Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday.
Each week, I highlight the favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of indoor and competition climbing. I also track where you can buy competition tickets during the World Cup season.
This week, we have some fun competitions to watch with Hannah Morris and the TAMY YouTube Channel. We learn more about New Zealand's Speed sensation Julian David, the importance of diversity in routesetting from Rosalind Beveridge, and Jenya Kazbekova's journey towards the Olympics from the cliffs of Crimea, Ukraine.
We got the first-ever long-form interview with Erin McNeice on That's Not Real Climbing, who is having a breakout in 2024. We get to learn what the IFSC Athletes Commission is doing with RED-S from Kyra Condie and Campbell Harrison. Finally, we learn about the history of one of the oldest climbing gyms in the USA from John Burgman and Bryan Pletta.
I know there is lots of great content that I don’t know about. Let me know at behindthewall@inside-climbing.com, and I’ll give you a shout-out if I feature it.
Please subscribe if you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week.
Watch
- Watch Hannah Morris, Nathan Betts, and Stefano Ghislofi compete at a local comp as a team. Learn about how Stefano approaches competitions and why he created his YouTube channel.
- Watch YouTuber Mike Boyd try crack climbing with the Wide Boyz crack holds. Mike struggles to learn the technique while his wife Kim cruises up the crack climb.
- Episode 2 of Jesse Grupper’s Prep for Paris with Tension Climbing. Learn what a performance-oriented training day looks like for Jesse Grupper as he prepares for the Olympics and the combined Boulder&Lead format.
- Watch Tomoa Narasaki, Daiki Sano, Sohta Amagasa, and Keita Dohi compete in a friendly slab competition. Where they set boulders for each other before competing as two teams to see who can top the most boulders before the time runs out.
- Learn why Sean McColl is the GOAT of Ninja Warrior from Climbing Stuff. And why climbers are so much better than everyone else at Ninja Warrior.
Read
- Natalie Berry Interviews Jenya Kazbekova about her journey to the Olympics. Learn more about how Kazbekova's affinity with the cliffs of Crimea, where her grandmother won climbing competitions back in 1960. Read about the pain of not qualifying for Tokyo 2020 and how she continues to compete for her country while the war continues. It's a must-read.
- Read more about New Zealand’s fastest climber’s journey to the Olympics. Learn how Julian David started climbing after breaking his wrist at age 14, 5 years ago, some of his training exercises, and his goals for Paris.
- Setter Series: Impact Route Setting Interview Rosalind Beveridge. Interview with freelance routesetter Rosalind Beveridge on how she got into routesetting, the importance of diversity and the standout moments of her career.
Listen
- That’s Not Real Climbing Podcast interview with Erin McNeice. Learn about Erin’s journey to becoming a full-time athlete, her intense winter training schedule, and where her “McBeast” nickname comes from.
- Kyra Condie sits down with Campbell Harrison on the second interview episode on the Circle Up podcast. Hear about how Campbell feels about going to the Olympics, how he deals with imposter syndrome, and how he and Kyra feel about the progress made in the fight against RED-S.
- John Burgman interviews Bryan Pletta, founder of Stone Age Climbing Gym, on the CBJ Podcast. Listen to John and Bryan reflect on climbing gym culture and how, while gyms have grown and professionalised, the culture has stayed the same since he founded his gym back in 1997.
International Climbing Competition Tickets
The competition season has started, so here is the rundown of where you can find World Cup and OQS tickets.
- Budapest (Hungary) Olympic Qualifier Series Event: You will not need a ticket to enter the Ludovika Campus, where the Budapest OQS event is being held, according to the Olympics OQS FAQ (at the bottom of the page). The schedule for the event is available.
- Innsbruck (Austria) Boulder, Lead and Paraclimbing World Cups June 24 – 30. World Cup Pass Tickets sold out within a few hours. Single-day tickets will be available on May 1. You will only need tickets for the Boulder finals and Lead semi-finals and finals. Some tickets are still available.
- Chamonix (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 12 – 14. The event will be free to attend. There are VIP tickets on offer.
- Briançon (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 16 – 19. The event will be free to attend.
- Olympic Ticket resale platform. Some tickets for the Olympics are coming up through the official resale platform.
- European Championship in Villars (Switzerland) August 23 – September 1. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- Koper (Slovenia) September 6 – 7. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup September 20 – 22. VIP tickets are sold out, and seated tickets are almost sold out, but standing tickets are still available
- Seoul World Cup October 2 – 6. Tickets are yet to be announced.
That’s a Wrap
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Behind the Wall. Let me know what you think at behindthewall@insideclimbing.com or DM me on Instagram.
See you next week!
P.S. Please share with anyone you think would enjoy reading Behind The Wall.
