The Cutting Edge

For more than a decade, Maryna Kopteva has been one of the world’s most accomplished climbers in a demanding style: big-wall first ascents on remote, high, and cold mountains. The Ukrainian woman has done new routes on Great Trango Tower in Pakistan, Tengkangpoche in Nepal, and the Golden Sentinel in India, among others. And what makes these climbs even more special is that they all were done with very small teams of women. For this reason, we interviewed Maryna for our special series called “In Her Own Words: Conversations with Female Alpinists.” This interview, led by Canadian climber Sarah Hart, not only gives insight into Maryna’s career, it also gives us a view into the climbing culture of Ukraine and other former Soviet states, where team cohesiveness and working together are often valued more than individual accomplishments. To a large degree, this approach helps explain why Maryna and her small teams of Russian and Ukrainian women have had such impressive success on high mountain walls. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Lowa Boots, Polartec, and new sponsor Gnarly Nutrition. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Our guest in episode 38 is the globe-trotting adventurer Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, who in February pulled off a mind-blowing feat of climbing: the first ever south to north traverse of the full Fitz Roy massif in Patagonia. This is the same spiky ridgeline that Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell traversed in 2014, but Sean did it in the opposite direction and he did all alone. And even though, as you’ll hear, he definitely wasn’t in any hurry, he took only two days longer than Tommy and Alex, despite carrying 10 days of food and self-belaying most of the climbing. The traverse entailed more than 4,000 meters of vertical gain, and except for the rappels, he did it all free, with pitches up to 6c (5.11). Chris Kalman interviewed Sean in El Chaltén, where he has been living for the past year. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Polartec and Lowa Boots. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold need no introduction. Our show with them about the speed record on the Nose of El Cap (Episode 8) was by far the most popular we've ever done. Now they're back to chat with Chris Kalman about the CDUL Traverse: the Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. The two spent 36 hours in July doing 11 of the Park's most classic climbing routes and summiting 17 peaks. This traverse took place last summer, but the interview is brand new, and we also asked Tommy and Alex to reflect on their experiences climbing in the time of COVID, traveling vs. staying home, the opportunities for great adventures right in your own backyard, and what they're working on now. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from new sponsors Lowa and Polartec. This episode was also sponsored by Coros Vertix. The Cutting Edge podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo by Adam Stack.

Lynn Hill needs no introduction to the Cutting Edge audience: She is arguably the most ground-breaking female rock climber and big-wall free climber in the history of the sport. We asked Lynn to come onto the show not to talk about her climbs, however, but about her experiences as a woman climber, both at her peak as a professional (she free climbed the Nose of El Capitan in a day in 1994) and today. About the unconscious bias she and other women have faced in climbing, and about the challenges that remain. This episode kicks off a special series of the Cutting Edge called "In Her Own Words: Conversations With Female Alpinists." These interviews were conducted by Canadian climber Sarah Hart, who wrote a major article in AAJ 2020 about the state of the art of women's alpinism and a new system for increasing coverage of high-level women's climbs in the pages of the AAJ. As part of this project, Sarah interviewed several women about the unique challenges they have faced as leading female climbers. More episodes in this series will appear in the coming months. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support from Polartec. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo of Lynn Hill by Bob Carmichael.

Priti and Jeff Wright are wrapping up the kind of year that most climbers only dream about. The young tech engineers took a sabbatical from work to experience "A Year in the Life of Colin Haley," inspired by the world-roaming alpinist who is one of their mentors. The result was more they could have imagined, despite all the obstacles of Covid-19: a summit of Cerro Torre, the "Six Classic North Faces of the Alps," and the first ascent of a 7,000-meter peak in the Karakoram. It's van life on steroids! AAJ contributor Lauren DeLaunay got all the details. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This show is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Yuh-hai-has-kun (Mt. Robson) is one of North America's greatest peaks, despite rising to less than 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet. In early October, Ethan Berman (U.S.) and Uisdean Hawthorn (Scotland) completed a rare new route to the summit, climbing a 2,000-meter line up the Emperor Face, left of the classic Infinite Patience. In this episode, we speak with both men about their profound experience on the mountain, and we also chat with Barry Blanchard, who put up Infinite Patience in 2002 with Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet, after many attempts. It's a Robson double-header! The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Chris Weidner and Bruce Miller worked four years on a new free climb up the Diamond, the northeast face of Longs Peak in Colorado. The Gambler's Fallacy (5.13b/8a) is one of the hardest routes up this cold granite wall, which rises to over 14,000 feet or 4,300 meters. In this episode, Chris talks about the process and partnership that led to this beautiful new free climb. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo courtesy of Jon Glassberg of Louder Than 11.

Nico Favresse from Belgium is well-known as a prolific explorer of new routes and long free ascents around the world: Baffin Island, China, Patagonia, Greenland, and more. But this summer, with COVID limiting travel and the impacts of climate chanage weighing on his mind, he partnered with Sébastien Berthe, also from Belgium, for a closer-to-home adventure. The two men biked through Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to link the three classic long routes of the Alpine Trilogy, and they freed each of these testpieces of the 1990s in one-day ascents, the first time this has ever been done. For Episode 32 of the Cutting Edge, Chris Kalman spoke with Nico about the Trilogy and about the future of lower-impact climbing adventures. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo by Damien Largeron.

In early July, Brandon Adams and Roger Putnam set a new speed record for climbing Mescalito, the classic El Cap aid route. In fact, they smashed the previous mark (which had stood for more than two decades) by nearly 10 hours. But to hear them tell it, the day was all about laughs and tunes. In Episode 31 of the Cutting Edge, AAJ correspondent and YOSAR team member Lauren DeLaunay gets their thoughts on the joys of speed climbing, modern aid gear, risk, and a stellar partnership. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Jacob Cook and Bronwyn Hodgins, partners in both climbing and marriage, joined two other Canadians last summer in Baffin Island's Weasel River Valley. This remote Arctic region has seen big-wall ascents since the 1970s, but it is very far from climbed out, as the pair explains in Episode 30 of the Cutting Edge. This team also was the first ever to explore the possibilities for combining climbing and packrafting in this valley, with interesting and sometimes hilarious results. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (Hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Italian climber Matteo Della Bordella returns to the Cutting Edge to talk about the first ascent of the west face of Bhagirathi IV. This is a very steep 800-meter wall, entirely above 5,000 meters, in northern India. After several earlier attempts, both in 2015 and in 2019, Matteo and two friends climbed the wall in a bold, lightweight style, reaching the summit in one long day. Remarkably, they did it mostly free, with sustained 5.11 rock climbing. Chris Kalman spoke with Matteo about the climb in mid-May. The Cutting Edge podcast is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker and produced by the American Alpine Club.

The ice climbs of Helmcken Falls in central British Columbia are like no other climbs on Earth. Since 2010, our guest Tim Emmett has been developing "spray ice" climbs at Helmcken, connecting blobs of ice blown onto an enormous overhang by one of North America's most powerful waterfalls. In February, he and Klem Premrl completed their hardest climb yet: Mission to Mars, with the out-of-this-world grade of WI 13. What does that even mean? Find out in episode 28 of the Cutting Edge, as AAJ contributing editor Whitney Clark speaks with Tim about the new route, the history of the area, and this weird and frightening climbing style. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com) and is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo by Jon Glassberg / Louder Than Eleven

Our guest for this episode is Leo Houlding, one of the great expedition leaders of our time. Leo's goal for this year was a new free route on Roraima, a legendary mountain in South America that is steeped in British climbing lore. In 1973, a team of four Brits—Mo Anthoine, Joe Brown, Hamish MacInnes, and Don Whillans—made the first ascent of the super-isolated and dramatic north prow of Roraima. Just getting to the mountain involves a lengthy jungle trek and thousands of feet of climbing through a "slime forest." AAJ editor Chris Kalman spoke with Leo about the soggy approach, the wild 14-pitch climb they found, and helping two local Amerindians, Edward James and Troy Henry, become the first Guyanese to climb their country's most spectacular cliff. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com). This show is produced by the American Alpine Club.

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.