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 keep track of what climbing competitions are coming up and where you can buy tickets. (If you are new here, you can read old editions on the Behind the Wall homepage.)
This weekend has one of the last competitions of the season, the new Les Grips competition in France, with the finals tomorrow. Unfortunately, the competition won’t be live-streamed.
We have a great collection of things to watch and listen to this week, from preparing the Wide Boyz preparing stuntwoman Corinne Nicewick for climbing the crack pitch on the Red Bull Dual Ascent 2024. Jonathan Sin reminisces with Eric Karlsson on climbing YouTube, and Hannah Morris looked at the growth of climbing over the last decade.
Jinni interviews Oceana Mackenzie about her fantastic 2024 season when she became the first Australian to win a World Cup medal. Continuing the Australian theme, Jack Mason talks with Tonde Katiyo and Lee Cossey about the state of Australian performance climbing. Josh talks with. Bjorn and Vlad talk to Hannes Van Duysen about competition climbing, the Olympics and Deep Water Soloing. Matt Groom released a conversation with two times Speed World Champion and Ukrainian athlete Danyil Boldyrev.
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Watch
- Stuntwoman Dominates Crack Climbing | Wide Boyz. Pete and Tom prepare stuntwoman Corinne Nicewick for the RedBull 2024 Dual Ascent 7c Crack pitch.
- Meeting the GOAT of Climbing Youtube Eric Karlsson | Jonathan Sin Climbing. Jonathan Sin has a fun indoor session with YouTube Climbing great Eric Karlsson. Throughout the session, they discuss his influence on Climbing YouTube.
- Why Has Everyone SUDDENLY Started Rock Climbing Indoors? | Hannah Morris Bouldering. Hannah Morris delves into why everyone has started climbing indoors and what climbing is like for a first-timer.
- Pan American Comp Climbing training | Richardsons Climbing. Zac Richardson talks about his training just before going to the 2024 Pan American Continental Championship on the Rose Bloc Comp wall.
Listen
- Oceana Mackenzie, 2x Olympian | That’s Not Real Climbing Podcast. Jinni interviews Oceana Mackenzie about her 2024 season, including going to her second Olympics and winning her first World Cup medal.
- Tonde Katiyo & Lee Cossey | Climbing Curated. Jack talks with Tonde Katiyo and Lee Cossey about a recent workshop Tonde held with Nicolas Januel, the French Bouldering coach for Oceanic Athletes. They talk about the Australian competition scene and the steps needed to help Australian athletes do well at the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.
- Anne-Worley Moelter — CEO of Movement | Testpiece Climbing. Josh talks with Anne Worley Moelter, CEO of Movement, about how she got into climbing and the climbing industry, running USAClimbing back in the 2000s and creating the Movement climbing scene. Throughout, they reflect on the special place climbing gyms hold for the community as a third space, like a church.
- Interrogation of Hannes Van Duysen | CIA. Bjorn and Vlad interview Hannes Van Duysen about returning to training, deep water soloing and competition climbing.
- ‘ I used rocks as chalk…’ Danyil Boldyrev | Matt Groom. Matt Groom talks to Danyil Boldyrev about how he got started speed climbing and his competition life.
2025 International Climbing Competition Tickets
The 2024 season is over, and tickets for the 2025 competitions are already on sale.
- Studio Bloc Masters 2025 (Germany) 15 – 16 March 2025. Registration opens in February.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup 7 – 8 June 2025. You can purchase tickets for the whole weekend already. Single-day tickets will be sold later.
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 D.M. me on Instagram.
See you next week!
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