EP 09: Will Stanhope — The Injury Process, Trad Climbing Tips, and More Climbing Less Training

Will Stanhope is a professional rock climber with many notable ascents in the realm of single and multi-pitch trad climbing, free-soloing, and cutting edge first ascents. We talked about Will’s recent freak accident and broken finger, the injury process, trad climbing tips, pushing through fear vs. listening to fear, and a case for more climbing/less training.  

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/will-stanhope  

Nuggets:  

2:14 – The cruxes of dating internationally as a Canadian  

3:00 – Freedom of the Wheels  

4:35 – Will’s recent accident and finger injury, modern medicine, and getting the hardware removed  

6:56 – “It’s the easy ground that gets you.”  

7:14 – Running, rehab, flow state, and a day of easy soloing  

9:15 – Having goals and listening to the body, numb scar tissue and Will’s freak accident, and Will’s finger X-Ray  

11:03 – Filling the void while injured, “There’s more to life than climbing”, and fly fishing plans  

14:09 – FFA of the ‘Tom Egan Memorial Route’ in the Bugaboos, and lots of rainy tent time  

15:59 – History of the ‘Tom Egan Memorial Route’ and the pretties crack Will has ever seen  

17:06 – “The perfect training recipe” (i.e. manual labor + hangboard repeaters), Will’s thoughts on hard tips crack climbing, and why the rest of us should exercising caution when it comes to hard crack climbing  

20:56 – Soloing as a part of Will’s training, and a case for climbing more  

22:03 – Guiding and getting recognized for past accomplishments  

23:28 – Shifting away from hardcore projecting, and the Howzer Tower linkup w/ Leo Holding  

26:30 – Simulclimbing, finding the right partner, and (contrived) climbing games  

30:18 – Future projects, getting into mountain climbing, and “wielding all the swords”  

32:03 – Headpointing vs. soloing, pushing through fear vs. listening to fear, and backing off  

34:16 – Keeping soloing “safe”  

35:09 – Downclimbing: “The lost art”   

36:37 – Free soloing in Froggat (10+ years ago), trying ‘Parthian Shot’ and breaking his foot, and climbing ‘Muy Caliente’  

39:07 – The E-grade system   

40:33 – What Will learned from climbing with Leo  

42:00 – “You can’t skip learning”, and why Will keeps his goals to himself nowadays  

44:12 – Bouldering   

45:02 – Will’s trad climbing tips for racking up, and polysporin (or neosporin) for gobies  

47:15 – “More climbing, less training”  

49:19 – Will’s hangboarding protocol  

50:22 – Pushups and training opposing muscles and core stability  

51:59 – What Will wishes he’d known at age 20 (he’s currently 33 years old) “Trust your own instincts”  

52:44 – What Will wishes he’d known at age 30 - “Always really clean your climbing shoes”  

53:22 – Will’s Anthony Bourdain kick  

55:20 – Grateful to be alive  

55:51 – Excited to get back in the game  

56:31 – Will’s Instagram, ‘Freedom of the Wheels’ sequel, wrap up