

The RunOut Podcast
Andrew Bisharat & Chris Kalous
Chris Kalous (The Enormocast) and Andrew Bisharat (Evening Sends) bring decades of climbing experience to the mic, talking with the most interesting voices in the sport. From bouldering to big walls, comps to alpinism—no discipline is off-limits and no dogma goes unchallenged. You might not always agree, but you’ll probably laugh about it later.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 20, 2024 • 1h 16min
RunOut #120: Josh Wharton Redpoints the Alpine
Josh Wharton is one of America’s top alpine climbers, with light and fast ascents of iconic peaks from Patagonia to Alaska to the Himalaya. His latest first free ascent with Vince Anderson, is called Suerte (5.13a, WI6, M7, 3,500 feet) and it’s located on Jirishanca (20,100 feet) in Peru. This ascent, which took years to “alpine redpoint,” is featured in a new film headlining Reel Rock 18.
But first, yer friendly RunOut hosts discuss Kalous’ recent trip out to his namesake dance party at the Michigan Ice Fest, where there was more festing than icing.
Our final bit comes courtesy of Evan Philips, fellow podcaster at The Firn Line, with his song Close to Me.
Show Notes
Josh Wharton and Vince Anderson send Suerte on Climbing.com
Reel Rock 18 Spotlight: Jirishanca
Michigan Ice Fest
Chris Kalous Dance Party
The Firn Line podcast
Close to Me on Spotify
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Jan 30, 2024 • 1h 26min
RunOut #119: Dean Fidelman, Portraits of an Artist
Dean Fidelman is a legendary climbing photographer, whose body of work and portraitures have come as close to capturing the elusive soul of our sport as any photographer ever has. He’s perhaps best known for his Stone Nudes series of fine-art black-and-white bouldering photographs, but his career first began as a 16 year old kid with a camera, documenting the Stone Masters era of Yosemite and all the legendary characters associated with it. His latest book is “Fidelman: A Body of Work,” an ambitious retrospective that chronicles the career of climbing’s perhaps most ambitious and iconic artist.
But first, yr friendly podcasting hosts wonder whether everyone is making climbing, and training for climbing, way, way, way too complicated.
Our final bit shares an intimate moment between a father and son, resolving a typical schoolyard conflict with a bit of jamming.
Show Notes
“Fidelman: A Body of Work” is available from DiAngelo Publications.
Follow Dean Fidelman on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Jan 15, 2024 • 0sec
RunOut #118: The Power of Climbing Community and Development—and the Threats it Faces
Colorado Climber Get Goin’ from his EP Get Goin’
https://open.spotify.com/album/3rZ3LOjSIw92djPAPerMkG?si=wUR1_MyuQ12mJjrLYlHn_Q

Dec 29, 2023 • 1h 46min
RunOut #117: How Two Big Wall Noobs Free Climbed the Nose
Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal are both 26 years old, from Sheffield, England, and have been competing on plastic since they were 12. But once slapping plastic lost its allure, these two climbers found themselves dreaming of adventure. And adventure they found, as they spent a month fumbling their way into the world of big-wall climbing during a month long trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this year. And the unlikely duo emerged from their trip with one of the greatest prizes in climbing: a free ascent of the Nose. We caught up with the lads and talked about how they pulled it off.
But first, your increasingly trivia-oriented show hosts look back on 2023 and try to recall what the hell happened.
Last, damn good Buddy Spray from RunOut RopeGun Cooper Houston.
Show Notes
Two Retired Comp Climbers Pull Off a Rare Free Ascent of the Nose on Climbing.com
Follow Alex Waterhouse on Instagram
Follow Billy Ridal on Instagram
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Dec 13, 2023 • 1h 18min
RunOut #116: Mary Catherine Eden Charms the Black Mamba
Mary Catherine Eden is probably best known for popular Instagram account @tradprincess, but she’s far more than just another online influencer. She’s recently ticked one of the hardest crack climbs in the country, Black Mamba (5.14b), joining a small group of women, if not people of any flavor, who have climbed 5.14 on gear. We talk about her love of crack climbing, progression, “eating her veggies,” and balancing it all in life.
But first, your lovable disgruntled show hosts grumble about new proposals that seek to regulate our ability to place bolts in Wilderness.
Our final bit comes all the way from Glasgow, UK, as Dan Brown combines his love of climbing with music.
Show Notes
Follow Mary Eden on Instagram
News of Mary’s ascent of Black Mamba
Access Fund report on the latest climbing management plans
Dan Brown music
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Nov 23, 2023 • 1h 34min
RunOut 115: Jakob Schubert Goes B.I.G. (Plus Jared Leto’s big TR)
Jakob Schubert is a four-time World Champion, an Olympic bronze medalist, and he has more IFSC gold medals than any other male competitor. He’s also sent some of the hardest routes in the world, including, most recently, a first ascent of Project B.I.G. in Flatanger, which he rated 9c, making it only the third route ever to be given this grade. Our interview with Jakob takes us behind the scenes on his livestream of sending B.I.G.; his ticklist of some of the hardest routes in the world, especially Chris Sharma lines; who he thinks might be a contender in the next Olympics; and his love of American football.
But first, we talk about Jared Leto’s toprope ascent of the Empire State Building, and try to figure out why everyone so mad.
Today’s final bit comes from OG local legend Joel Brady and his band d’Artagnan and the Banjoman.
Show Notes
Follow Jakob Schubert on Instagram.
Subscribe to Jakob Schubert’s YouTube Channel.
Climbing.com’s news report on Project B.I.G.
Jared Leto Climbs Empire State Building on BBC
Photo of Jared Leto climbing by Renan Ozturk on the NatGeo feed
Follow Joel Brady on Instagram
“I’m Dying” by d’Artagnan and the Banjoman
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Nov 10, 2023 • 1h 12min
RunOut #114: Kris Hampton Taps into the Power of Climbing History
Kris Hampton is the brains and brawn behind Power Company Climbing and the cohost of the podcast by the same name. His insatiable love of creating new things, whether that’s training plans for climbers or music, has led him to launch Written in Stone, a new climbing history podcast looking at monumental moments in our sport, decade by decade.
But first, we respond to a couple of show listeners who had an absolutely insane exchange with climbing’s most notorious authority. No, we’re not talking about cops or park rangers. We’re talking about the kid who gives the belay test in the gym.
Finally, we’re honored to share some new music from our super talented friend Andy Mann, a National Geographic photographer, director, and musician / storyteller. His new EP is called Full Moon Fight.
Show Notes
Power Company Climbing
Power Company Climbing and Written in Stone podcasts
Follow Kris Hampton on Instagram
Follow Andy Mann on Instagram and check out his music here
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Oct 24, 2023 • 1h 24min
RunOut #113: How a Race to Get a Climbing Record Turned Deadly
RunOut #113: How a Race to Get a Climbing Record Turned Deadly
This fall, two American women found themselves in an unlikely race to reach the summit of Shishapangma, and thereby earn themselves a place in the record books as being the first American woman to have done all 14 8,000-meter peaks (with oxygen). Unfortunately, both Anna Gutu and Gina Rzucidło, alongside their respective Sherpa guides Mingmar Sherpa and Tenjen Lama, perished in two separate avalanches about 30 minutes apart around 7,800 meters. Did this informal competition lead them to making bad decisions that ultimately cost everyone their lives? To make sense of this terrible tragedy, as well as to discuss some of the ongoing issues around competency, infrastructure, and regulations within the Himalayan guiding industry, we speak to Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow Expeditions. Adrian has guided numerous high-altitude peaks, including many summits of Mount Everest, and his company Alpenglow leads over 30 international expeditions each year. And he has also personally climbed Mount Everest and K2 without using oxygen, and notably made the first ski descent of Makalu.
But first, your friendly neighborhood climbing podcasters think about what would happen if the Rapture came for pro climbers and they were all smite’d away from this good, green earth. Would that change anything about the climbing we know and love?
Last, today’s final bit comes from an experimental instrumental band called Les Rhinoceros, with drums and percussion played by climber and friend of the pod Jon Burrier.
Show Notes
Via Explorer’s Web: “What Happened on Shishapangma: The Climbers Speak Out”
Shishapangma Avalanche: Two U.S. Women, Two Sherpas Dead/Missing
Adrian Ballinger on Instagram
Follow Jon Burrier on Instagram and check out his SoundCloud
Become a RunOut Rope Gun! Support our podcast and increase your RunOut runtime. Bonus episodes, AMA, and more will be available to our Rope Guns. Thank you for your support! http://patreon.com/runoutpodcast
Contact us Send ideas, voicemail, feedback and more. andrew@runoutpodcast.com // chris@runoutpodcast.com

Oct 10, 2023 • 1h 31min
RunOut #112: America’s First Climbing Gym Owner Sounds the Alarm
Our guest today is Rich Johnston, the president and owner of Vertical World in Seattle, known as America’s First Climbing Gym (TM). He’s also the founding chairman of the Climbing Wall Association, where he served for 16 years, and a board member on The Mountaineers. Rich tells us about the earliest days of the climbing-wall industry, why he never thought climbing gyms would succeed, and how important culture and philosophy are to creating a community of climbers that abide by the inherent risk doctrine. All of this is a prelude to discussing an important bellwether lawsuit that was just settled involving a climber who didn’t clip himself in properly to an auto belay, and still came away with a whopping settlement in his favor.
But first, your favorite climbing podcast hosts talk about the nebulous rules and etiquette for passing people on a multi-pitch climb. When should you let people play through? And is it ever OK to just pass without permission?
Last but not least, our Final Bit comes to us from listener, climber, fellow dad, and self-proclaimed “normal guy” from Boise, Idaho, Alan Keller. HIs band is called Prairie Mountain Plain and this new song “North Bound and West” is from their latest album While They Sleep.
Show Notes
Climbing Mag: Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident
Evening Sends: Will Climbing Gyms Survive the Lawsuits?
The plaintiff’s attorney’s press release.
Vertical World’s response
Vertical World
Andrew Megas-Russell on Instagram
Prairie Mountain Plain on Spotify

Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 25min
RunOut #111: A Fine Line for Graham Zimmerman
Today’s guest is Graham Zimmerman, an alpinist, a recipient of the Piolet d’Or and a director at Protect Our Winters, a climate-advocacy group. His new book is “A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains.”
But first, cave raves are all fun and games until your favorite crag gets shut down. Your favorite climbing podcaster hosts try to figure out where their personal boundaries lie for self-policing the climbing world.
Our final bit is an original ode to Vedauwoo by climbing couple Morgan Shannon and Ben Baltich.
Show Notes
Follow Graham Zimmerman on Instagram
Order his book from The Mountaineers.
Protect Our Winters


