Podcasts about black diamond equipment

Passion, conviction, obsession. Heart and soul. Words to describe the devoted. Those driven to produce what had never existed before — a crusade to push the sport forward. When Bill Belcourt talks product, you listen. The former head of R&D at Black Diamond, Bill helmed the department during the heydey, when anything was possible and all roads led to BD for product innovation. Chances are, if you've used BD climbing gear in the past 30 years, you've used Bill's work.Now, Bill leads Blue Ice - North America, where the work continues.In this episode, we chat about:

In 1989, after years of scaling some of the most challenging peaks in the world, Peter Metcalf took on a daunting new risk: resuscitating a bankrupt climbing-equipment company, and putting himself into deep debt to do so. From the defunct assets of Chouinard Equipment, Peter launched Black Diamond Equipment, and capitalized on the growing popularity of sport climbing to grow it into one of the most recognizable outdoor brands in the world. By the way, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Chouinard Equipment, went on to build his next company, Patagonia, into an iconic outdoor apparel brand. It's a great HIBT story, and you can listen to it HERE.This episode was produced by Josh Lash, with music by Ramtin ArabloueiEdited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Planetwalker screenshot On today's show: In 1971, John Francis, known the world over as ‘Planetwalker,' witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead. Dr. John Francis from the documentary “Planetwalker: The Inner Magic of Dr. John Francis” The documentary PLANETWALKER: The Inner Magic of Dr. John Francis focuses on the period of John's life from the oil spill through his meandering 20-year journey across the States where he resumes speaking to work on oil spill legislation with the US Coast Guard. During this time, it seemed like the whole world, every creed and color, saw John pass by and interacted with him if only fleetingly. By tracking some of these people down, the film explores the weblike and sometimes deeply personal consequences of John's decades of pilgrimage. About the filmmakers: Dominic Gill is a former biologist turned filmmaker. He began his filmmaking career by selling his house, buying a bicycle, and riding 20,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina.  His film on the subject, TAKE A SEAT, was released in 2011 on ITV4 to critical acclaim.  It was distributed to over 45 countries, winning the Special Jury Prize at Banff Film Festival. Nadia Gill has been creating content in the outdoor space since 2011. Formerly an attorney, she decided to pursue a career in filmmaking after meeting her directing partner Dominic Gill. Together they formed Encompass Films and produced two seasons of a travel adventure series titled “Take A Seat: Sharing a Ride Across America”.  It was distributed by NBCUniversal. Over the next few years under her direction, Encompass Films built a branded clientele including Red Bull, Timbuk2, Black Diamond Equipment, and more. The post PLANETWALKER: The Inner Magic of Dr. John Francis appeared first on KPFA.

This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Russ Clune. Russ just completed his first book, "The Lifer". Russ shares parts of his book, discusses writing styles and shares stories of his travels and climbing from around the world. Russ is a rock climber living in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York. His articles have been published in multiple journals, including Climbing, Rock & Ice, Mountain, Alpinist, Der Bergsteiger, Iwa To Yuki, The Patagonia Catalog, and Urban Climber. Clune has been climbing for over forty-five years and was one of America's best rock climbers during his peak in the 1980s; he is also one of the world's most well-traveled rock climbers. Clune was part of the employee group that created the leading climbing-gear company, Black Diamond Equipment, where he worked for thirty years. He remains an active climber and continues to travel the globe seeking new adventures. Thanks for listening! Find all our episodes at dayfirepodcast.com This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Climbing enthusiast and producer Thomas Lu has long wondered what makes knots such a powerful tool. Today, Thomas digs into the research with the help of Matt Berry, Quality Assurance Manager at the outdoor gear company Black Diamond Equipment, and researcher Vishal Patil.Reach the show by emailing shortwave@npr.org.

Listen as Black Diamond Equipment's founder, Peter Metcalf, tells the amazing story of surviving the first alpine style ascent of the south face of Alaska's Mt. Hunter. 

Joe Smith is originally from Red Lodge, Montana. He learned to ski there at the local hill with his friends and was passionate about snow sliding from the start. His junior college days were spent in Northern California around Lake Tahoe skiing and adventuring more. By the early 1990s he headed to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to finish his engineering degree and get in some powder skiing. It was in Utah that he first borrowed some Telemark equipment and got started on dropping knees on the hill. He did a two-year stint working for Black Diamond Equipment, soon after the company moved to Salt Lake City, as a Quality Inspector while he was finishing school. But it was again in 1999 that he ended up at Black Diamond again, this time as a Process Engineer. During his time at BD, he was around for Telemark binding innovation that started around the Pitbull and went through such notable bindings as the Skyhoy, BD 01, 02, & 03. He also was there during the acquisition of Ascension skis, SKY Bindings, as well as helped with setting up the factory for Black Diamond ski manufacturing.   SIGN UP FOR THE MAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on Instagram and Twitter Telemark Skier Magazine on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube Freeheel Life on Instagram and Twitter Shop The Freeheel Life Telemark Shop  HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT US Shop Telemark at  FREEHEELLIFE.COM Subscribe & Become a Supporter of TelemarkSkier.com for articles, gear reviews, & more! Email Podcast@freeheellife.com

O2 Utah presents O2 & You! This week, David will be joined by Peter Metcalf, O2 Utah Board Member and the Leas Co-Founder of Black Diamond Equipment. Together, they will discuss the impact climbing has had on Peter's life, his work in the both the outdoor industry and land stewardship spaces, environmental advocacy in business practice, and more!

Matt Sutton is founder of binary, an additive fabrication studio that explores additive-based strategies in digital craftsmanship and sustainable materials, and its offshoot madexbinary, an outlet for digitally designed and hand-finished 3d printed ceramics. Prior to establishing his own practice, Matt worked at Black Diamond Equipment and 3form. Matt earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering from both...

This week on Trail Runner Nation, we have a special edition of our podcast. UTMB race co-founder Michel Poletti joins us from Chamonix, France, along with four other guests, from Bellingham, Washington, to Boulder, to Chamonix. The topic? A new partnership announced today between the iconic triathlon brand and what is perhaps the world’s most famous trail race. Trail Runner Nation was one of the first media outlets in the world to receive the news. We taped this show Tuesday night, Chamonix time, and held it until the embargo expired at 4 am east coast time, Thursday, May 6. We’ll continue to cover this story in future podcast episodes, as it evolves. For now, you can check out highlights of our conversation on our Trail Runner Nation Youtube Channel, and read a summary of highlights in this blog post on our web site. What’s your opinion of this news? The Trail Runner Nation conversation continues in the new Trail Running Community at Ultrasignup. Check it out HERE. Our Guests: Michel Poletti is one of the founders of the UTMB race, along with his wife Catherine. Prior to that he ran a technology company, and organized an international hang gliding contest in Chamonix. He is an avid trail runner who for many years would run the 121 km UTMB TDS race with a radio so he could both race and help manage the event. He lives in Chamonix, France.  Krissy Moehl is a Patagonia-sponsored trail runner. She won the first edition of UTMB in 2003, and won again in 2009. She coaches trail runners and is author of the book, Running Your First Ultra. Find out more at krissymoehl.com. She joins us from Bellingham, Washington. Hillary Gerardi has set course records around the world on highly technical skyraces. She recently established a woman’s record on the Haute Route ski from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland. She is sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment. Originally from Vermont, she lives in Chamonix full time now and joins us from there.  Brian Metzler is one of the founders of Trail Runner Magazine and continues as a Contributing Editor. He is co-author of the upcoming book Trail Running Illustrated and writes for numerous magazines and websites. He joins us from Boulder, Colorado.  Adam Chase is President of the American Trail Running Association, Captain and Manager of the Brooks off-road running team, and co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running. He has been freelance writing about running for several decades. He joins us from Boulder, where he practices law when not trail running.  Show highlights from the Trail Runner Nation Youtube Channel Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc Continue the discussion in the Ultrasignup Community UTMB Through the Eyes of its Creator, Part 1 UTMB Through the Eyes of its Creator, Part 2

Effective Retail Marketing Strategies to Adopt with Black Diamond Equipment In Episode 106 of the Lion’s Share Marketing Podcast, Tyler and Jon discuss the start to 2021 and the recent decision from social media channels to ban Donald Trump from their platforms. They delve further into the rights of social media platforms as private companies, and how this fully allows bans and censorship through their terms of service. The two go on to discuss the risks of rented channels versus owned channels, and which is best for building an audience. (Spoiler: the answer is ALWAYS owned channels.)   Then Devin Gillette, the Director of Retail at Black Diamond Equipment, joins the podcast. Devin and Tyler discuss the process of opening a flagship Black Diamond store in Park City, Utah. Devin talks about the importance of integrating community into their stores as a front-facing consumer marketing effort. They then look at how the pandemic has altered retail strategies overall, mainly with identifying key markets and target locations as more people are moving out of big cities. Devin talks about how social distancing policies have affected messaging for the industry at large, specifically for an outdoor activity-oriented company.   The pair also touches on how best to gauge effectiveness of digital campaigns in retail stores, as Devin talks about structuring their marketing team to work side by side with retail to better foster a successful dynamic. They end the podcast with a reminder to marketing leaders to not let the current state of the pandemic determine where they are headed. Join Tyler, Jon, and Devin to gain a better insight into altering retail marketing strategies amidst the pandemic!    Timestamps   00:00 - Introduction 00:53 - What’s in the News: Social Media Bans Trump 12:50 - Featured Guest: Devin Gillette 17:16 - Challenges of Opening Up a New Store During the Pandemic 20:28 - How COVID Impacted Retail Strategies Overall 23:35 - How Social Distancing Affects Company Messaging  28:51 - Devin’s Favorite Marketing Campaigns 30:11 - Gauging Effectiveness of Digital Campaigns 31:44 - Structuring a Marketing Team 32:58 - PR Integration with Retail Strategy 35:13 - Key Takeaway  35:15 - Outro Featured Guests | Devin Gillette LinkedIn What's In the News  Social Media Bans Trump Lion’s Share Marketing Podcast Learn More About Tyler & Jon www.tylersickmeyer.com  Need Marketing Help?  www.FidelitasDevelopment.com Music Intro Music – Colony House – Buy “2:20” on iTunes Outro Music – Skillet – Buy “Lions” on iTunes

Kim Miller has been involved in the outdoor industry for nearly 40 years. He has been an integral part in developing outdoor and Telemark products over those four decades through his work as a retail shop owner, rep, product side of Chouinard Equipment and TUA skis, Ski Line Category Manager at Black Diamond Equipment, and he is currently the CEO of Scarpa North America. Many long time Telemark skiers will recognize many of the products he has been involved with including: the Black Diamond 01 & 02 telemark bindings, flick-lock poles, and even the telekinesis kneepads. He's was also heavily involved with the NTN (New Telemark Norm) project from the beginning.   Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on Instagram and Twitter Telemark Skier Magazine on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube Freeheel Life on Instagram and Twitter Shop The Freeheel Life Telemark Shop    HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT US Support our content by making a donation of your choice: PayPal.me/freeheellife CHECK OUT FREEHEELLIFE.COM Check out articles on TelemarkSkier.com Email Podcast@freeheellife.com     THANK YOUR FOR LISTENING. PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO RATE AND REVIEW US.   SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!

Doug talks about his many backcountry adventures, product design, the outdoor industry, and tells a couple of stories too.   Facebook Twitter Instagram   The Outdoor Biz Podcast   Please give us a rating and review HERE   Show Notes   This episode with a very good friend of mine. We've been buddies for over 30 years. He's been a backcountry mountain guide, rock climbing guide, ski guide, been in the industry for many, many years doing all kinds of cool things. He's a great author. Welcome to the show, Doug Robinson.   How were you introduced to the backcountry and the outdoors?   I am an unbelievably lucky kid. At five years old, my parents moved me from Washington, DC where I was born to California and we went almost immediately that summer to the backcountry and Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park and camped out. Back then you drove across Tenaya Creek and pulled your car up next to the Lake and we could camp right on the Lakeshore. And we did. And so at five years old, I'm building rafts and paddling out to the islands on the Lake, I could not believe the Sierra. The road was one and a half lanes, 15 miles an hour. It was a dirt road except where it went over granted slabs. So it was like, two hours from Crane Flat to Tenaya Lake, which is 40 minutes now. There were a few other people who camped by the Lake and you could tell they came back every year. We all felt like this was the luckiest thing that could possibly ever happen to us. And as time went on, we started hiking and then backpacking and you know, little by little getting into the Sierra backcountry. When I was 13, I got rescued off of Pywiack dome, which was across the Lake from our campsite. I had a pair of lug sole boots and I knew that made me a mountain climber. So I went up on the side of this dome and 400 feet up I realized that maybe I wasn't as secure. I couldn't go ahead and I couldn't back down. Some tourists stopped on the road and said, are you okay? I shouted NO, but here's where you find the Rangers and tell them to come and get me. And they did. They repelled down from the top of the dome and tied me on. So that was the first time I was ever on a rope in the backcountry.   Your folks ended up buying one of those forest service lease backcountry properties by Rock Creek up here in the Sierra   Another incredibly lucky thing. I ended up in Rock Creek because of Norman Clyde, who I had the good fortune to meet in the late sixties. Everybody knows Norman as quite a climber, but, he was also a backcountry skier. So I asked him okay, where are the good spots, you know, where should I go? And he goes, Oh, Rock Creek. That's the best place on the East side of the Sierra for backcountry skiing. So I moved in the next winter. Then the summer after that I found this one-line ad in the Inyo Register for a cabin for sale. And I mean, it sent me back $4,500. But I moved in and ended up living there many winters, cross country and backcountry skiing were just in its bloom in the seventies. There was a ski touring lodge two miles away and I could teach there and, and live up the Canyon and ski up under Bear Creek Spire every day. It was paradise.   Did you stay up there in the summers or did you go back to work or back to school?   Well in the summers I'd go into the Palisades. Cause in the mid-sixties I lucked into a job guiding there at the Palisade School of Mountaineering. Which was the first climbing school in California. You'll get tired of me saying this, but I'm one of the luckiest people alive. Lucked into that job. And then I lucked into having a place to live in Rock Creek in the winter and, it goes on and on.   So before we get too far into this, let's let everybody know you are somewhere in Wyoming, is that right?   I am somewhere in Wyoming and we won't pin it down exactly because I am caretaking a backcountry guest ranch in Wyoming. The closest clue I'll give you is that when I ski up to the Ridge several hours away, I can see the Grand Teton off to the Northwest. It's amazing. We, I say we, my partner Eva Eilenberg is with me here and we lucked into this caretaking opportunity. We've been here over a month and we've got another month to go. I just came in from, we were doing some work with the batteries that run off the DC hydro and, and kind of keep place electrified off the grid. We're way off the grid. I'm talking to you by satellite phone.   Let's circle back around to the Palisade School of Mountaineering How did you start there? You saw an ad in the paper or how did you get involved with those guys?   So I'm 20 years old. I'm in Yosemite. I pack up my backpack and I'm going to go up to the High Sierra because that's where I started, right? Tenaya like I told you. And I just love going in the backcountry, rambling around, backpacking, scrambling up peaks. So I was getting a little more advanced. I mean technical climbing because I'd been in Yosemite after all. That was the cutting edge place in the world for rock climbing in the sixties. And, you know, we were kind of hot shit and we knew it. So I walk up into the Palisades, I'd never been there. My buddy John Fisher and I had been climbing together since we were 13. He ended up owning the school later on. So I walk in there and I walk all the way up to the edge of the glacier. There's a little obvious backcountry campsite up there. And I dropped my pack and look around and there's nobody there. Now I had just come from camp 4, I mean, you could pick up a climbing partner in 30 seconds down there and I just kind of assumed there would be a scene up there too. So I soloed a couple of easy backcountry peaks and a few days later this pile of lumber appeared on the slabs below the camp and was coming up upwards me. It turned out to be a guy named Don Jensen. And he was getting ready to build a little hut up on the edge of the glacier, or the Palisade School of Mountaineering. Don turned out to be the chief guide, so we made a deal. He went climbing with me. I helped him build his hut. The first day we went climbing, we went out and across the glacier up Starlight Peak down into the notch, up North Pal down the U Notch. And we were back at camp at 10 in the morning. And he offered me a job guiding. I go, wow, I'm 20 years old. I'd never thought about being a mountain guide, but, um, okay, if Don thinks I can do it. So I have been guiding ever since. That was just another one of those really lucky things. And you're right, I was ready for it cause I'd been climbing for years. Right. Dirt bagging before that was a thing. That was 1965.   Then after Palisade School of Mountaineering, you got involved with the clean climbing movement and wrote the manifesto, tell us about that.   Here's how it started. Royal Robbins kicked it off. He went climbing in England. He saw, clean climbing there with pebbles stuffed into cracks and then machine nuts that were already on a runner. And he got all excited and came back and put up Nutcracker in Yosemite, which was the most popular route in the Valley, and is still a classic. He did it as a demonstration, Royal and Liz, his wife. Then he wrote about it in summit magazine because we were reading summit every month. None of the backcountry focused magazines that are out now existed then. It was a basically a hiker magazine, but there was occasional climbing stuff in it. So it was the only game in town. I got turned on by this and went straight down to the hardware store and bought brass machine nuts in a whole range of sizes and filed the threads out of them so they wouldn't cut the runners and strung them on runners. This was 1965 or 66. So I was guiding in the Palisades then. So I had my backup Pitons and a hammer, but I took the nuts long too. Well, it turns out that the backcountry Alpine granite is just perfect for holding nuts. You can almost throw them in the crack. So some of the very earliest all clean climbs were done there and all the other guides got turned onto it too. We're all in this together and realized that we could do things clean. We didn't need the hammer or the pins and it was lighter so we left them in camp. Then we started going to Yosemite in the spring and the fall and starting to try to climb in the backcountry clean also. So I did the East buttress of Middle Cathedral rock all clean. That was the first grade four that was done in that committed style. And then the next year did the Steck, Salathe on Sentinel without carrying hammers. And you know, we're just very gradually progressing up. Meanwhile, I had met Chouinard, we had gone ice climbing together in the Palisades, did some first backcountry ice accents of routes like the V notch. And I started going and hanging out in Ventura at the tin shed and being a laborer. I started out there, my first job was being an assistant bong bender is what they called it, but people don't even know what a bong is anymore. And we're talking about clean climbing, we're having fun doing it. Um, and um, and Chouinard and Frost got interested in it and you know just innovate equipment before breakfast. So pretty soon they're making the aluminum nuts that are really good and I'm contributing to the design. So in the end, and this is a hats off to Chouinard too, cause he'd started making Pitons in 1958 in that chicken coop in his parents' backyard in Burbank, he's a teenager and selling out of the trunk of his car. And that business was built on pitons and hammers and all the unclean stuff to go climbing. So these piton makers, they're making a living, they're being able to hire us. Thank you very much. But we're understanding that these pitons are so good at being removable, which we thought was clean and they're chipping away at the rock and destroying the cracks and then they're getting ugly looking. And so this clean climbing is the solution to that. And they bet the farm on clean climbing and it ended up eliminating the piton business. Pretty scary though because they're making all their money off pitons and they're doing all right. But we think this is the right thing to do. So anyway, I ended up writing a piece for the catalog. It was the first real catalog of the company. It was called the Great Pacific Ironworks at the time. So in the 72 catalog is my manifesto called the whole natural art of protection and it really changed things.   Val Franco is doing some pretty amazing archival work that is keeping all those times alive, talk about that.   You walk into that archive and this is only a couple years old but it's phenomenal. I mean there's examples of every piton on that Chouinard Equipment ever made and she has the newer equipment that is now called Black Diamond Equipment, but it's just this like the lineage is right straight through. And all of the clean hardware and some fascinating prototypes that I remember making with a file and a bench vise down there. And they are doing taping sessions too. I got to sit in on some sessions with Tom Frost before he died where he was talking about his part in all that. He'd been an aircraft designer, aeronautical engineer, and quit all that. He's a Stanford trained engineer, smart guy. The mechanical drawings that he made for the nuts that we were designing are phenomenal. They're just beautiful. And those are in the archive too. And so are the interviews with Tom where he talks about his role. Um, it's very cool. Val Franco is the head of that and she was a sewer at ironworks when I was there. We knew each other when we were in our twenties and she's still there and putting this thing together and she's so excited.   What was your first backcountry ski experience?   I started downhill skiing when I was seven years old at Goldridge and Sugar Bowl. And I had these Hickory skis, little segmented metal edges screwed onto them. But the bindings were interesting cause they had a cable on the heel and there were two hold-downs on the sides. And I hope you can visualize this cause, you snap the cable underneath one to hold your heel down onto the ski, right? That's the rear one. The forward one snapped from the rear. It's a walking mode and these are my downhill skis. But this is 1952 and skiing hasn't advanced that far, so it's still like walking on skis is important. It's a backcountry sport that happens to have some ski lifts and hasn't evolved into plastic boots and all that. Um, so in a sense having that gear was my heritage and I realized that you could walk on it and that meant that I could go uphill on my skis. Jeez, no big deal. They were built for it. So in a sense, it started right there and by the early sixties, I was going into the backcountry skiing Pyramid Peak. I got to move to Bishop in 1969 fresh out of college. I'm already a guide and lucky again, I had a client for the entire winter. We rented a cabin up Bishop Creek and I taught him how to backcountry ski and winter climbing in the Palisades. We ended up the next spring, spring of 1970, skiing the John Muir Trail, which we thought was a first. But it turns out that we were scooped in 1928-29 by Orland Bartholomew. And that's another whole story. Well, nothing like skiing the whole length of the range to give you some ideas of places to go and things to just do. in 1975, David Beck and some friends pioneered the Sierra High Route in the backcountry, which goes from roughly Independence across to Sequoia National Park for six days. Or I like to take eight or nine days to do it cause, once you're out there, well why rush back to the city? I was guiding that every spring or maybe even twice every spring. And by the mid-eighties, there was a time when I skied across the range, guiding it for a week and then rested a day or two. And I had another backcountry ski tour to guide starting on the Eastside. So I skied back in 22 hours. This is like a six or eight-day trip but you know, I'm really fit and by then and I have set my own track across the top of these high basins. But what a day, you know, to be out there all by myself.   I'm sure all this time in the backcountry gave you plenty of time to think about gear.   The Ultima Thule Pack evolved out of a pack that Don Jensen had designed. He was brilliant. He gave us the plans for them and for our Muir Trail backcountry ski trip we built packs that weighed 17 ounces and carried 70 pounds. I built those packs and a tent that Don Jensen designed for that trip. And then while I was working in Ventura I knew that I could improve on the Jensen pack. So Tom Frost and I ended up crawling around on pattern paper on the floor and laughing to ourselves. It was so much fun to work with him as a designer and we came up with a truly better version of that pack that carried better. And so that was wonderful and decades later I designed another carrying system for a pack for Montbell when you and I were working there. That was the Wishbone system. I mentioned that the Ultima Thule dragged on your shoulders just like the Jensen backcountry pack did. We hadn't figured that out. And so it was figuring that out over the years with essentially some internal stays in the pack that rose above the shoulder straps, like lift straps, which everybody's got now. But there was a time when that was a big deal. It was a new way and the new hybrid materials that I came up with without going way into it.   When did you write your first book?   Writing for magazines like Outside, which I helped start, another whole story. I wrote some cover stories and was having such a good time. That was the first really professional magazine that I'd ever been around. I ended up moving to San Francisco to hang out with them and I was making enough of a pest to myself that they gave me a desk and a phone and ended up staying the winter. Then I wrote cover stories and I was writing for backpacker and already mentioned Powder. So that was half of my career and guiding was the other half. By the nineties, I had all these magazine articles that I had written that I liked and other people liked so I pulled them together into a book. So my first book was really just an anthology of my own writing. Things I liked the best going back to the sixties. And it was a big success actually. It was recently named by climbing magazine as one of the 33 must-reads climbing literature of all time.   You were thinking about the listeners of the podcast, what do you want to say to them?   I was thinking about the people who might be listening to this podcast. And I'm imagining that some of them are shop people working on the floor, some are designers, some are marketers, you know, we're all in the same industry, this outdoor industry, which is so great. It's given us such great friendships and good times. I was thinking about the customer that walks into that shop and you're the guy on the floor saying “hi what can I do for you”? And that what you can do for them is not just talk about the qualities of the packs that you're selling, that they want to buy, but also the experience. You've been out in the backcountry more than they have. You have the experience they admire that and they would love to soak it up and hear some of your stories. And if you're a customer just walking into your local mountain shop, yeah you wanna walk back out with a parka and a pack and a sleeping bag, but you also want to rub shoulders with the experience itself. And so don't you guys out there sell yourself short on, on that. You got a lot to give people besides the tech specs.   Do you have any other suggestions or advice for someone wanting to get into the outdoor business or grow their career if they are already in the biz?   Follow your bliss. I mean, that's how basically all of us got in here. And I have one other sort of oddball piece of advice too. Don't think that you can get that degree from Oregon and be a product designer without the outdoor experience with it, cause you gotta be out there in the rain with the water somehow finding its way to drip in around the hood of your parka, you know, and you have to have that experience before you can know how to design around it, how to fix it.   If you could have a huge banner at the entrance to the OR show these days, what would it say?   My banner would say “take care of the planet because if you don't, nothing in this show is going to mean anything.” Y ou can follow up with Doug at his website Moving Over Stone

THE IMPACT. Ryan Gellert:Is General Manager EMEA at Patagonia, overseeing sales, marketing, sustainability and operations through the regionPreviously spent 15 years at Black Diamond Equipment, in roles including Brand President, VP of Supply Chain Management and Managing Director of Black Diamond AsiaHolds a J.D. from the University of Utah; an M.B.A. from Florida Institute of Technology; and a B.S.B.A. in Finance from the University of North Carolina CharlotteTHE JOURNEY. In our conversation, we explore:Ryan’s early influences of sports and social justiceAdapting global issues to local markets in EuropeThe story of Patagonia from reducing impact to becoming an activist companyThe challenge for other companies wanting to follow Patagonia’s lead: figure out what you believe, and what you’re willing to doPractical ways Patagonia engages and empowers employees to be part of the changeYou can follow Patagonia’s work of Patagonia online, Action Works, Worn Wear, and 1% for the Planet.

The north pillar of 6,487-meter Tengkangpoche in Nepal is one of the great unclimbed prizes of the Himalaya. In October, Quentin Roberts from Canada and Juho Knuuttila from Finland spent six days on the wall, reaching a new high point. A blank slab and the climbers' chosen style (no bolts, no portaledge) ended their attempt just a few pitches from easier ground. In this episode, Whitney Clark interviews Quentin Roberts about the climb, the style, and what he plans to do differently when he returns to Tengkangpoche in 2020. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In this episode we travel to the Pamir Alai mountains of Kyrgyzstan for a special two-part show. The first part features a conversation with Nik Berry and Eric Bissell, who went to Kyrgyzstan in August with Dave Allfrey and Brent Barghahn to attempt the first free ascent of a huge wall in the Ak-Su valley: the northwest face of Pik Slesova. Their route eventually went free at 5.13a, with eight pitches of 5.12 or harder. The line the Americans chose was partly along an old Russian climb (the Moroz Route), which previously had been followed in part by another American team, Conrad Anker and Alex Lowe, way back in 1995. In the second part of this episode, we chat with Anker about his climb, and how he feels about modernizing older routes for free climbing. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Thirty-one-year old Barbara "Babsi" Zangerl is one of the world's most accomplished all-around rock climbers. She started climbing at age 14, and early on she focused on bouldering. After herniating a disk in her back in 2009, she switched to roped climbing and rapidly expanded her horizons. She was the first woman to complete the so-called Alpine Trilogy of long, often run-out 5.14 testpieces in Europe. And in June she completed her fourth El Cap free climb. Only Hazel Findlay from Great Britain has done as many. Babsi has done the first female free ascents of Zodiac and El Niño, both 5.13+, and in December 2017 she and her partner Jacopo Larcher did the second ever ascent of Magic Mushroom, said to be El Cap's second most difficult free route. In June this year, she free climbed PreMuir with Jacopo. This wasn't Babsi's most difficult El Cap free route, but it exemplified the style she prefers: ground-up ascents of extremely difficult big walls. Chris Kalman caught up with Babsi at her home in Austria, shortly after she returned from a climbing trip to South Africa. They debriefed the PreMuir climb, including the many double dynos the 5-foot-3-inch climber required to free the route, and spoke about her future ambitions on the world's great walls. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In this episode we're venturing into the world of FKTs: the Fastest Known Times for mountain ascents, alpine traverses, and similar feats. Our guest is Karl Egloff, a mountain guide who was virtually unknown outside his home in Ecuador until 2014, when he set the fastest known time for running up and down Kilimanjaro in Africa. The previous record was held by some guy named Kilian Jornet. Since then Egloff has broken two more records set by the famed Spanish mountain runner, first on Aconcagua and then, just last month, on Denali. This was Egloff's second attempt on Denali, and he did it in just an eight-day visit to the mountain. On June 20, supported by his friend Nicolás Miranda, he raced up the West Buttress Route from Kahiltna base to the summit in 7 hours and 40 minutes, more than two hours faster than Jornet. Then he turned around and ran back, beating Jornet's round trip by a few minutes, even though the Spaniard skied most of the way down. In this very specialized side of mountaineering, Karl Egloff is on another level. The AAJ's Chris Kalman caught up with him at his home in Quito. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In early April 2019, Luka Lindič and Ines Papert teamed up with Brette Harrington to climb a major new route in the Canadian Rockies: the complete east face of Mt. Fay. Chris Kalman spoke with them about this wild new line, along with the paradoxical allure of these complex and dangerous mountains. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Colette McInerney is a climber, photographer, and filmmaker. She is one of four co-founders of the Never Not Collective women's outdoor production company, and an athlete for Black Diamond Equipment and Five Ten. In this episode, Colette takes listeners on her journey from Nashville to New York, eventually to the Western United States, and eventually world-wide travels as she discovered climbing and herself along the way. Learn what Colette is up to down in Waco Tanks, Texas, how to approach the mechanics of rock climbing as a beginner, and why having a successful career as a content creator really comes down to access to the right people, access to the right places, and a consistent creative partnership. For more from this episode, visit: https://exploreinspired.com/colette-mcinerney Hosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily Holland Editor: Chris Plante, CP Pro Audio

In early June, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell not only smashed the speed record for climbing the Nose of El Capitan, they also broke the four-minute mile of climbing: the Nose in under two hours. In this episode, Alex and Tommy speak with Chris Kalman about the preparation and tactics for the climb, the risks of speed climbing, and what comes next. Thanks to Hilleberg the Tentmaker and Black Diamond Equipment for sponsoring this episode of the Cutting Edge. This show is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo courtesy of REEL ROCK Film Tour / Austin Siadak.

Adam Barker is a renowned outdoor photographer with editorial work in various reputable sources such as Ski, Skiing, Powder, Outdoor Photography, USA today, Flyfish Journal, Mountain Magazine, and The Drake. Adam has produced imagery for Nike, Black Diamond Equipment, Volkswagen of America, Deer Valley Resort, Suunto Watches, and many more. In this interview we discuss a lunch we had over 10 years ago where we were both talking about our dreams that we're now living and all of the lessons learned along the way. www.adambarkerphotography.com

Conversation w Boone Speed - One of America's Most Sought After Sport Photographers with a list of clients that include: Red Bull, Adidas, Nike, Prana, Black Diamond Equipment, Patagonia. If you are an inspiring photographer that wants to know how Boone captures his award winning cover shots, and what he thinks of Donald Trump (holding nothing back), this interview is for you.

Peter Metcalf is the CEO of Black Diamond Equipment and a board member of the Outdoor Industry Association. He wasn’t always all business though. He has climbed audacious routes in Alaska, one of which is a first alpine ascent of the Central Rib on Mt. Hunter’s south face. Black Diamond was started when Chouinard Equipment filed for bankruptcy and Peter and some other passionate climbers scrounged up enough money to buy out the assets.

Peter Metcalf is the CEO of Black Diamond Equipment and a board member of the Outdoor Industry Association. He wasn’t always all business though. He has climbed audacious routes in Alaska, one of which is a first alpine ascent of the Central Rib on Mt. Hunter’s south face. Black Diamond was started when Chouinard Equipment filed for bankruptcy and Peter and some other passionate climbers scrounged up enough money to buy out the assets.