A World Cup Scene in the ClimbTalk Studio

Tom Cole once said, “Follow up the interview with a phone call.  If Carrot Top can figure out how to use a phone, so can you.”  Well, ClimbTalk Radio is so broke we can’t afford a phone that dials out.  So, in absentia of a telephone machine, we give you this transcription of a fantastic interview with World Cup bouldering champs Kilian Fischhuber and Anna Stoehr, professional climber Cody Roth, American sport climbing juggernaut Jonathan Siegrist, and filmmaker Chuck Fryberger.  We’re quite sure that Carrot Top would love this interview.

Mike Brooks:  It’s 10:05 here in Boulder, Colorado and you are listening to ClimbTalk on Radio 1190.  My name is Mike Brooks.  Co-host, as usual, is Dave McAllister with www.pumpfactoryroad.com.  Dave, what’s happening?

 Dave McAllister:  Little bit of this and that…sitting in the steaming hot ghetto [studio].  How are you doing, Mike?

MB:  Good.  You been climbing?

DM:  This was a tough week.  I only got out once.

MB:  So, where did you go?

DM:  I went to a rock climbing gymnasium where I held onto rock grips and toe holds.  It was fantastic but I don’t really want to talk about it.

MB:  Okay.  We have a really big show tonight on ClimbTalk.

DM:  We have one of the premier American sport climbers in the game today, Jonathan Siegrist.  We have five-time World Cup bouldering champion, Kilian Fischhuber.  We have two-time World Cup champion – both of these lads and lasses won in 2011 – Anna Stohr.  We have international filmmaking sensation, Chuck Fryberger [Quick note: I’ve known Chuck for a long time…I would never actually flip the moniker “international filmmaking sensation” on anyone who didn’t deserve a little jibing…Chuck deserves it].  And we have international rock climbing sensation, Cody Roth, in the studio [note number two:  I don’t know Cody, but I was on a roll].  We have a packed studio.

MB:  Thank you for joining us on ClimbTalk.  Jonathan, what’s happening?  Where you been climbing?

Jonathan Siegrist:  Hi [a long pause filled with much laughter].  What was the question?  Sorry.

MB:  Where have you been climbing?

JS:  Let’s see.  Last weekend I did a slide show for the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous with Tommy Caldwell.  Went really well.  I’m really happy with it.  And then the last few days I’ve actually been climbing in Rifle Mountain Park, enjoying myself there.

MB:  Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, was that up in Wyoming?

JS:  No, that was in Estes Park.  I did an event earlier in the season, the International Climber’s Festival, in Lander, Wyoming, but this was in Estes Park, a really cool event put on by Colorado Mountain School.  There was a Lumpy Ridge trail day and Abbey Smith did a slide show, I did a slide show, and then Tommy Caldwell also did a slide show.

MB:  You’re a professional climber.  You get paid for gigs like that?

JS:  Uhhh…hardly.  I get paid in love.

DM:  He gets paid a lot more at the ClimbTalk radio program, that’s for sure.  [Unfortunate laughter…]  So, this summer you’ve been through Smith Rock, Seattle, Utah, Squamish, the Canadian Rockies, Wyoming, Colorado.  Dude, you’re getting around.

JS:  Yeah, I moved out of my place here in Boulder and I bought a pickup truck and for the last three months, and hopefully the next five or ten years I’ll just be on the road non-stop.  It’s enabled me to travel a lot.  It’s been really empowering for my climbing, certainly.  You could say I’m living my dream, at least.  I don’t know if I’m living everyone’s dream, but I’m pretty happy with where I am.

MB:  You’re living the climber’s dream.  What’s the downside of that lifestyle, Jonathan?

JS:  It’s not exactly lucrative, to begin with.  You know, I don’t often think about the downsides because, to be honest, it’s pretty awesome.  From a really young age I’ve been fascinated with traveling and ever since I started climbing, about seven years ago, I’ve obviously been obsessive about rock climbing, too.  So, to be able to travel and climb, essentially all year-round for hopefully five to ten years, to me there’s really no downside.

MB:  We also have Kilian Fischhuber and Anna Stohr and Cody Roth and filmmaker Chuck Fryberger.  You have the Colorado premiere of The Scene coming to Boulder.

Chuck Fryberger:  I guess that’s why I’m here tonight.  Next Tuesday we have the Colorado premiere of The Scene, which is my new film from the last twelve months of shooting.  We just finished it up and it hasn’t been shown too many times yet.  We just did the world premiere in Salt Lake City at an industry event called the trade show [Outdoor Retail trade show].

MB:  Kilian and Anna [were] in your new film, The Scene.  And, was Cody in it?

CF:  Yeah.  Cody and Kilian have been in my last three movies.  Anna’s been in two of my last three…actually, three of my last three if you count a very brief cameo in Core.  Extra points for anybody who can actually find her in the movie.  She’s the one who is freaked out while Kilian is driving through South Africa.

MB:  Dave and I were talking earlier…why didn’t you have Jonathan in your film?

DM:  Yeah!  What’s up with that, man??

CF:  What’s up with that!  I totally respect Jonathan.  Sometimes my path doesn’t cross with every single amazing climber in the world. [laughter] It’s a bit stressful sometimes when I try to think about how much climbing talent is out there, and the fact that I only have one video camera is pretty humbling.

MB:  You have a special camera, I think it’s called Red One, and you have a great videographer, Nelson.

CF:  Yeah, Nelson was just here on your show.  He’s been working for me for years and full-time for the last year.  For The Scene, we shot it mostly on the Red One, so the video quality will be top of the line.  Good slow motion stuff.  Awesome landscapes.  We shot The Scene in ultra-widescreen, so it’s cinematic.  And at the Boulder Theater we’re showing it off of a Blu-Ray, so it’s, like, in full high-definition glory.  It should be cool.

DM:  Did it cause a lot of consternation to pick out the places where you would film The Scene, because it’s obviously inherent that there is a scene in those places, but, for example, I thought it was a law that an American filmmaker couldn’t make a movie without Hueco Tanks in it?

CF: Heh…yeah.  For me, I tried to pick a few different scenes that would show contrast, so I didn’t try to pick only the five best, or whatever.  But, a scene like Innsbruck, where Kilian and Anna are from, is way different from a place like Moab.  You know, in Moab the hard climbers care mostly about getting up towers and then BASE jumping off of them, whereas the scene in Innsbruck has a really powerful competition atmosphere, where the climbers care a lot about getting to the top of a podium and getting really mainstream media exposure.  I’m not arguing that one is good and one is bad, but that contrast is really interesting.

DM:  I have a question for Kilian and Anna.  The World Cup season just ended for you guys.  How long does it last for?  Because a lot of Americans, I don’t think, are completely in the light when it comes to World Cup comps.  Our scene isn’t as vibrant.

Kilian Fischhuber:  Yeah, there are a couple of really strong American competition climbers, but nobody does the whole circuit, as far as we do it.  This year there were nine World Cups which lasted for about five months.  We prepare three months for that, we compete five months, and then the rest of the year we mainly climb on rock.

MB:  How do you prepare for World Cup climbing?

KF:  Since all the competitions [are] plastic we mainly train in gyms.  That we do in Innsbruck, or we travel to other gyms around Austria.  If we have time we also climb a lot on rock.

MB:  Do you do anything like weight lifting or yoga or anything like that?

Anna Stohr:  No, not really.  I don’t do yoga at all, or weightlifting.  I just don’t like lifting weights.

DM:  You guys are dating, right.  So, you train together, yes?

AS:  Yes.

DM:  How is that…dynamic…in a relationship?  [much giggling and laughter]

AS:  It’s good because you always have someone to climb with, someone who is motivating you and pushing your limits.  So, I think it’s really inspiring to climb together.  But, we don’t only climb with each other because in Innsbruck there’s a big scene of climbers and you always have someone else to climb with.  So, there’s not only a single one, but there are a lot of people.

DM:  Because that would drive you crazy if you were only climbing with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

AS:  Yeah, definitely. [laughter]

DM:  How many days do you train a year for the World Cup, would you say?  I read somewhere, Kilian, you said 200 days a year.

KF:  I don’t think that’s true.

AS:  I think you could say we train five days a week.  You can multiply that yourself. [That would be 260 days a year if year-round, 160 if during training and season, 60 if only during training before World Cup]

MB:  [Mike had been talking on the studio phone for a minute]  We just had a call in here on ClimbTalk and the caller wanted to ask Anna, “How exactly do you train?”

AS:  Well, I train five times a week.  Sometimes in winter, when I prepare for the season, I sometimes train twice a day, but only twice a week.  Yeah, mainly I just go to the gym and boulder for a couple of hours and then I go home.

MB:  What kind of hangboard workouts do you do?

AS:  No, I don’t do hangboarding.  I don’t like that at all.  It gives me a hard time to motivate myself to do that and so I find for myself, I find it more motivating to go bouldering.

MB:  What about you, Kilian?

KF:  I used to do hangboarding a lot when I was younger, but I don’t do it anymore.  What we do, Anna and me, we train on the campus board.  We do dynamic or static training on that.  It helps us a lot for the events.  But, mostly we just boulder or sport climb in the gym.

MB:  Do you have any coaches that help you?

KF:  Yeah, Anna and me have the same coach, Rupert Messner.  He also lives in Innsbruck and he writes the training schedules for us.  We…usually carry them out.

DM:  How do you deal with injuries, climbing seven days a week sometimes?  My arms would burst into flames and then they would fall off.  How do you guys manage injuries or tendonitis, especially?

KF:  The thing is, I’ve climbed since 17 years and Anna 15 years, and you really get used to that.  Your body gets used to the hard work you have to do.  As long as you don’t start training seven days a week right on, your tendons and everything can adapt.  So, we usually don’t have problems or injuries.

MB:  Kilian, you’re a five-time bouldering champion.  How do you do that? [laughter]  Why are you beating everyone else?

KF:  I think…I train universally.  I try to be good in all kinds of climbing:  sport climbing, alpine sport climbing, bouldering…  That helps me to adapt my style for all different kinds of climbing in the competitions.  I don’t know.  I’m really psyched during competitions.  So far, I’ve also been really successful and that gives me the drive to train more and to keep on climbing and to get back to the podium.

MB:  You said “alpine sport climbing.”  Tell our listeners, what is that?

KF:  Maybe the person next to me should tell it.

MB:  Jonathan?

JS:  Well, I suppose it could come in a number of forms.  There are certainly single-pitch sport climbs that are at extremely high altitude.  Obviously, you’re dealing with different environmental variables that you wouldn’t have otherwise.  I assume that what Kilian was referring to was more like multi-pitch sport climbing that would be up high in the mountains somewhere.  Again, you’re dealing with altitude and more severe and dramatic weather.  A little bit more adventurous, I guess.

DM:  Are you glad you didn’t say, “It’s sport climbing in an alpine area”?

JS:  That would have been easier, I guess.  [laughter]

DM:  Let’s keep it with you, Jonathan.  The season in the Red [River Gorge] is coming up pretty soon and you love the Red.  Are you headed that way?

JS:  Yeah, I am.  The last three years now I’ve been looking forward to the Red all year.  I’m definitely excited about the season and I’m doing my best to prepare for it now, while also enjoying myself, too.  I’ll definitely be in the Red this year, for six or seven weeks.

DM:  Such a short trip…

MB:  Six or seven weeks in the Red?!  Sounds nice.  You going to be traveling by yourself?

JS:  Yeah…most of my traveling – well, I have a dog!  He’s my companion.  One beautiful thing about doing a lot of traveling is you meet people from everywhere.  I’m really grateful for all the friends I’ve met and thankfully I have “ins” and places to stay and people to spend time with in most great climbing areas around the US.  There certainly will be no shortage of good friends in the Red this fall.

MB:  If people want to follow your travels where can they go online to find out more?

JS:  I maintain a website, www.jstarinorbit.com.  It’s a bit of cheesy name. [laughter] I’ve had a really fun time with it and I try my best to update once a week or once every ten days with photos and information about what I’m doing and where I am and how my climbing is going and how my life is going.

DM:  It’s super-prolific.  It’s one of the best climbing blogs on the internet, for sure.  Are you going to focus on your writing more?  I know you’ve done some pieces for the climbing mags, but you write a ton on that blog.  Are you planning on sending in more pieces to talk about your travels?

JS:  Yeah, I’d like to do more writing.  I enjoy writing – obviously, at this point I’d have to, to keep up with my website as much as I have.  I’d love to do more writing for different periodicals.  It’s certainly something I’m interested in.

MB:  What about some of your sponsors?  I know all you guys are sponsored by La Sportiva.  Is that also true for you, Cody?

Cody Roth:  Mm hmm.

DM:  Now the question is, how can we get sponsored by Sportiva??

CR:  How do you get sponsored by Sportiva?  That’s a good question.  Normally they come to you, you don’t come to them.  At least in Europe.  I don’t know how they roll in North America.

MB:  Did they come to you, Kilian, or did you have to go after them?

KF:  Actually, I can’t remember anymore.  I’m with La Sportiva for such a long time and it’s one of my best sponsors.  I don’t know how it worked out at that time.  Anna, you’re sponsored by La Sportiva just recently, huh?

DM:  Congratulations.

AS:  Thank you.  In my case, they came after me a little bit.  I’m with them since 2011 and I really like working with them.

MB:  Let me be the devil’s advocate here.  I hear say that Five Ten has better rubber.  So, I guess you guys disagree.

DM:  That’s a bunch of CRAP!!!

AS:  You should just put on a La Sportiva and then you tell me…

DM:  Anna and Kilian, are you guys both sponsored by the Austrian Army, as well?

AS:  Yep, we are.

DM:  That’s a foreign concept.  And they’re like your most important sponsor, is that right?  Can you talk a little bit about that?

AS:  Basically, the Army just sponsors us and it’s like our job.  So, we have a 40 hour week.  We go there each morning when we’re at home.  We go there at 7:30, say “good morning.”  We have to give them our weekly plan, what we are doing, like the training plan.  And whenever we go on a competition or on a trip like this, it’s a free trip.  It’s not a free trip, but we get the time…we can go on the trip.

KF:  So, we are actually working right now.

AS:  Yep.

KF:  We don’t have our guns with us, but we are working.  [laughter]

MB:  So, when you show up at 7:30 in the morning, do you have to be wearing a uniform?

AS:  No.  No uniform.

DM:  Just La Sportivas.  [laughter]  Do you have to sign a contract with the Army, for a specified time?

KF:  Yeah, it’s a special thing.  The Germans have it and the Austrians have it.  It’s a special department just for sportsmen.  We’re there usually with only Olympic sports people.  Anna, me, and another climber are the only athletes who are not Olympic but still can join the Army.  They pay us, we are insured there, we are getting paid a pension, and we can do whatever we want.  That’s the good thing.  It’s not a lot of money, but…

DM:  Good for ya’ll.  That’s fascinating.

CF:  You guys could ask Cody what’s the difference between the American support system and the Austrian support system.

CR:  Not just in Austria, but in Europe in general, particularly in Austria, there’s a lot more social infrastructure for sport.  There’s a national sports council in Austria, and from that national sports council they recognize competitive climbing as a sport.  Through that there’s funding, like the alpine club in Austria.  Pretty much everybody in Austria is a member of the alpine club.  The alpine club has more members than the soccer clubs have.  You get helicopter insurance…you know, people who are hiking, people who are skiing.  It’s a country in the middle of the Alps – everybody belongs to it.  So, you have that social infrastructure that supports things like competitive climbing.  Someone like Kilian and Anna, when they are winning the World Cup, it’s in the newspaper.  It’s on the radio.  It’s something that has a lot of exposure.  That’s the advantage…Austria only has eight million people, a strong economy.  That’s the advantage of having the autonomy of being a small country that is in the mountains.  Skiing is a huge sport in Austria, as well.  Basically, competition climbing I would say is kind of following the model of ski racing.

DM:  Which is a good model…the best model to follow in Austria.

CR:  Economically speaking, yeah.  If you compare it to what the Americans get; to be a competitive climber if you’re from America, it has to be your 100 percent passion, otherwise it’s not worth it.

CF:  If you look at the rankings from most any competition, but especially the recent world championships in Arco and Italy, for sure the Austrian support mechanism is the most effective.  You can argue if it’s the best or the worst, but I think in the women’s lead competition, what was it, five out of six?

AS:  Five out of eight.

CF:  Five out of eight of the top places were Austrian in the women’s division.  In the men’s it wasn’t quite so staggering.  But, the Austrians, they all wear a purple uniform when they compete, and in a place like Arco… [Kilian is laughing about the uniforms]  Well, it is what it is, Kilian.  They’ll be walking through the streets and it’s like a purple wave.  It’s almost the same when it’s time to give the awards.  There are just purple jerseys popping up everywhere.  In addition to having really talented climbers, the system they have in place is really impressive.

DM:  It would seem the system would breed the climbers.  Out of a country with only eight million people, to have that much success, it seems if you ask the “chicken or the egg” question, it’s the system that’s producing…

CF:  Yeah, and it’s the geography.  Austria is near the Alps and it’s the history and the culture.  Climbing’s a big-time sport in Austria.  And it’s been fun for me to go and document.  Just a couple of weeks ago I was with Kilian and Anna when they won the World Cup in Munich, and immediately after we went to this huge interview.  They were on a sports TV show, where the TV show covers things like Formula One and soccer news.  So, right in between these huge, popular sports you have climbing.  In America, climbing is always random adrenaline addicts on a desert tower and you never get any real news.

MB:  Except for ClimbTalk!  So, you guys were talking about Arco.  Now, isn’t that a sport climbing competition?

KF:  Yeah, Arco was the World Championship for bouldering, speed climbing, and lead climbing.  Because of the big event, there are always the three disciplines combined.  Anna actually won the World Championship title the second time after 2007.  I got fourth; a little bit disappointed but still alright.

MB:  Did you compete in speed climbing?

KF:  No, we did not compete in speed climbing.  For me, it’s not the coolest discipline of the sport.  It’s also that much dominated by the Russians and the Chinese that there is little chance to have a result.

DM:  Why is that?  Why is it a Russian and Chinese dominated facet of the sport?

KF:  In Russia it has a long tradition and history.  The Chinese just see a really good opportunity to get medals and be on the podium.  And since it’s also a title, they are racing for it.  It’s actually a good thing.

[ClimbTalk does some local PSAs…mostly about local shows coming up, including the Reel Rock Tour]

MB:  What are your thoughts on the Reel Rock Tour, Chuck?

CF:  I’m a huge fan of the Reel Rock Tour.  Actually, I think we’re doing a semi-premier of the Reel Rock trailer at my Scene premiere.  Me and Pete [Mortimer of Sender Films] and Josh [Lowell of Big Up Productions] were in some ways competitors, but in reality we’re kind of colleagues.  Actually, this year I worked on the Reel Rock Tour.  I shot a big part of the “Sketchy Andy” piece, which is the offering from Sender Films this year.  It’s about a slackliner that lives in Moab, named Andy Lewis.  I spent quite a while out in the desert with Pete.  Reel Rock Tour, game on.  Those guys are doing a sick job.

DM:  Yeah, it’s a fun show.  Speaking of fun shows, last year at the premiere of Core there was a costume party and a faux-heavy metal band.  What can we expect from the premiere this year?

CF:  Last year we did an 80s metal theme.  [laughter]  The support from the Boulder community was, I would say, pretty good.  I would say it was a B+.  But nobody really decked themselves out quite like we did.  This year we’re going with a straight-ahead movie premiere.  But it’s gonna be killer and we’re having an after-party this year.  I mean, if you wanna dress up, I say go for it.  We’ll say it’s “freestyle” themed.

DM:  [Directed at Jonathan]  So, you bought a new Tacoma for the road trip, right?

JS:  Well, it had 80,000 miles on it, but it was new to me.

DM:  Are you planning on parking that thing anytime soon and going overseas to extend the road trip?

JS:  I’d really like to and I’m trying to make some plans to do that for next year.  It’s difficult because I have a pretty limited amount of money to work with.  And I can travel for all year in America for the cost of going to Europe for a few months.  At this point I’m really enjoying being around here but I’d love to do some more international travelling.  It seems pretty certain that I’ll spend three or four months internationally next year.

DM:  Where are you dying to get to?

JS:  I think I mentioned before, I’ve been passionate about traveling since I was really young, since long before I was climbing.  I’ve spent a number of years living abroad in Asia and Europe.  Most of my interests, from a traveling perspective or a culture perspective, are to travel through Asia.  But, I have to admit, from a purely climbing perspective I’d be really excited to spend more time in Spain and France and climbing around Austria, Germany and all that.  But like I mentioned before, and it’s certainly obvious to anyone who has spent time in Western Europe, it’s one of the hardest places to travel on a budget.  I actually spent two or three months in Asia at the end of 2009 and that kind of thing is easy.  Three months in Asia is pretty easy to fund.  Three months in Western Europe is a totally different story.

MB:  You’re going to be on the road for five to ten years; how do you put together your agenda?  How do you plan for it?

JS:  It’s an interesting question because there are tons of inspiring places to go to all the time.  It’s actually been helpful that I’ve more or less been confined to North America recently because I just kind of move around as the seasons change.  There’s a similar group of other climbers.  A lot of the climbing community actually tends to transition between these different sport climbing areas as the seasons change.  Certainly, being in the Red [River Gorge in Kentucky] in the fall is one of those areas.

One area that I added to my list this year that I really enjoyed was the Las Vegas area.  I spent a little over three months living there in the beginning of 2011.  It was brilliant.  I absolutely loved it there.  I loved the climbing potential and I loved all the climbing that I did.  I’ll be spending some months there next year, as well.

MB:  What did you climb there and did you do any first ascents?

JS:  I did not do any first ascents when I was in Vegas this year, mostly because a lot of the climbing was new to me.  I was just enjoying what had been laid before me.  I did a lot of climbing at the Virgin River Gorge.  I climbed at an area called The Cathedral.  I spent some time doing longer routes in Red Rocks Canyon and also doing some sport climbs at Red Rocks., as well as a few other obscure areas.

MB:  Kilian and Anna, I understand you guys were up on Mt. Evans today.  How was it?

AS:  It was amazing today, especially because the weather forecast wasn’t that great and we thought that we’d have to leave really soon, but then we ended up being just right.

DM:  Did you get on any memorable problems?

AS:  Just everything.  [laughter]

DM:  That’s a good answer.

 KF:  You know, we are here for the first time and it’s our first day in Area A.  Chuck and Steph [Marvez], they showed us around and we’re really glad that we have these personal guides with us.  For us, it’s more important to see a new area and to try new things and not to get stuck on a certain problem, which is really hard.  For us it’s more about having fun and seeing new stuff.

CF:  Do I need to do the spray down, with grades and everything?

AS and KF:  No.  [laughter]

MB:  Yeah, let’s hear it Chuck.

CF:  I mean, Kilian maybe didn’t have the best day in the world at Mt. Evans, but for a first visit he did No More Greener Grass.

MB:  Nice.  How many tries?  Can I ask?

CF:  We’ll say a small handful.  And let’s see, he also did Super Gui…second try from the start.  And he did Silverback really quickly.  [Kilian doesn’t want to talk about the climbs he’s done so he tries to steal the microphone from Chuck the whole time Chuck is talking about what they did…Chuck hangs on…it is a climbing talk show, after all…much laughter]  The Austrians, they don’t like to…

KF:  It took us like an hour or so to do Silverback…

CF:  But when he actually did it?  It was fast.  That’s what it means, right?  When someone says they climbed something really quickly…I mean, it took him like 25 seconds…

KF:  I always climb my problems on my last try.  And I keep doing that.  It’s really cool.  [laughter]

CF:  And then also Anna, she did Bierstadt.  And we filmed it.  It was rad.

DM:  That was an American spray down from Chuck Fryberger!

AS:  Very American…

 

CF:  Sometimes the Austrians just need a little help in the translation [it should be noted that Chuck, Anna, and Kilian are good friends and there’s a good amount of ribbing going on the whole show…Anna and Kilian are reticent to talk about themselves sometimes].  For us eetz mostly about exploring da new area! [in an Austrian accent…much laughter]

MB:  I don’t know if I should say this, but you guys seem a little shy as compared to the Americans, [who are] a little more outgoing, a little more…

AS:  Yeah, Chuck is overwhelming us sometimes!

KF:  That’s why we have Chuck with us.

AS:  Yeah, he’s trying to help.

DM:  [to Mike]  You got anything else with that?

MB:  No…that was it.  [laughter]

DM:  I have another comp question for you guys.  We’ve talked about the physical aspect of training.  How do you mentally prepare, say in the holding area, before a comp begins or before it’s your turn?  Do you guys share a similar philosophy or do you prepare in entirely different ways?

AS:  We prepare really differently.  I really like to have my music on just before I go out to boulder and Kili’s more in himself.

KF:  Yeah, I don’t know.  I don’t have a special strategy, but it has worked out for the last ten years in the World Cup.  I don’t know exactly what I do but usually I get nervous and that’s really good for me because I can focus and I can concentrate a lot.  I say, “This is really important now,” and I want to do good.  My attention doesn’t get drawn away and that’s the most important thing for me; to get nervous at a certain stage, but not too much.

[ClimbTalk falls into a huge and ridiculous conversation of what music one should listen to when preparing mentally for climbing, from the Backstreet Boys to Dire Straits…I’ll save you the pain of reading]

DM:  How big a part does aggression play in your climbing?  Because when I watch video of the comp scene there’s a lot of…energy…would be a diplomatic way to say it.  It seems like you can release a lot of aggression and fuel your climbing…

AS:  I think you have to get into the right mental stage for yourself.  Some people really like to get aggressive and then they can send the boulder, but for me it doesn’t work that way.  If I get aggressive and if I’m really upset with the boulder, then I can’t do it anymore.  But it depends, everyone has their own strategy.

KF:  Anna is completely right.  It’s the same when we go rock climbing.  Some people scream through the woods and get really excited and really angry about it and some other people are really silent and just sit in front of a boulder and kind of meditate.  Everyone has to find his or her own way.

Some people are more aggressive, but there’s also a limit to being aggressive, since it’s a public event and you can’t just kick someone or hit someone.  [laughter]  There is a border to that.  Some people like to kick the wall or throw away a chalk bag…and I think it’s cool if someone finds his own way to express himself, as long as he doesn’t harm or disturb anybody else.

[A couple more local promos followed by…]

CF:  You guys should ask Kilian if he’s ever going to come back to Colorado, because he does an awesome Arnold Swarzenegger impression.  All day today he was dropping lines from movies and I couldn’t even figure out which ones.  He was like, “Man, what an awesome boulder problem.”  And I was like, “Is that from Total Recall or…which one is that from?”  [laughter from all]

KF:  He’s making that up.  He’s making fun of my English and he’s a bastard, but you should ask him about his German!  He’s making progress.  A little bit.

[Follows is a diatribe of German swear words that Chuck is trying to learn]

DM:  I have a question for all the climbers here.  Who are some of your contemporaries and maybe past climbers that you guys admire?  The reason that I ask that question is that we have some of the strongest climbers on the planet here and I want to hear who you guys have admiration for. 

JS:  The easiest answer for me would be Tommy Caldwell.  As we found out, by doing back to back slide shows about our youth and our introductions to the mountains and climbing, we’ve had a really similar experience coming into climbing.  Tommy started climbing much younger than I did, but aside from that, our dads were both enthusiasts and we both spent a lot of time in Estes Park throughout our childhoods.  And, I just really admire his diversity, climbing ability, and also he’s simply a kick ass dude.  Easy to talk to, very approachable, and also a superstar, one of the best American rock climbers there ever will be, I’m sure.

MB:  How about you, Kilian?

KF:  I don’t really have a person I’m looking up to, but I’m usually inspired by the people I’m going climbing with.  So, when I spend a day in the gym or on rock or at the competition, I get inspired by the other people, about how they climb or what they think about climbing, but also about their attitudes, about the whole sport.  It’s not just one single person.

MB:  When you’re competing, are you competing against yourself or are you competing against the other climbers?

KF:  That’s the good thing in climbing – you cannot really compete against another climber because you’re alone on the wall and there are just holds.  It’s the same when you do a sport climbing route or when you do a boulder.  There’s not someone else who tries to push you off or tries to be on the boulder faster than you.  It’s just about you and the obstacle, the boulder or the route or the holds.  That’s a really good aspect of our sport because it makes the community really friendly and there’s really little, how do you say…bad talk, people who envy you.  That’s a really nice thing about climbing.

MB:  And how about you, Anna?

AS:  I think it’s the same as Kilian sees it.  For me, I don’t really have someone who I specially look up to.  I think there are a lot of climbers out there who I really respect and I really admire what they’re doing, but it’s not one single person.  Also, I tend to go my own way, so that’s why I don’t really want to have one person which I want to follow.

DM:  What about you, Chuck?

CF:  I think it might be part of the job, but I admire a lot of people.  Kilian has been getting really upset with me because every time he pulls onto the rock I find something cool about it.  When I’m filming I need to pick out something that’s cool.  Kilian is particularly sensitive, though, when I say, “Wow, man, nice job!”  Or, “That was smoother than anyone else I’ve ever seen do it.”  Kilian just rolls his eyes, like, stop saying that.  But, the fact is that it’s true.  When Kilian does something smoothly it’s really smooth.  Okay, my career is watching people climb rocks.  It’s not just like I’m “fanning” out.  And when Kilian screws up I’m not afraid to tell him that that really sucked.

MB:  I have to ask the obvious.  Kilian, what makes you so good?  [groans from the studio]

KF:  I don’t think I’m so good, I just think I’m consistent.  But, for bouldering on rock I’m sure there are tons of people who are stronger than me and I’m sure there are people who can compete better than me, or people who do harder sport climbs.  But, over the years, I’ve been really consistent [and] that’s made me the World Cup winner for five times.  Some people are strong for one year or for two seasons and then they are not that strong anymore.  For me, I don’t know…  I’ve climbed on a really high level for ten years now and it might not be the highest level in all aspects of the sport, but it’s on a pretty high level and I try to keep that.

MB:  What about you, Cody?  Who do you [admire]?

CR:  I wouldn’t say also that I never had an idol.  I had a really good mentor growing up as a kid in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Lance Hadfield is his name.  We’re still really good friends to this day.  He definitely took me under his wing and gave me encouragement, pushed me, coached me.  And meeting Kilian…  We first met each other at the World Youth Championships when we were 15, back in 1999.

MB:  Where at?

CR:  That was in Italy.  Neither one of us won.  Neither one of us ever won a World Championship.  You made podium.  I made finals a few times, youth.  You made podium, youth, didn’t you?  You were second one time?  Yeah, yeah.

Meeting Kilian definitely changed my life a lot.  Then, when I was 19, I was doing World Cups again and I made the finals in Imst and then Kilian invited me to stay at his apartment in Innsbruck and that definitely changed the direction of my life.  I decided I wanted to stay in Austria.  Then, I competed for another year.  From there I got more into climbing around Europe, actually.  My roommate, who I live with, he’s been an influence, an inspiration – an idol I’m not sure – but he’s one of my best friends.  He’s definitely been a source of inspiration.

For all of us, really, it’s not like climbing’s 100 percent…that we eat, breath, and sleep climbing.  It’s just something we enjoy.  It’s like a way of life, you know?  It’s something we enjoy doing when we have time and when we do we give 100 percent effort and maybe that’s where the inspiration and the motivation comes from.  But it’s cool to see people like Kilian or like my roommate, he’s a social worker and a mountain guide, as well, and a super talented climber.  But he’s just a normal dude, just like Kilian’s a normal dude that you could meet for a beer at the bar.

MB:  What do you guys do for downtime?  Do you have any other hobbies?  Do you knit, or…?

DM:  Knit?!

MB:  What about you, Jonathan?

JS:  I knit scarves and hats.  [laughter]  Before I started climbing I used to race mountain bikes.  I still really love mountain biking.  I went on a ride today, actually.  More and more recently, as climbing’s occupying a lot of my time, I’ve been wanting to be intellectually stimulated so I’ve been trying to read more and play chess and exercise my brain, not only my body.

MB:  What about you, Kilian?  What hobbies and interests do you have?  What do you do when you’re not climbing?

KF:  In winter we go backcountry skiing or skiing on the piste.  In summer we do mountain biking – not at a very high level – but we enjoy it a lot.  Also, kind of a hobby, Anna and I are studying at university.  I’m studying since…eight or nine years already.  I’m making progress…[laughter]  I think I will finish it, but it will take two more years.  In Austria it’s easy; you can study as long as you want.  You don’t pay that much and you can still have a good education.

MB:  What are you studying?

KF:  I’m studying English and sports to become a teacher.

MB:  Anna, what do you do during your down days?  What other hobbies do you have?

AS:  Pretty much the same as Kilian, as we do a lot together.  We go skiing and mountain biking and also to university.

DM:  What are you studying?

AS:  The same.  [laughter]  But we DO have different lives!

KF:  You see, I’m her idol.

AS:  No, I am his.

MB:  I’d like to ask Chuck the same question, but I’m afraid of what he’s going to say.

CF:  Why would you ever be afraid??  What I do with my down time?  I guess my answer is:  What down time?  For the last couple of years I’ve been focusing a lot of my efforts on running a business and trying to grow my filmmaking stuff.  It’s been working so far.  I was really happy with how I was climbing and then I turned a lot of my energy and attention towards my filmmaking.  I figure if I can be a V14 filmmaker then I’m really kicking butt.  At this point I’m probably a V6 filmmaker…

[Everybody says “nooooo...”]

CF:  Awh, thanks guys.  Group hug, group hug!  You know, I try to spend as much time as I can, if I’m not working or climbing, at home, because for the last nine weeks I’ve been at home for about two of them.  Been traveling a lot and in some ways living the dream, but also literally waking up and not knowing what city I was in and forgetting where I was.

DM:  You guys just moved to Denver, is that right?  Moved Chuck Fryberger Films to Denver?

CF:  Yeah.  We used to work out of Golden and now I have a studio in Denver.  It’s not a huge movie studio, but it’s 1100 square feet and we shoot commercials and we do all of our editing there.  I have two people on full-time staff and a bunch of other people that work for me on a contract basis.

We do a variety of stuff, beyond just climbing films.  We have a music documentary that we’re finishing pretty soon and we’re shooting a commercial next week for a wine company.  We do a few different things.  My passion is still climbing films and I still really want to travel around and climb a lot, but branching out is a good thing, too.

MB:  The commercial for the wine company; did you court them or did they come to you?

CF:  They came to me, as a matter of fact.  It was a connection I made through my old DJ’ing years at the Boulder Rock Club.

DM:  Underground Chuck…[his old DJ name]

CF:  Yeah, it was from the UGC days.  Definitely, my passion and a lot of my core work is in climbing, and quite a lot of my mainstream work comes from my connections in the sport of climbing and from my reputation in the core action sports industry.  So, even though I’m not making a million dollars selling climbing videos, it’s good for my marketing and good for my street cred, I guess.  It gets me out meeting a lot of people.

DM:  Cody, what do you do with your down time?

 CR:  In the winter I snowboard a lot.  I’m really into freeriding and backcountry snowboarding.  If it’s a good winter then normally I’ll take five or six weeks where I won’t touch rock, where I won’t climb at all.  It’s nice to have a break.  I really enjoy surfing, also.  And then, I do PR work for a couple of my sponsors.  And route setting work I also do.  Translating work I do for a couple of magazines and companies.  DJ’ing, I got into two years ago.  I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus the last nine months. I would say I haven’t done that much.

[Paying some bills, we talk about sponsorship for all the climbers in the studio…interestingly enough, Anna is sponsored by a pasta company and a mobile phone company, amongst others...says Cody, “And IPA also sponsors me, on occasion, but mainly that comes from Chuck’s travel budget”]

 DM:  Thanks for coming into the studio, guys.  We really, really appreciate it.  That was fun.  And thank you for listening.  Remember, we can be found on Facebook.  Like us.  Improve our self-esteem because it’s very, very low.  [laugter] Email us at climbtalkradio@gmail.com.  Thanks for listening.  Get out this weekend!

[As the music takes us out Chuck takes one more shot at Kilian.  “Ask Kilian if he’ll be back,” he says.  I say, “Kilian, will you be back?”  In the worst Arnold accent ever, Kilian says, “I’ll be back.”  And that’s the show.]