EP 126: Devin Dabney — Getting Uncomfortable, How Climbing Saved His Life, and How Competition Makes Us Better

Devin Dabney is a rock climber, routesetter, rapper, music producer, writer, and creator of The American Climbing Project podcast. We talked about using humor to talk about uncomfortable subjects, inviting people into conversations, how climbing saved his life after considering suicide, breaking down barriers to climbing, how competition makes us better, and making a difference in the climbing community.

Support Devin's Podcast!

patreon.com/americanclimbingproject

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Check out Rhino Skin Solutions!

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And check out EP 22 with Justin Brown to learn more about how to use Rhino products!

We are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:

• Leo Franchi, Michael Roy, David Lahaie, Robert Freehill, Jeremiah Johnson, Scott Donahue, Eli Conlee, Skyler Maxwell, Craig Lee, and Mark and Julie Calhoun

Become a Patron:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing

Show Notes:  

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/devin-dabney

Nuggets:

0:08:20 – Green screens and SpongeBob

0:12:52 – How Devin and I connected, and binging his podcast

0:17:41 – Devin’s vision for The American Climbing Project (ACP)

0:23:30 – Using humor to poke at difficult subjects, and inviting people into conversation

0:28:37 – Devin’s target audience, exposing listeners to different perspectives about race, and my (Steven’s) ignorance having grown up as a white kid from the PNW

0:32:22 – Climbing as an escape, and connecting to the world around us as climbers

0:33:50 – Plans for season 2 of ACP, and covering gender and sexual orientation in climbing

0:35:03 – Rob, and the ACP blog

0:38:23 – The skits

0:39:40 – Devin and Rob’s mission to provide a tool to grow and improve the climbing community and redistribute wealth

0:41:52 – The mixtape format of the ACP

0:45:22 – The Black Square skit

0:47:26 – Creativity, and sprints of inspiration

0:48:44 – How Devin puts together one of his episodes

0:52:10 – Growing up playing the violin, and getting into music production and rap

0:55:58 – Devin’s 7 different jobs

1:00:03 – The Great Equalizer, and Devin’s introduction to climbing

1:07:13 – Feeling lost, drafting a suicide note, and how climbing changed his life

1:09:15 – Studying architecture, traveling around the world, and sharing the real shit

1:14:29 – Why providing access to climbing feels important to Devin, and the many reasons climbing is awesome

1:17:09 – Barriers that keep climbing from being accessible/welcoming to marginalized groups of people

1:24:27 – The discomfort of climbing, the civil rights movement, and why the history of climbing is white

1:28:37 – Trading weed for moonshine, and the different experience of being with other white vs. black climbers

1:31:24 – “I would never go hunting without a white person.”

1:33:48 – The Halloween episode story, and photo releases in gym waivers

1:41:58 – How the podcast has been received, and responding to criticism

1:48:25 – Being reactive to headlines

1:52:40 – Topics that Devin hopes to cover in future seasons of the ACP podcast

2:00:12 – How to support the ACP

2:05:28 – Plug Tone Audio, why Devin loves competition, and shared inspiration

2:17:15 – Who Devin looks up to

2:20:50 – Guests that Devin would love to hear on The Nugget

2:23:48 – The depth we have as rock climbers

2:25:45 – Climbers are leaders

2:26:35 – What’s next for ACP