The Nugget Climbing Podcast EP 264: Tony Yaniro — The Grand Illusion, Tin Foil Training, & Leslie Gulch Chipping Drama
Tony Yaniro is a climbing legend and the first-ever person to redpoint a 5.13b with his ascent of The Grand Illusion in 1979. We talked about his early years, handmaking cams in his garage, developing The Needles, inventing the first campus board, training for 5.14 using tin foil, the controversy of chipping routes at Leslie Gulch, his legendary homewall on wheels, building a climbing gym, the importance of respecting your body, and much more.
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/tony-yaniro
Nuggets:
(00:00:00) – Intro
(00:01:49) – Tony’s early climbing
(00:11:01) – Sticky rubber & homemade cams
(00:15:32) – 5 steps ahead
(00:21:12) – Hangdogging & The Grand Illusion (world’s first 5.13b)
(00:26:45) – Snowbird, backlash, & soloers
(00:30:08) – The Needles
(00:37:40) – Training for Scarface with tin foil
(00:40:58) – Pull-ups & Jim Collins
(00:45:57) – Quitting climbing the second time
(00:49:59) – The Winnebago
(00:52:50) – Making climbing holds
(00:57:07) – Leslie Gulch
(01:05:11) – City of Rocks
(01:10:24) – Drawing the line
(01:16:12) – Old school bolting
(01:24:40) – Riggins
(01:28:08) – Hideous Thing
(01:30:32) – Tony’s career & weekend climbing
(01:36:29) – Building a climbing gym
(01:41:41) – Tony’s climbing these days
(01:43:13) – Listen to your body
(01:46:17) – Respect your body
(01:47:50) – What excites Tony