EP 189: Lily Kral — Building a Board Climbing Gym, Exotic Dancing, and Being a Work in Progress
The Nugget Climbing Podcast
The Origins of the Board Climbing Gym
This chapter discusses the origins of the idea to open a climbing gym. The speaker shares their initial resistance to board climbing, the ease of setting routes on the board, and how they entertained the idea after being suggested by a friend.
Lily Kral is the owner of Boardworks in Bend, Oregon. We talked about her childhood and her mother’s struggle with addiction, being hospitalized for an eating disorder, exotic dancing her way through college, finding an identity as a strong climber, why she decided to build a board climbing gym, biggest challenges, burning the candle at both ends, being a work in progress, training for 5.14 at Smith Rock, and much more!
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/lily-kral
Nuggets:
0:04:13 – Lily sets the scene
0:06:46 – Minimalist vs. mooch
0:08:50 – Lily’s childhood, her mom’s struggle with addiction, and seeking control
0:14:48 – Hussling vegetable at 10 years old
0:16:55 – Feeling unpopular in high school, wanting external validation, and being hospitalized for an eating disorder
0:21:17 – Exotic dancing in college
0:26:20 – The stigma around exotic dancing, and more about Lily’s experience in that world
0:33:46 – Type 1 vs type 2 thinking
0:36:15 – Coming out of retirement for a weekend
0:38:08 – Her time as a full-time route setter, burning the candle at both ends, and existing in fight or flight
0:40:53 – Moving to LA to become a head route setter
0:43:44 – Issues with substances, and how Lily was able to stay sober as a dancer
0:46:25 – Building Boardworks, and where the idea came from
0:52:16 – Why she chose Bend for her first location
0:57:14 – The Boardworks model, and what makes it special and unique
1:06:14 – The biggest challenges of opening and running a gym
1:11:02 – Delegation, and letting go of control
1:15:34 – More unforeseen challenges, and annoying questions from people who assume your work is easy
1:20:22 – Email
1:25:26 – Portaling
1:26:55 – The discomfort of feeling flaky, and practicing radical honesty
1:30:23 – Wanting the invite, keeping our options open, and how texting has made us flaky
1:32:08 – What Lily wishes she had known about marketing, and why construction is always behind schedule
1:35:56 – Undervaluing design and aesthetics
1:38:13 – Tying her identity to how hard she’s climbing
1:41:32 – Being a work in progress with disordered eating, and obsessive and compulsive behaviors in climbers
1:50:47 – Unpacking why we want to climb 5.14
1:56:12 – My thoughts on trying Badman again at Smith Rock, and climbing hard and being happy at the same time
1:59:40 – Lily’s thoughts on board training for Smith Rock
2:01:53 – Doing weighted pullups on a hangboard, and training endurance for To Bolt or Not To Be (first 5.14a in America)
2:06:26 – Working on getting validation from herself, and bringing more energy to other parts of her life
2:08:46 – Being in the present moment
2:10:34 – Having more grace for others and for ourselves
2:12:31 – Follow @boardworks_climbing on Instagram
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