EP 51: Chris and Heather Weidner — Kneebar Wizardry, Projecting Tips, and Supporting Each Other’s Goals

Chris and Heather Weidner are a hardcore climbing couple, both with many 5.14s under their belt across multiple rock climbing disciplines. We talked about drink counting, New Year resolutions, current injuries, the steps to becoming a kneebar wizard, projecting tips, hard conversations, and balancing climbing goals with maintaining a healthy relationship.  

Support on Patreon:  

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/chris-and-heather-weidner  

Nuggets:  

2:41 – How Heather broke her own finger climbing at Shelf Road, and being injured together  

5:52 – Counting drinks  

9:24 – New Year resolutions, goal setting, and the Green River trip  

13:52 – Heather’s climbing origin story, her background in dance, and the choreography of projecting  

18:48 – Chris’s climbing origin story, and being introduced to rock climbing and mountains  

21:05 – Living in Boulder and maintaining roots in Vegas  

21:50 – The art of becoming a kneebar wizard  

29:35 – Philosophy of kneebaring, getting better vs. training, and beta tactics  

35:06 – Tinkering with beta  

38:35 – How Chris breaks down a new project, and training the rests  

41:28 – Kneerbar training exercises  

44:04 – How Chris broke his pinkie by kneebaring  

45:44 – Sourcing kneepads, Send pads, and kneecap tape explanation   

49:45 – Heather’s kneebar beta, and why women can handle pain better than men  

51:35 – Go-to shoes for kneebars  

53:20 – Adam Ondra is making kneebaring cool again  

54:37 – Send pads, leg warmers, and man warmers  

57:33 – ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’  

1:03:18 – How Chris hurt his shoulder  

1:04:38 – Balancing climbing together with climbing with other people  

1:09:14 – Chris’s passion for climbing (and ticking boxes), and Heather’s love for projecting  

1:13:11 – Expectations going into a hard project, and being ok with not doing all of the moves the first day (or several days)  

1:16:12 – ‘Stockboy’s Revenge’  

1:18:15 – “Ask Chris what it’s like for him to have Heather outperform him on his project?”  

1:19:22 – Heather’s “bullheadedness” in projecting, and focus vs. adaptability  

1:21:01 – Hitting rock bottom on ‘China Doll’, and addressing inner demons   

1:23:28 – Getting mental coaching from Arno Ilgner, meditation, and therapy  

1:25:23 – Heather’s meditation practice, and the flow state of climbing   

1:26:53 – Breakdown of ‘China Doll’  

1:30:23 – What Chris learned from ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’  

1:32:53 – Heather’s mindset when tying in for a project burn, and how Chris’s projecting philosophy has changed  

1:35:57 – Learning to adapt, and the power of letting go  

1:37:04 – Why Heather is excited about bouldering  

1:38:20 – Gratitude  

1:41:17 – Kids and hard conversations  

1:45:12 – Another decade of improvement