EP 73: Kyle O’Meara — Favorite First Ascents, Experience vs. Strength, and Sharing the Love of Climbing

Kyle O’Meara is a high-level boulderer, route climber, and successful climbing coach. He’s a total lifer. We talked about his early climbing and development in the PNW, some of his favorite first ascents, outdoor bouldering vs. indoor training, climbing and life goals, discovering coaching, leading by example, and sharing the love of climbing with his team.

Support on Patreon:  

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing 

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/kyle-omeara

Nuggets:

3:47 – Breakfast, day-old pastries, and experimenting with diet

7:55 – Food diary, sleep, and eating enough 

15:42 – Early days in Leavenworth

19:32 – How Kyle started climbing, Merrimore Park, and planting the seed of coaching

26:46 – ‘Rampage’, first Leavenworth days, and Squamish

32:36 – Transitioning into sport climbing, his first 5.13,  

37:16 – Kyle’s “Best of the best” list, and grading everything in Index grades

42:12 – ‘Crown Jewel’

56:01 – Outdoor bouldering vs. indoor bouldering/training, and trying to beat the system

1:01:01 – Developing boulders by default and not by design, epics in Yosemite, and window cleaning

1:09:33 – Best of the best boulders in Yosemite

1:12:29 – Moving to Tahoe, discovering coaching, and Kyle’s path to improvement

1:18:43 – What Kyle wishes he had done differently in the past regarding training, and perfecting the art of projecting

1:24:01 – Climbing and life goals

1:27:14 – Experience over strength

1:28:41 – ‘Lex Luthor’, moving to Salt Lake, and coaching at Momentum

1:36:45 – Leading by example

1:41:17 – Themes among successful kids that Kyle has coached, and the contrast between Nathanial Coleman and Dalton Bunker

1:46:25 – Staying above the line, and climbing frequency

1:48:22 – Spending more days trying climbs, and how Kyle has integrated training

1:52:07 – ‘The All-Around Routine’, and committing to a training cycle for the first time

2:11:27 – Patron Question from Nolen: How does Kyle balance his performance in sport climbing vs. bouldering?

2:16:54 – The power of the psych, and following your motivation

2:20:26 – Patron Question from Lena: Top three footwork drills for kidlets?

2:25:50 – Patron Question from Evan: When is Kyle (The Voice) going to record children’s books or guided meditation?

2:30:34 – Gratitude