Ethan Salvo is a Squamish-based climber. He's been climbing just over 7 years and has climbed some of the hardest boulders in North America. Last summer he broke out of his boulderer shell and climbed the Cobra Crack, a notorious 5.14 gear climb.

I had the chance to write some training for him late last year, and we reconnected to talk about his experience trying one of the hardest boulders in Bishop over the winter.

We talked about:

- Personal growth and trying Lucid Dreaming V15

- Doing all the best and hardest climbs in Squamish

- Future projects in Squamish

- Skin management & tactics

- Northwest climbing conditions (kind of a Squamish conditions masterclass)

- Why Ethan doesn't practice flashing

- The ups and downs of dirtbagging

- My general training advice for someone at Ethan's level

0:00:00 Intro

0:03:34 Ethan's trip to Bishop to try Lucid Dreaming

0:15:15 Summoning the try-hard in Bishop vs Squamish

0:23:24 Was Ethan "strong enough" to do Lucid right off the bat?

0:29:01 Is Ethan a physical outlier? (I put my foot in my mouth)

0:34:23 Penrose Step & the insane minutiae of hard grips

0:40:22 Skin management

0:45:09 Living in a 2002 Subaru for months (tips for unwelcome mouse friends)

0:53:00 Ethan's current climbing and upcoming plans

1:05:10 Weather

1:13:51 Maximizing time vs other variables

1:17:25 What to look for on the weather forecast & learning micro-climates

1:22:52 Ethan's flash of Mad Bush V12 (nuts)

1:26:40 Discussion on flashing/onsighting in general

1:34:00 Squamish weather details

1:36:10 Return to Lucid, skin management details

1:45:18 Manufactured condies and bouldering ethics

1:54:43 Strength training suggestions for Ethan

2:02:22 What do good genes get you?

2:03:37 Wrap up

In this episode I chat with Juliet Hammer and her dog Addy. Juliet is a climbing coach and an experienced boulderer and sport climber. She has a degree in biology and she's a certified strength and conditioning specialist. We talked about:

• Juliet's climbing history
• Differences between bouldering and sport in terms of preparation, mindset and tactics
• Being a short climber
• Board climbing
• Coaching philosophy and shop talk
• Personal grades
• Social media, content creation and voluntary hardship
• Value capture as both a coach and climber
• Dangers of focusing on dopamine hits

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:43 Juliet's sport/bouldering identity & seasonality 00:16:02 Proper introduction, comp/cordo climbing, coaching indoors vs outdoor clients 00:25:27 Board climbing & being a short climber 00:30:31 Strength training 00:37:27 Coaching philosophy and shop talk 00:48:07 More short climber tips, self-comparison 00:54:43 Personal grades and the toxic wasteland of 8a.nu 01:00:41 Motivations 01:02:38 Jesse is ignorant about the southeast and complains about summer 01:05:51 More seasonality / sport & boulder logistics questions 01:08:08 Hot take 1, is climbing harder always more fun? 01:12:28 Hot take 2, are sport climbers better climbers? 01:13:56 Sport climbing vs bouldering popularity and value for progression 01:16:37 Content strategy and value capture as a content creator and coach 01:26:33 Dopamine hits, voluntary hardship, video beta and availability bias 01:42:55 Addy 01:45:09 Work with Juliet

Questions from my Patrons and clients for April 2025. Thanks to Ryan Frecka for joining me for the weight management questions. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jfireclimbing Questions: 0:00:00 Intro 0:00:45 Jishnu - What is good footwork? 00:09:35 Jishnu - Modern classics 00:11:01 Nico & Giancarlo - Returning to a project after a tweak/injury 00:16:28 Briana - Managing detraining on a long trip 00:20:37 Victor - Indoor vs outdoor technique 00:25:32 Caleb - Cycling between bouldering & sport climbing 00:29:54 Jeffrey - Podcast update 00:31:11 Brian - Motivation behind doing first ascents 00:35:33 Stephanie - Strength to weight ratio (w/ Ryan Frecka) 00:43:01 Stephanie - Body composition (w/ Ryan Frecka) 00:47:46 Stephanie - When to put on more muscle (w/ Ryan Frecka) 00:53:07 Stephanie - Signs of a strength deficit (w/ Ryan Frecka) 00:58:42 Stephanie - Nutritional approach (w/ Ryan Frecka) 01:06:02 Ryan's additional comments on set point theory 01:09:02 Outro

In this solo episode, I do my best to explain the rules of bouldering: what some of them are, why they're arbitrary, how they're changing over time, and how we should all proceed.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jfireclimbing

I sit down with Ethan Pringle to catch up with him and his cat Snowflake. We talk about:

• Balancing stability and freedom
• Crag development in South Africa (AKA how to pivot when things don’t go your way)
• Not training
• Much discussion of highball strategy
• Risk perception, risk tolerance and age
• Jumbo Love, Realization, and self-doubt
• Advice for his younger self

Questions from my Patrons and clients for March 2025. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jfireclimbing Questions: 0:00:00 Intro 0:00:37 Mackenzie - How's the podcast going? 0:01:30 Luke - Sling Blade update??? (with three question marks) 0:04:15 Jeffrey - Soft pause and gaze 0:11:32 Lu - Board climbing session duration 0:18:20 Ryan - Minimal methods for improving on slopers & pinches 0:29:46 eejayen - Dealing with DOMS from lifting 0:32:44 Sam - Climbing philosophy 0:34:36 William - Developing highballs 0:38:35 Leone - Finger curls with weight 0:40:48 - Outro

In this episode, my guest Zoe Sayetta & I discuss:

• Differences in mental strategies for outdoor & competition climbing
• Execution pressure
• Awareness & mindfulness
• Visualization / motor imagery
• Optimal zone of performance
• Focusing on the right thing at the right time
• Basic mindset advice

Questions from my Patrons and clients for February 2025.

Support the show on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jfireclimbing

Questions:

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:31 Kerwin: Concept/idea where I've shifted since coaching

00:04:50 Kerwin: Non-climbing book that's impacted my coaching

00:11:34 Olga: How to get more good tries on your project

00:15:59 Jack: Maximum recoverable volume

00:20:41 Luke: How language impacts performance and safety

00:26:38 Olga: Frustration when you're close to sending but not having fun

00:29:08 Jeffrey: Tips for switching to RPE

00:33:59 Jeffrey: Is there a time to stop progressing basic lifts?

00:37:01 Cursed Climbing: Awe-inspiring experiences