Today’s episode is about The Progress, because everybody starts somewhere, and chronicles my progress from bumbling-gumby to bumbling-idiot-soloist! As an experiment on this episode, I recorded a lot of my own guitar for segues and such!

While I’ve been covering the process in specificity, with a play-by-play on a week-to-week basis, I haven’t covered the process generally. What am I thinking about *before* I go to think about individual climbs?

For 18 months I lived in my Nissan Frontier, but I had a roof over my head thanks to the company putting me in a hotel all the time. One major perk of a traveling job! - This is the story of that one time I had a one-way ticket to Vegas for Valentines...

I’m Building a new layer of technique, tactics, and ability on top of the fitness that Lattice’s training protocols had given me I had become a whole new machine. In the three years before this season I had only soloed seven 5.12’s,

Gravity is heavy, and so is the responsibility we have to make sure that we come home, time and time again. Folks are alarmed when they see soloing because they think I could die. And the fact is that I could.

Walking out to the Deep End alone felt empowering. While initially, I’d balked at needing a rope to lower-off of routes, I realized that having the cord allowed me to rope-solo the route to practice the movements so I could dial the climb and send same...

When onsighting, often the most effecient beta isn’t as valuable as the first beta that works. You’ve gotta get outta there, so you don’t pump out. After spending precious minutes of progressive fatigue faffing about,

Being from Texas, a complete idiot, and having practiced at the most intimidating crag I’ve ever visited in the worst conditions I could’ve chosen short of freezing… the end of September at The Red looked mighty fine in my mind. Vimeo.

Recently I had the honor of giving a presentation for Member’s Night at my local climbing gym (Vertical Endeavors of Glendale Heights). It was a one hour presentation followed by a fun Q&A segment where the audience asked a good amount of questions whi...

Welcome to The Process! I am your host, Austin Howell! Why am I making a podcast? Why does it matter that we talk about risk, and more in my first podcast episode ever! My only regrets so far? that I didn’t say “so” or “um” any more than I already did