BAFFLE DAYS - Australian Climbing
35 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 months ago - ★★★★ - 3 ratingsThe Australian climbing podcast. Chatting to the old school legends, modern day heroes and everyone else who make up our awesome community. Tune in for stories, opinions, training and nutrition info. Spreading the love.
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Episodes
Buster Martin - Action Directe, finger injury recovery, pocket training, coaching and more
June 14, 2023 03:04 - 1 hour - 91.8 MBBuster has been climbing since childhood. He competed for his country as a junior competitor where he made European Championship finals, World Cup semi finals and numerous domestic comp victories. Buster's main focus now is rock climbing. He's the second brit to climb 9a+/36 with his ascent of First Ley in Margalef. Buster has also climbed countless routes in the 8c+-9a 34-35 range including the historic test pieces Hubble and Action Directe. In this chat, we dig into Buster's preparation f...
Krystal Wright - photography, creativity, finding inspiration and social media
December 08, 2022 20:41 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBKrystal's journey is an inspiring one. She knew what she wanted and went after it. Capturing moments in crazy locations of crazy people doing crazy things, all around the world. We covered some good ground in this conversation and I really appreciated Krystal's honesty to just dive in. You can follow Krystal on instagram here Krystal's website Baffle Days books, coffee trays and other bits here
Steve Bechtel - new book, goals, embracing new ideas and endurance training
November 08, 2022 19:08 - 1 hour - 77.6 MBSteve is the founder of Climb Strong. He’s a climber for more than 30 years, and established over 300 new routes across the globe, from big wall free climbs to 25-foot sport routes on his home crags near Lander, Wyoming. An exercise science graduate of the University of Wyoming, Steve has been studying and experimenting with climbing training methods since his teens. After spending a few years as a full-time climber, Steve opened Elemental Performance + Fitness in 2002. Elemental is a full-s...
Maddy Cope - Freerider, training, headspace and menstruation
February 16, 2022 05:44 - 1 hour - 105 MBMaddy Cope has climbed Freerider 28/7c+ in Yosemite, La Scimma Nuda, (9 pitch) 29/8a in Switzerland and countless other hard multipitch/trad routes. She's also cranked out a couple 33/8c's, Mind Control and Bat Route, and smashed out 32/8b+ on gear! She's a true allrounder. We talk about her process on Freerider and desire to keep seeking adventure and exploration. We also dig into headspace and finding mental cues to focus the mind while climbing. Perhaps the best part of our conversatio...
Ollie Torr - Lattice Training
December 21, 2021 18:45 - 1 hour - 78.2 MBOllie Torr is one of the founders of Lattice Climbing, a Sheffield based training and research company. Perhaps best known for their research and accumulation of testing data to help predict performance. In doing so, they have helped answer the big question in climbing. How strong do I need to be? In this episode however, we don't get buried in the weeds of numbers and energy systems, rather, we dig into the real-life side of climbing. We get into mental fatigue, the benefits of having a te...
Oceana MacKenzie - Olympic climber
December 01, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBIn December 2020 Oceana qualified to represent Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. She did this proudly when climbing made its debut in Tokyo during August 2021. Oceana is a Bouldering World Cup Finalist, won basically every domestic competition she's ever entered, plus on the real rock front, shes bouldered V11! Pretty impressive for someone who's just 19 years old! In this episode we dig into the early years of Oceana's climbing life and her progression through the youth series....
Climbers' Olympics - Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts with John Sheridan
September 13, 2021 01:37 - 2 hours - 111 MBIt’s hard to know where to start in telling this story. It’s been a wild journey. After qualifying for the Olympics in December 2020, we thought things were going to get a bit simpler. We have a date when the Olympics are going to run and a training plan to execute, easy. The reality was a fair bit different. We naively underestimated the path to getting prepared for the biggest sporting event in the world. Perhaps we needed a bit of that to get us to the start line though. We had big goals...
Dave Jones
June 06, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 75 MBDave Jones is one of the rare ones. Growing up in Victoria, he quickly ended up spending many of his early climbing years making his way out to Arapiles and The Grampians. It wasn’t long before Dave started finding his own lines to climb, searching out unclimbed features which caught his imagination. Some of his notable First Ascents include Punks Addiction 32/8b+, Somoza 32/8b+, Academia 31/8b, Feather Boa 28/7c+ and Shai-Hulud 25X/7bX just to name a few. Dave also spent some time in Englan...
Setting the scene with Pat Banda and Dan Gordon
April 26, 2021 02:32 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBYou walk into a climbing gym, look around at all the nice fiberglass shapes, the funky volumes and order yourself a coffee. A coupe hours later you walk out having had a blast of a time with your friends and a few layers of skin down. In a few days time you'll be back and do the same thing again. You are a climber and the sport has taken over your life, even if its just for a few hours each week. How good is it! What really goes into making this sport and life so good though? Well a large p...
Climber's Dirty Tricks? Yay or Nay
February 17, 2021 02:13 - 1 hour - 70.5 MBI'm almost certain many of you have done one or all of these things. A generation ago, employing some of these tactics may have resulted in being chased out of the crag. Perhaps there are still a few strong holds which keep the torch burning in a quest for pure ascents. The question is, do these tactics sit within the lines of fair play or have we pushed the boat out too far? Are those who shun these ideas just the beard stroking class of yesteryear, too lost in tearing people down to actua...
Tom O'Halloran Australian Olympian - Sport Climbing
January 15, 2021 23:42 - 1 hour - 94.5 MBOn 19-20 December 2020 at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym Villawood, the Oceania Climbing Championships were held, giving one last chance for a ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games for one athlete per gender from the region. Tom O'Halloran qualified for the male category and talks to us about his journey. Tom talks about his early climbing journey, (unknowingly) meeting Adam Ondra for the first time, competitions and transitioning from outdoor to indoor climbing. We also get into the decision maki...
4 reasons we didn't send
November 13, 2020 05:50 - 1 hour - 66.4 MBEach one of us tells a story of a time we stuffed up a send. Hopefully through talking about a few of these things, you'll learn from our mistakes and navigate your way around them. If you have experienced them before, feel comforted that you're not alone. It happens to us all. Here's the video Tom references for his big dummy spit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H3OkmWqNCY Baffle Days https://www.baffledays.com.au Follow the gang on Instagram Leah Dempsey - @leahmdempsey Matt Nor...
Duncan Brown - Athlete and Adventure by Choice
October 28, 2020 22:25 - 1 hour - 63.6 MBDuncan Brown has been a climber for decades now. He has travelled all over the world in this time, including a stint in China as part of the big wave of development 10 years ago. He was apart of the team being flown across the country being paid to bolt the countless limestone caves, granite faces and sandstone walls. What a dream! Duncan is also the man behind Athlete by Choice, his climbing and mountain sport coaching business based out of Canberra. He's coached everyone from weekend war...
The future of Australian climbing
August 10, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 80 MBIt’s easy to believe the popular overseas destinations are the bee’s knees. They’re in the movies, on the posters and clogging up your instagram feed. But what about back home, in the land girt by sea? Turns out it’s pretty darn good! We talk the progression of our sport in the last decade and predictions of things to come. A few years ago we’d have never thought that 33 was going to be a trade route for the masses, now it is. So what’s going to be the 34 trade route? Bolting projects and ...
From climber to climbing mum
July 19, 2020 04:39 - 2 hours - 111 MBMum climbing life with Amanda Watts, Andrea Hah, Helen Day and Carlie LeBreton. This group of crusher climbing mums have over 80 years of combined climbing experience, bouldering, sport and trad climbing and competing at the highest levels. For each of them, finding a balance between climbing and mum life was important for their mental health and quality of life. Climbing is what makes life feel normal. They talk about everything from climbing pregnant, to travelling and climbing with kids...
Madeleine Crane - Climbing Psychology
May 28, 2020 21:34 - 1 hour - 59.4 MBMadeleine Crane started Climbing Psychology out of a passion. She is a professional psychologist, specialised in sport psychology and has experienced the pinnacle of competition climbing, having competed for Austria at World Cups. She wants to help you find the tools to give yourself every opportunity to express yourself fully on the wall. In our chat we get into the dynamics of men and women in the climbing scene and why it can be hard for some people to step up and climb to their full ...
Setting a Woody with Yossi
May 09, 2020 01:54 - 36 minutes - 25.8 MBWe speak to Yossi Sundakov-Krumins, owner and manager of Skywood Climbing. Yossi is the master mind and creator of one of the best woody’s I’ve ever seen so he’s the perfect person to give you a few tips and ideas to make the most out of your setup. https://www.skywoodclimbing.com/home-2
Steve Bechtel
April 29, 2020 02:37 - 1 hour - 84.4 MBIf you don’t know who Steve Bechtel is already, he’s one of the big names in global climbing training. He studied Exercise Science at University and in 2002 opened Elemental Performance and Fitness in Lander, Wyoming. We love Steve’s no nonsense approach to climbing training. He looks from above with an insightful eye and makes the complicated, simple. Sitting down and chatting with him is always a real treat and today was no different. We covered a lot of ground and came out with some reall...
Minimal equipment training. COVID-19
April 06, 2020 22:40 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBIn this episode Amanda Watts and Tom O’Halloran sit down with Lee Cossey, one of the best climbers Australia has ever seen and one of the best coaching minds in the business. We talk about how you can get the most out of your training while climbing gyms are shut and our access to the outdoors is limited. Finger boarding, strength, mindset and technique improvement are all covered here, with practical tips on what you can do from home. Lee Cossey is a physiotherapist and runs, along with...
John Sheridan - More than strength
February 27, 2020 20:08 - 1 hour - 66.3 MBJohn Sheridan has been lifting weights for more than half his life. He’s a proper strong guy. He’s competed in National powerlifting tournaments, played high level Rugby and is now smitten on climbing. Amanda and Tom talk with John about the importance of strength training outside of the performance realm. The stronger you are, the harder you are to kill! We also get into the importance of finding new challenges which make you feel like a beginner. The growth that happens here is so benefic...
Stuart Wyithe - The Professor of Punks
January 31, 2020 08:19 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBStuart Wyithe was the first Australian to climb the iconic Punks in the Gym, 32/8b+ at Mt Arapiles. It was the hardest route in the world when Wolfgang Gullich climbed it in 1985 and in 1993 was still in the very top of the difficulty pyramid. Stuart got a whole lot of hard climbing done in his time. He also climbed the first ascent of Pretty in Punk, 32 which is another hard line crossing the same wall as Punks. His pursuits in the outdoors are now all about ultra endurance running races....
Vince Day - Redpoint reflections
December 19, 2019 22:46 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBYou’d be hard pressed to find a rock magazine from 2000-2010 that didn’t have a photo or mention Vince Day. He's even on the cover of the 2010 Blue Mountains guidebook. The guy was very much in the middle of the scene for that time. He repeated some of Australia’s hardest routes and boulders, as well as putting up a few of his own. His name was synonymous with hard moves and if he couldn't pull the move on a board maybe the move wasn’t possible. One of the amazing and inspiring things with ...
Vince Day
December 19, 2019 22:46 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBYou’d be hard pressed to find a rock magazine from 2000-2010 that didn’t have a photo or mention Vince Day. He's even on the cover of the 2010 Blue Mountains guidebook. The guy was very much in the middle of the scene for that time. He repeated some of Australia’s hardest routes and boulders, as well as putting up a few of his own. His name was synonymous with hard moves and if he couldn't pull the move on a board maybe the move wasn’t possible. One of the amazing and inspiring thi...
2019 Australian Open Nationals wrap up
November 22, 2019 05:37 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBThe 2019 Australian open climbing Nationals have come and gone. This year's were different to previous ones, not only the format of all three disciplines being run over 4 consecutive days, but also because of the Olympics. This is the beginning of the Olympic dream for all of our athletes. Those competing in all three disciplines were vying for a top 8 finish which would give them a place in the Australian team for the Oceania Championships being held on 28-9 March 2020. Amanda, Tom, Rob an...
Duncan Brown - Inside Sport Climbing Australia
October 29, 2019 18:55 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBDuncan Brown is has been running his own coaching business, Athlete by Choice for several years. In the last few years he has moved into also being the coaching director for Sport Climbing Australia, the governing body for competition climbing in Australia. In this chat we get into the inner workings of the competition side of SCA as well as the Olympics and what it means for our sport. Also, we talk through the struggles of running the governing body of our sport as an entirely volunteer o...
Power Company Climbing - Big Picture Training
October 13, 2019 19:00 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBWe don’t get into finger boarding protocol breakdowns, or energy system nuances. That stuff is far too confusing and gets in the way of actually showing up to the gym and trying hard. I’ve listened to a million hours of nuanced nonsense that’s hard to then apply into a training plan. Let alone a normal life of work, family and all the other things outside of climbing that make our lives feel full. In this hour, Kris and Tom talk about having a bigger view to your training, the benefits of ...
Emma Horan - Warrior Princess
September 29, 2019 20:23 - 1 hour - 67.8 MBEmma Horan talks to Amanda and Tom about her own climbing, managing a new climbing gym in the middle of Sydney and her experience of being a female in the climbing scene. We also talk about nutrition and body image in our chat and I was truly grateful to Em for her openness on this subject. Follow Emma on instagram @emmawarriorprincess
Rob LeBreton - Forever strong
July 01, 2019 22:46 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBRob LeBreton is an Australian climbing legend. Starting climbing in the early 1980’s Rob took to the cliffs with an open mind and buckets of psych. His first climbing experiences were in Glenbrook Gorge at the base of the Blue Mountains. He and a friend tied a rope around their waist and armed with a fistful of rudimentary gear they climbed a stack of routes that he now looks back on as some of the sketchiest climbing of his life. His progression in climbing was steady and unstoppable. He f...
Lee Cujes - Endless Psych
May 08, 2019 01:53 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBLee Cujes has been prolific in the scene for his entire climbing life, starting in Townsville in 1994. He then moved to Brisbane and became one of the biggest route developers in South East Queensland for the next 20 years. Chances are if you've climbed a good route in Queensland, Lee’s hand was probably involved with its development. He was also responsible for pushing the level in QLD sport climbing doing hard first ascents of 31’s and 32’s (8b/8b+). Lee has now moved to the Blue Mountai...
Leah Dempsey - Her own path
April 22, 2019 02:18 - 57 minutes - 51.7 MBLeah Dempsey moved from Brisbane to the Blue Mountains in 2014 and has been crushing routes and boulders since. Her story is one of finding her own path through the established climbing scene of the Blue Mountains. She has climbed grade 32 and bouldered V12. Her ability to back herself to get on the routes and boulders she chooses and to execute them with a stubbornness and determination that allows her to get them done, is inspiring. She continues to push herself to be the best climber she...
Anna Davey - Leveling up
April 13, 2019 22:06 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBAnna is a WA climber who’s been on the up and up for the last few years. In this time she’s been focused on making the Australian team and based on her results from last year’s nationals, she’s made it. At the end of April she’s off to China to start her Bouldering World Cup season. The last few years have been hard for Anna battling both life and climbing hurdles but she is on the charge now and super psyched to give it her all. We chat about the process of becoming a better climber, deal...
Ep 4 - Becoming a better climber with Jake Bresnehan
March 13, 2019 04:21 - 1 hour - 62.9 MBIn this episode we get into the juicy bits of training, how he went from sport climbing 31/8b, to being a climber capable of climbing The Wheel of life. A climb that is considered to be somewhere around 35 or 36 which is 9a 9a+ in Frenchy speak. This is a huge and somewhat audacious jump but one that he committed fully to and pulled off in style. It has inspired me more than I can articulate with my clunky words. Climbing The Wheel was a big mental and physical shift for him so we get into ...
Episode 3 - Lee Cossey - Light Walling
February 04, 2019 10:52 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBLee Cossey is a proper legend of the Australian climbing scene. He has climbed and first ascented some of the hardest routes in the country for the past two decades as well as bouldered hard double digits and done some bloody good ascents on the big walls in Australia, Yosemite and Patagonia. Lee and I talk about his time big walling, which in contrast to the time he has spent sport climbing and bouldering is almost nothing. But in no time he has compiled a world class list of ascents, incl...
Ep 2 Luke Hansen - New experiences
January 16, 2019 02:15 - 57 minutes - 51.2 MBLuke Hansen is a Blue Mountains local crusher. In 2017 he finished his psychology degree at University and decided to do the dream euro climbing trip. He booked a plane ticket, bought a van and started the 6 month tour of the A list Euro crags. We talk about him realising on the trip that he wanted to make climbing a bigger part of his life. He has now made the move to the epicentre of climbing in Australia, Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. We also delve into a bit of psychology within our...
Ep 1 Jake Bresnehan and The Wheel of Life
December 22, 2018 22:25 - 59 minutes - 42.9 MBTom chats with Jake about his ascent of The Wheel of Life this year. We talk about his journey to get to climbing his big dream. A bit about his training, his injury struggles and the approach he took to make it happen. We also talk about his motivation in the early years, going to Europe to live in Innsbruck, Austria to learn from the best climbers at the time. As well as the adventures he had in Yosemite and Patagonia. Jake is an awesome dude who has transformed his climbing in an incred...