coping, coaching yourself, and being the kind of climbing partner that won’t bail—even when you end up climbing in a snow storm. Nadya shares about turning to trad climbing to push her mental limits, after being burnt out from competitions, and what motivates her to give back to the climbing community. Plus, Vasya describes his volume goal from last year, when he set the goal to climb 365 NEW routes 5.12s and harder, 100 new 5.13s and harder, and 10 new 5.14s and harder, all on outdoor rock. Turns out, he far surpassed his goal…

    Undercover Crushers: Brother-Sister Duo Vasya and Nadya Vorotnikov

  8. Apr 24

    Introducing: The American Climbing Journal, with Editor Matt Samet

    You’ve probably heard of Matt Samet—he’s a climbing lifer, and as a writer and editor in the climbing industry for 25+ years, he’s left his mark on climbing media. Recently, the AAC hired him to help create the all-new American Climbing Journal, a journal of record documenting the most significant climbs in rock climbing each year—with stories written almost entirely from the first person POV of the climbers themselves. For 97 years, we’ve documented the cutting-edge of alpine climbing in the AAJ, and it’s been high-time the AAC has done the same for bouldering, sport-climbing, single-pitch trad climbing, and performance big-wall ascents. The ACJ also includes profiles on new areas and major local ascents from all across the US and the world. In this episode, we sit down with Matt Samet to chat about some of the behind the scenes secrets of creating the book, why it matters to have a collected “yearbook” of climbing when we have the internet, the fickle nature of recording climbing history as it happens, a sneak peek into the unique stories behind the big ascents in the book, as well as a fairly long sidebar about AI. Dive in to nerd out about hard rock climbing. *** AAC members at the Partner, Leader, or Advocate level are eligible to get a copy of the ACJ as a member benefit! Keep your eyes peeled for AAC emails, so you can ensure you’re opted-in! Not a member? Join or renew before July 1 to ensure you get this year’s copy! Supporter level member? Upgrade by July 1 to get your copy. Learn more about the ACJ and our other publications at americanalpineclub.org/publications *** The ACJ is powered by Patagonia and supported by Mountain Project. ***

    Introducing: The American Climbing Journal, with Editor Matt Samet
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4.4
out of 5
54 Ratings

About

The American Alpine Club Podcast is your guide to the climbing community. We're not your typical training podcast. Instead, we're covering the advocacy issues facing climbers, diving into forgotten and niche stories from climbing history, discovering undercover crushers, analyzing trends in climbing accidents, hearing from SAR professionals, and exploring the biggest cultural ideas in climbing with some of climbing's top athletes.

Information

  • Creator
    American Alpine Club Podcast
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    American Alpine Club Podcast

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