Brent Barghahn has rope soloed ‘The Nose’ in a day, freed multiple routes on El Cap, and is a former engineer at Black Diamond. We talked about how Brent combined van life and “house hacking” to effectively retire at 28-years-old, about motocross and extreme unicycling, cutting his teeth on hard trad routes in LCC, and his setup for redpoint rope soloing.
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/brent-barghahn
Nuggets:
0:05:41 – Living in the BD parking lot, using van life as a way to save money, and a snapshot of Brent’s life 2.5 years ago
0:09:40 – My (Steven’s) stint living in a van in my employer’s parking lot
0:10:59 – Brent’s urban van life tips, stealth camping, and choosing van life as a financial tool
0:16:27 – Two different van life ethos
0:17:16 – What Brent’s life looks like now, house hacking, and how Brent “retired” at 28-years-old
0:35:21 – Extreme Unicycling, welding, and his charge account at the local hardware store
0:43:37 – Motocross, and similarities between action sports and trad climbing
0:46:01 – How dangerous climbing stacks up to motocross, and rope soloing The Nose in a day
0:49:04 – Getting hurt every year, quitting motocross, and discovering climbing
0:51:58 – How Brent improved so quickly in climbing, and why he loves technical granite climbing
0:57:38 – Patron question from Christoph: How do you train for hard trad climbing specifically?
0:58:50 – Patron question from Christoph: How does his preparation for hard trad redpoints differ from sport?
1:00:11 – Finishing climbs after a failed flash/onsight attempt
1:01:08 – Brent’s formative years trad climbing in LCC
1:05:48 – Why Brent chooses rope solo free climbing for some of his ascents, and his first rope solo NIAD (Nose in a day)
1:13:27 – Brent’s rope solo free climbing setup, and freeing ‘Father Time’ on Middle Cathedral via rope solo
1:23:31 – Brent’s take on big wall free climbing ethics, groud up ascents, his stance to stance philosophy, and the “Affect Minimal Parties” ethos
1:33:39 – Brent’s biggest aspirations in the Valley
1:34:46 – Brent’s go-to shoes for technical granite, and how he is training for ‘Magic Line’
1:42:24 – Choosing Flagstaff as a home base
1:45:15 – How Brent decides when to go on trips vs. stay local, and finding meaningful “work” now that he is “retired”
1:49:21 – Brent’s blog and other sedentary rest day activities
1:54:22 – What’s next
EP 131: Ryan Devlin — Life as a TV Actor, Progressing From 11b to 12c in a Year, and How Pro Climbers Relate to Struggle
EP 130: Stian Christophersen & Martin Mobråten — Writing The Climbing Bible, Finger Strength vs. General Strength, and Strategies for Improving Technique
Follow-Up: Matt Fultz — How to Train for the Hardest Crimp Boulders in the World (Teaser)
EP 129: Dorian Evers — How to Navigate Different Stoke Levels in Your Relationship, and Getting Vulnerable with Your Partner
EP 128: Callie Joy Black — Training During Pregnancy, Climbing Hard with Kids, and Being Your Own Project
Follow-Up: Steve Maisch — My Summer Training Plan, and How to Get Stronger on the Moonboard (Teaser)
EP 127: Jesse Firestone — Bouldering Tactics, Quantum Leaps, and Non-Physical Factors That Affect Our Performance
BONUS: Michelle LeBlanc — An Upcoming 2SLGBTQ+ Pride Event in Squamish
S1E2: The Great Equalizer (Repost from The American Climbing Project)
EP 126: Devin Dabney — Getting Uncomfortable, How Climbing Saved His Life, and How Competition Makes Us Better
Follow-Up: Alita Contreras — Sending Her First 5.14a, and Training With Lattice (Teaser)
EP 125: Zofia Reych — The Heritage of Climbing, Breaking Down Gender Roles, and What It’s Like to Be Autistic
EP 124: Karly Rager — Mental Strategies for Developing Focus, Learning vs. Performing, and Building a Coaching Business
EP 123: Magnus Midtbø — The Hard Work Behind Success, Go-To Climbing Workouts, and Takeaways from Training with Adam Ondra
Follow-Up: Chad Andrews — The Pros and Cons of Living on the Road to Climb, and Having a Healthier Relationship with Money (Teaser)
EP 122: Jared Vagy — How to Prevent Knee, Shoulder, Elbow, and Finger Injuries as Climbers
EP 121: Carol Simpson — Being a Girl in the South in the 1950s, Yoga as the Fountain of Youth, and Ageism in Climbing
EP 120: Lea Volpe — The World of Paraclimbing Competitions, How We Perceive Wheelchairs, and Empathy in Coaching
EP 119: Carrie Cooper — Thinking of Ourselves as Athletes, Research in Climbing, and Mobility and Warming Up
EP 118: Chad Andrews Interviews Steven Dimmitt — Repost from the Clipping Chains Podcast
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