He's an 80s trad boiler and Catwalk walking sports cat. He's into telling you about his E7 when he's in the pub. He's got it in for Peakies. He's a right laugh. He's Mick Johnston.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Ed tells his story of growing up in South Africa, finding climbing and the barriers he faced as a black climber in in the Apartheid era of the 1970s. Then how his world opened up in the 1980s and beyond.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. Also see the interview on YouTube. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Bernadette MacDonald reads another section from her book, Winter 8000. This time we look at the Polish mountaineer Maciej Berbeka's lethal affair with Broad Peak.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. Also see the interview on YouTube. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
I put a cupla mixes online. Enjoy.
Ohoto Dave Mus
This 28-year-old Chicago/Colorado climber is one of the world's top female boulderers, with multiple 8B+/V14s to her credit. Yet she flies under the radar, deciding to avoid the harsh glare of self promotion on social media. Let's hear what she's all about!
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
TP came to prominence in the climbing world about a decade ago when, as Chris W-P, she was one of the world's strongest boulderers with a string of cutting-edge outdoor and competition performances. Taylor soon after fell out of climbing and, after years of dark struggles, has now transitioned into mum-of-three, Taylor.
The story contains graphic detail, discussion of suicide and lots of laughs.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. Also see the interview on YouTube. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Many laughs. Trad climbing lifer Sarah Jane Dobner talks about her self-published, award-winning book, A Feeling for Rock, and gives us a few readings.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. Also see the interview on YouTube. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo @barbaraophotography
Hey hey Crack-people, here’s a yarn for ya.
This week, Chris Kalman reads an excerpt from his book, Dammed If You Don’t. Why the heck donca give it a listen. Chris has just won the coveted Mountain Fiction award at the Banff Mountain Festival. Go him!
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Legendary US climber and storyteller, major star of Yosemite climbing in the 1970s, the archetypical Stonemaster, John Long in conversation.
John was at the heart of some of the finest events in US climbing throughout the 1970s and went on to chronicle these in his short stories then to carve a career in literature and adventure writing. Big guy, big fun.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Artist and climber, Ed Drummond, is captured in this mesmerising audio piece by Hotaches. Grasp whisps of magic from this high striving poet.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Legendary 80s trad lizard, the Lion of Llanberis, helmet-boiler number one, Paul Pritchard in conversation. Paul was the boldest of the bold and changed the face of climbing in Wales in the 1980s. He suffered a number of serious accidents culminating in a skull-shattering incident in Tasmania’s Totem Pole which changed his life forever. Hear all about this cool cat.
Listen via the player below. Better still, go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Apologies, for here is Episode 100. Just me rambling on about myself, seacliffs, Welshmen and me dear friend Andy Scott, and playing nice music for two hours. I suggest you don’t listen to it.
Don’t listen via the player below. Better still, don’t go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Aiden Roberts is at the top of UK bouldering. David Mason has been doing hard problems around the UK and the world for years. Together we take a look at top UK and world bouldering.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Paraclimber Anita Aggarwal takes us on a story of some of her life and talks about her efforts to promote paraclimbing, racial inclusivity and her experience of climbing from a LGBTQ perspective.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Natalie Berry, editor at UKC, reads Gordon Smith’s classic accounts of winter ice climbing on Ben Nevis and big routes in the Alps, both stories drenched in 1970s drizzle and hunger.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Photo: Andy Birtwistle
Achtung: Legend! The quiet king of the quiet kingdom. Seldom has an area been so associated with one climber as Northumberland is with Bob Smith. From the late 1970s Bob championed style, commitment and technicality to produce climbs whose beauty and challenge have diminished little over the years.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Coach and climbing philosophy through lived experiences. This podcast won't make you stronger, but it might help you climb better and love it more. She's the boss.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
In the 1990s she was at the top levels, redpointing 8b and flashing E7. Niall Grimes chats to Karin Magog about how she got there, what it was like and what she's been doing since. We talk about Gogarth, Dove Crag, Ireland, Blue Scar, the Outer Hebrides and loads more.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
Trailblazing Irish climbers reads from her autobiagraphy.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
North Wales based climbing photographer, Ray Wood, sits down and thinks about life over a cup of tea. Have a watch over on YouTube too.
Listen via the player below. Better go via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or on Spotify. If you like the podcast, then subscribe via one of these services. That way the shows will download automatically.
Cheers all,
Niall
