Episode 28: Community and Fleeting Youth with Cody Roth

This an extremely rare "catch and release" episode.  Nate and I were in Austin for a workshop at Crux Climbing Center, and I heard news that Cody Roth had recently completed the FA of "Me I Eat Dust," which at 14+ is currently the hardest sport climb in Texas.  However, it was his comments about how he's climbing better now, even while he isn't in the shape he was in his 20's, that got me interested.  I hit Cody up on Facebook, and a couple of hours later we had this recording.  Brilliant, this community is.

In other news, we reached the $100 per month mark of support, thanks to our amazing Patrons!  You guys are the best!  All of you can thank them for the fact that starting now, you get 3 episodes per month.  I'm glad we got there because I've got TONS of these podversations to put out into the intrawebs.

You've all been asking about "Devil's Advocate #1:" the Moon Board episode.  It's coming.  We've got some surprises in store, so we're taking our time.  It'll be worth the wait.  

Ok.  I'll be talking to you guys again very soon.  Why?  Three episodes this month, that's why.  BOOM.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Kris Hampton  00:31

What's up everybody? I'm your host, Kris Hampton. Welcome to Episode 28 of the Power Company Podcast brought to you by powercompanyclimbing.com. It's been 12 days since the last episode, which seems like forever, honestly, to me, and I'm sure to you guys too, since you're always messaging me wanting more. But thanks to the patrons who got us over our $100 a month mark, from the last episode, you guys are now getting three per month, which, you know, I'm excited about too, because I've got a ton of these things just sitting and waiting to go out. And I've also had some requests for the Moon Bepisode that I've been promising. And the first Devil's Advocate, that's what it's gonna be. And Nate and I are gonna argue the pros and cons of the Moon Board. And we've got some surprises coming up for that one. That's why it's taken a while. And you should have that one pretty soon in the next episode or two. So be on the lookout for that. We're here in sunny Hueco Tanks still. And we'll be here for a couple of more weeks. And actually, I'm kind of sad to leave. But you know, the crew that we've been hanging out with here is, is starting to clear out so it's gonna be a little a little lonely here. And it's been fun for me because these, it's a bunch of 20 year old early 30 year old kids who were all around the Red River Gorge this fall. So I saw their faces, but never really got to know them. And now we've all been hanging out in the barn here at the Rock Ranch every morning and every evening. And it's been super fun for me to get to know these kids. And you know, they keep me young. I'm an old man here. So it's been pretty fun. And you know, shout out to the whole crew, Al Shepard and Manny, Pete and Llana, who's the barn mom, Pat and grumpy Kyle, Kyle and I have an understanding. We just don't talk to each other while we're drinking coffee in the mornings. And Jonah, who was here for a bit and peaced out the most stoked kid on earth Crimp and Carly Dalia who tries harder than all of you. Tomer, the master of all the obscure skills in the universe, and regular Zach and Tim, and if I'm forgetting any you guys, sorry, that's a long list. And I'm in a hurry here, as I sort of always am, it seems like these days. But for real shout out to all of you guys, because you're making this time here amazing. And communities really what this thing is about for me and more and more, that's becoming the most important factor which kind of brings us to today's pod versation with Cody Roth. This is a rare catch and release episode. I just talked with Cody last week in Austin, where Nate and I were for a workshop at Crux Climbing Center. And thanks, Austin. Thanks, Crux for having us out. Went great, can't wait to come back. I had never met or talked to Cody. But I saw a little blurb on a day that he had just completed the hardest route and Texas. And, you know, I knew who Cody was through films and you know, hearing about him for years. And he's kind of a dark horse in the climbing community, which I think is kind of cool. And he had lived over in Innsbruck for a while. So I knew he had an interesting story. So I just hit Cody up via Facebook Messenger and said, Hey, can we chat? And he was like, Sure, come over to my house. And you know, there we were an hour or two later and just sat and talked to Cody for a while. So I think he's got some really important things to say about the climbing community and about how he approached this route that he got injured on previously. And I think you guys have something to learn from him. So turn it over to Cody.

Cody Roth  04:11

Yes, the challenge because I knew it still has to be possible. And I didn't want to go around in circles. And I didn't want to just be pissed off and limit the fact because somebody is going to climb it if i'm not going to climb it.

Kris Hampton  04:40

Had you climbed here in Austin before?

Cody Roth  04:43

Just like on one trip when we were kind of checking it out. But we just went to Reimers the local spot. It was a super hot day our dog got bit by fire ants. It was kind of a epically disaster day and we were like we don't know about this place. Then we came back here later and we liked it more. Yeah, I really liked the city. And we thought all right, we can definitely live here.

Kris Hampton  05:06

That's cool. So what? You were in Europe for how long?

Cody Roth  05:09

I spent eight years in Europe? I think almost nine.

Kris Hampton  05:13

Was it all Innsbruck or were you in other areas?

Cody Roth  05:15

I traveled a lot. But yeah, mainly I lived in Innsbruck.

Kris Hampton  05:18

What prompted you to come back to the States?

Cody Roth  05:21

 Yeah, I kinda hit a, like a glass ceiling or kind of a plateau with what I could do there and dealing with visas and all the rest of it. I was so sick of it that I decided that I needed to make a fresh start.

Kris Hampton  05:32

Yeah, came back to home in Albuquerque. 

Cody Roth  05:35

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  05:35

Now, you're here in Austin. Yeah. Cool. The the route you just did is on private property. Right?

Cody Roth  05:42

 It is. Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  05:42

But is somewhat accessible if you work it out.

Cody Roth  05:45

Yeah. It's definitely somewhat accessible. If you work it out. It's owned by a couple of climbers. 

Kris Hampton  05:51

Okay.

Cody Roth  05:52

 And then their main thing is, it's kind of a it's quite a sensitive area where it is a river runs right in front of it. So you can have a lot of people there. 

Kris Hampton  05:59

Sure.

Cody Roth  06:00

 And they also spent a lot of money out of their own private pockets to gain access to this place. So there's a little bit protective of it. 

Kris Hampton  06:07

Yeah, absolutely. 

Cody Roth  06:08

Um, understandably so. Main, but mainly, it comes down to if there's more than 20 people at this place. It just gets trampled. 

Kris Hampton  06:15

Yeah.

Cody Roth  06:16

Can get ruined. So they try to just keep the numbers down.

Kris Hampton  06:19

I think that's a good idea. You know, being from the Ted, I've seen what a lot of people can do to an area, and you could really, really ruin it. You know, if you get a ton of people trampling around the base of climbs. So, Nate, if you want this microphone at any point to ask something, just tell me. Let's talk about the route. It breaks off of I, Me, Mine, which used to be the hardest route in Texas, right?

Cody Roth  06:45

Yeah. I, Me, Mine used to be the hardest route. It was put up by Austin local named Rupesh Chhagan some years ago. 

Kris Hampton  06:51

Okay. 

Cody Roth  06:52

And then Nick Duttle repeated it and kind of brought it into the light.

Kris Hampton  06:56

Yeah, I remember when that happened.

Cody Roth  06:59

And definitely brought a lot of attention to Austin climbing and with his repeat of that route. And, Nick, I think Rupesh kinda left the grade open. Nick thought it could be 14d, his betas kind of gotten refined and whatnot. It settled into more like 14c.

Kris Hampton  07:14

 Okay. 

Cody Roth  07:15

Yeah, it's a fun little climb. So I did that one last year when I moved here. 

Kris Hampton  07:19

Yeah.

Cody Roth  07:20

Fairly quickly. And then I started working this extension. But about three days in I tore a pulley in my middle finger. had to take a month and a half off two months off. 

Kris Hampton  07:30

You did that on the route?

Cody Roth  07:31

On the route yeah.

Kris Hampton  07:32

Yeah. Was it a specific hold? Or was it just kind of a freak accident?

Cody Roth  07:36

Just sort of bad luck. The hold I was on wasn't the smallest hold on the route. But it was just that classic, loud. Audible pop? 

Kris Hampton  07:42

Yeah, yeah. 

Cody Roth  07:43

And then a little bit later, some pain. The recovery was pretty fast. I think I was climbing again a month and a half after the accident. 

Kris Hampton  07:49

Okay.

Cody Roth  07:50

With a lot of tape.

Kris Hampton  07:51

Any trepidation getting back on the route?

Cody Roth  07:54

Definitely. Yeah, there was a lot when I went back to try it again. It was with the finger severely taped like a hook. A lot of fear. Yeah, I've been pretty lucky with finger injuries. I guess I did a similar thing in my ring finger four years ago in Rocklands that one seemed to be easier to overcome. I think 10 days later, I was climbing again and Rocklands again, just with a lot of tape. 

Kris Hampton  08:14

Okay. 

Cody Roth  08:16

So I guess I've been lucky in that respect for the injuries I have had. I seem to recoverfairly quickly. 

Kris Hampton  08:21

Yeah. And you said you're not you said you're more of a sport climber less of a boulderer?

Cody Roth  08:25

Yeah, I would say so. I really love power endurance climbing. I think that's my favorite thing. But uh, but I also like trad climbing. I like bouldering I really like everything. Multi-pitch climbing.

Kris Hampton  08:34

Yeah, that's pretty nice. For You know, when you're when you get these finger injuries, you can kind of switch up here. 

Cody Roth  08:39

Exactly.

Kris Hampton  08:39

 Your style if you need to. 

Cody Roth  08:41

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  08:41

The so the route. You named it? Me I Eat Dust. Is that right? 

Cody Roth  08:48

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  08:49

Where's the name come from?

Cody Roth  08:50

The name comes from this Gary Newman song.

Kris Hampton  08:52

 Okay.

Cody Roth  08:53

 I think came out like in the early 80s.

Kris Hampton  08:55

I was gonna say late 70s, early, early 80s. 

Cody Roth  08:57

Gary, I think Gary Newman was really ahead of his time, as far as his lyrics and the music that he was putting out. Like, I play that song for people now. And they're like, wow, this sounds like Indie. Sounds like it just came out two years ago. 

Kris Hampton  09:07

Yep. 

Cody Roth  09:08

I'm always like no, no, look, it came out in like, I think it was 1981 1980 something. 

Kris Hampton  09:12

Okay, cool. 

Cody Roth  09:13

I think that guy was really ahead of his time. But yeah, I mean, the main inspiration is the name. I, Me, Mine. 

Kris Hampton  09:18

I, Me, Mine right.

Cody Roth  09:19

It was just playing on the first line of that song. It's impossible to understand. Yeah. And we had a lot of jokes with it. I think it's two or three years ago, my girlfriend and I were climbing in Peru. We were bolting routes at a new sport climbing area, really good limestone that's at, like 14,400 feet. Just like suffering and there was we were also listening to the song there in the Peruvian guys that were hosting us and that we were climbing with, they heard it and they were like, Ah, it sounds like he's saying miguitas. And we're like, what's miguitas? They're like, yeah, you know, it's like crumbs when there's crumbs. So we bolted like kind of a chossy warm up because everything was so hard. Yeah. And we named that climb miguitas.

Kris Hampton  09:56

Miguitas.

Cody Roth  09:56

 So so then when I'm in mine was around as I go, No. It has to be Me I Eat Dust.

Kris Hampton  10:01

That's cool.

Cody Roth  10:02

Yeah, just a lot of funny memories with that song. 

Kris Hampton  10:05

Yeah. And I love knowing the story behind names, you know. And it sounds like this one was a journey for you too. So

Cody Roth  10:10

Yeah, I definitely put a lot of time into it. it's by no means the most beautiful thing I've climbed  but definitely the most challenging thing of clubs. As far as the movement, I wouldn't say it's my perfect style, but it definitely suits me. It's a little bit too bouldery to be maybe my best style.

Kris Hampton  10:26

Right.

Cody Roth  10:26

 But it's still definitely it's like 20 moves of where you just can't really stop. Right. And so it definitely suits me to some degree.

Kris Hampton  10:34

Yeah. And you had Kilian up there with you as well. So

Cody Roth  10:37

Yeah, when I sent it, he wasn't there. But the weekend before when Kilian came, he did I, Me, Mine second try and just put on a masterclass. 

Kris Hampton  10:44

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  10:44

If there was any thought about it being a 14d he definitely threw that out the window.

Kris Hampton  10:49

Right, right. Yeah, he did something similar up at the rodeo wave with Genetic Drifter, right. 

Cody Roth  10:56

Uh he did that fast.

Kris Hampton  10:56

I think he did that second or third try something like that.

Cody Roth  10:58

It was pretty quick. I don't know if it was that quick. That was such an amazing trip that we had.

Kris Hampton  11:03

 Yeah.

Cody Roth  11:03

At, uh Wild Iris. But he did do that one quick, too. I think Genetic Drifter is really hard. 

Kris Hampton  11:08

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  11:09

There's a sequence in the middle that really doesn't suit me at all that I can, where the move is so desperate. 

Kris Hampton  11:14

Yep. 

Cody Roth  11:15

And we're pretty similar in height, but you somehow makes it look not so desperate.

Kris Hampton  11:19

Yeah, I climbed them at the red a little bit on Transworld when it was my ultimate project at the time, and I watched him do it second go. And then I did it right after he did. So it was or maybe vice versa. I did it right before he did but super fun to watch him. Like you just said put on a masterclass.

Cody Roth  11:36

Yeah, I think Kilian has such a good style in the I don't know, I guess I've been climbing 23 years now. And the more that I get involved with climbing or for now, it's like when I was younger, it was like, Oh, I want to repeat this route or I want to do this. And now with climbing, it's more I see my friends like Kilian and some other friends that I have an Austria they have such good style. And it's more like no more than the climb. I like want to mimic their style, or I want to climb in that style. 

Kris Hampton  11:58

Yeah

Cody Roth  11:59

That kind of has become a little bit of a, an emphasis. I guess to some degree, I don't achieve that goal. But more and more, I'm aiming for that goal, where it's like now I want to climb with a good style. It's not just necessarily about getting to the top, but I want to do it with some style. And even like this route I did the try. I did it was really cold that night, my fingers numbed out. The try before I'd actually fallen off in the last the absolute last possible place that you could fall, of course, I'd climbed pretty decent that try. I was happy with how I was climbing and my second try was definitely more fatigued. And it just became a boxing match. 

Kris Hampton  12:31

Really.

Cody Roth  12:31

Where my foot slipped in a place where it really pissed me off. 

Kris Hampton  12:34

Yeah.

Cody Roth  12:35

 And even like the last couple days, I'm like, man, maybe I want to climb it again, just because I know I can do it in better style.

Kris Hampton  12:41

Yeah.

Cody Roth  12:41

I probably won't. But it's still a little bit in the back of my mind.

Kris Hampton  12:44

When you went to innsbrook initially, was it because those guys they're such good climbers. Is that the you know, did you go there just to learn that style? 

Cody Roth  12:54

Yeah, definitely. I mean, at that time, I wasn't thinking so much about style, but I was thinking about like, the most optimal place to live. I was 19 when I went to Innsbruck. And that particular year, I was a finalist at one of the lead climbing World Cups. And that's what kind of gave me traction and kept me there. So like the first three months that I was there, I slipped on Kilians floor.

Kris Hampton  13:15

Cool. Yeah. I was wondering about your competition history. Since you weren't much of a boulderer. You said...

Cody Roth  13:19

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  13:20

You were doing mostly lead climbing?

Cody Roth  13:21

 I was Yeah. 

Cody Roth  13:22

 I grew up doing the junior competitions. I think in 2001. I was Junior North American champion. Before that, I took I guess second place at a couple Junior national events. 

Kris Hampton  13:22

Okay.

Kris Hampton  13:34

Okay.

Cody Roth  13:34

I think it worlds youth championships. My best result was maybe also fifth or sixth place. And then that particular year, I moved on to competing in the adult category. And I was Yeah, I had kind of early success. 

Kris Hampton  13:45

Yeah

Cody Roth  13:46

In some ways. In retrospect, I think I kinda wish my success would have come a little bit later. Because it really came out of nowhere, and it was hard to grasp. You know, when I went into that competition, I had no expectation of making the finals.

Kris Hampton  14:00

Sure.

Cody Roth  14:00

Like, man, if I can just be top 20 if I can be 15 How cool is that? And then all of a sudden, I climbed and even leading up to that finals round in the semi final. I like, barely made the cut for semies. I was like, maybe 24th place and I think they took 25 guys. So I have a second out to climb on the Sydney's. And I just had a really hard like, high high point. And then I watched all of these like heroes like Francois Petite, Christian Brin, all these guys that I really looked up to and they were falling lower than me. I was just like pinching my skin and thinking No, this isn't happening.

Kris Hampton  14:28

 Yeah.

Cody Roth  14:29

This isn't happening. And then by the time the semies. were over, I was like in sixth or seventh place. They took eight people into finals. I think they still take eight people in the finals. 

Kris Hampton  14:36

Wow.

Cody Roth  14:38

 Yeah. And then I had to like get it together and get over those jitters to climb. And the final with the huge, loud crowd.

Kris Hampton  14:44

Yeah. And you just mentioned that you kind of weren't ready for that level of success at that point. And that's kind of what made me want to talk to you today. You know, when I read some comments you made on your new route. Me I  Eat Dust and on 8a, I think is where I read them. They had a little write up on there. And you mentioned that, that you're climbing better now than you ever have. And you're 33 now, and then in your 20s, you just didn't take it as seriously. Is that something you wish you would have done? Like you, you wish you would have one of those? I wish I would have known then what I know now?

Cody Roth  15:21

In some ways, definitely, there's moments where I think that I mean, I was really disciplined up until I got to Austria basically. And I think that was a part of it, too. Through my younger years, I put so much effort into climbing.

Kris Hampton  15:33

Right. 

Cody Roth  15:33

And, you know, I'm kind of self taught, self trained, I grew up in an isolated place being that I was in New Mexico and not a massive scene there. You know, like, Colorado was just to the north of us, you know, Boulder is about six hours north of where I grew up. So it was always like, at the beginning with the junior competitions. I was the only kid coming from New Mexico. And like, my family would have to make all of these sacrifices and drive me like six hours, seven hours, eight hours to compete.

Kris Hampton  15:57

Right.

Cody Roth  15:58

 Taking like time off of work on the Friday, go to school. It was really cool. Sort of...

Kris Hampton  16:02

For a totally non mainstream sport.

Cody Roth  16:04

 Yeah. I mean, I really had to convince him at the beginning. They were reluctant. But then they saw how much it meant to me. And they started. And then once they saw that I did have some potential and some talent this started to then support me and make the necessary sacrifices. 

Kris Hampton  16:15

Yeah, it's nice to have. It's important. 

Cody Roth  16:17

Yeah, I mean, I still feel guilty about it today, all of the effort that they invested. It definitely wasn't easy. You know, they didn't drive fancy cars. There were a lot of things that they sacrificed.

Kris Hampton  16:28

 Yeah.

Cody Roth  16:28

 So that I could claim my grandmother as well. It was...

Kris Hampton  16:31

I think that's what parents and grandparents do. 

Cody Roth  16:33

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  16:34

It's more about what makes the kid happy than anything else. It's just it's nice that you've found a life in it still.

Cody Roth  16:41

Yeah, definitely. And so yeah, through that period, like I had ridiculous discipline where my dad's a swim coach. So I grew up swimming as a kid in swimming was a big part of my training, I typically swim two to three days a week. 

Kris Hampton  16:53

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  16:53

And I was living at a higher elevation. And I found that that really helps my recovery a ton with competitions, just having that base aerobic level of fitness. 

Kris Hampton  17:01

Sure. 

Cody Roth  17:01

And I invested a ton of time in the climbing to, like, a lot of people think that I'm some natural talent. Sometimes even my friends or people who don't know me, well, they're like, yeah, you're just a freak, or you have this natural talent. And I don't really see it that way. I'm a big believer of like Malcolm Gladwell, and a lot of what he says, and outliers were based on a lot of his research, he feels like you need 10,000 hours before, he basically just doesn't believe in the idea of a natural talent. And I tend to agree with it, I think that you do have to put in the time. And what's cool is once you get to that level of 10,000 hours, or just a ton of effort that you've put in, you don't really lose that level. 

Kris Hampton  17:36

Right.

Cody Roth  17:37

 Like the years that I lived in Austria, I got into freeride snowboarding quite a bit as well. And sometimes I take like six weeks off of climbing or seven weeks off of climbing and just put all my energy into snowboarding. And typically when I would come back after six or seven weeks off, after a day of messing around going out cragging I could onsight 13b again.

Kris Hampton  17:54

Right

Cody Roth  17:54

And then maybe like that kind of base level, once you put in that time, you just don't really lose it.

Kris Hampton  17:59

Yeah, totally. I think if you work hard, and like you just said build up to a certain base level, it comes back so fast. You know, and and some research says that it's good to step away for those, those short breaks, you know, the four to six weeks breaks now then.

Cody Roth  18:15

Yeah, at different times. It definitely helps my motivation and helps me not get injured.

Kris Hampton  18:19

Yeah, I think that's huge, being motivated. And you have to do what you're psyched on, you know, to do what's making you happy at the time. So I think that's a smart play to move away and do something else you're stoked on. 

Cody Roth  18:32

Yeah. But um, no, like looking back at that time. I mean, Innsbruck was really great for my human development. It was amazing. 

Kris Hampton  18:38

Yeah

Cody Roth  18:39

But it was just like such a social scene in a way maybe it was a little bit overwhelming. Like, I don't think I was quite mature enough for like what I was taking on. Like, if I look back on it, I still think it's crazy that I was like, 20 years old. And 

Kris Hampton  18:49

Yeah.

Cody Roth  18:50

Renting into my own apartment working jobs under the table like... 

Kris Hampton  18:53

Yep. 

Cody Roth  18:53

Just living like hand to mouth completely. On the minimum. If I look back at it, I'm like, I can't believe I did that. It worked. 

Kris Hampton  18:59

But just loving it.

Cody Roth  19:00

But just loving it. Yeah. But yeah, I'm I really I used the word partying. I think on 8a when they asked me some questions, and it was more It's not that I was like, it's just more that I was into socializing, you know? 

Kris Hampton  19:10

Sure.

Cody Roth  19:10

 So I'd be psyched on going to a concert and then hanging out with friends until three in the morning, I'd want to do everything. And I think that was, maybe it's just part of learning in a way, but like, I didn't realize, okay, I thought that I could do everything. And then as you start to get into your late 20s, your late 30s are like, okay, no, I do have to prioritize a little bit. And...

Kris Hampton  19:27

Yeah, so what are those priorities? What are you changing now that you think is different? 

Cody Roth  19:32

I mean, now what's really nice is I have a really structured way of living. For the last three years, I've been working full time as an IRATA rope access trainer. Okay, so basically what that means is I train for the most part trades people how to work on ropes, so it's like a really safe two rope system. It's an international association and an international accreditation. And yeah, so typically for the last two years, the way my works worked is I do 26 courses. You're 26 weeks of work. And then the rest of the time I have free.

Kris Hampton  20:03

So I see your half year on half year off.

Kris Hampton  20:06

Right .

Cody Roth  20:06

 Yeah, I mean, technically it's a full time job.

Cody Roth  20:08

I get paid as if I'm a full time worker, but really, I have half of the year to climb...

Kris Hampton  20:12

Oh man that's nice.

Cody Roth  20:12

...and do what I want to do. But it also requires me to be a little bit focused. I live in Austin and my works in Houston. So when I'm in Houston, you know, typical day for me starts by waking up at six o'clock, getting the training center ready. Working until four o'clock, trying to be traffic to get to the gym in Houston to do a training session. 

Kris Hampton  20:30

Yeah.

Cody Roth  20:30

If traffic's heinous, or if I don't get there. Luckily, we're our training centers. There's a CrossFit gym right next door. And they've been really good neighbors. So I don't do CrossFit. But I'll go in there, and I'll use the rowing machine and I'll roll 10 kilometers, or, yeah, the last year and a half, I've been doing quite a bit of rowing, we're typically on a week in Houston I'll row 20 kilometers on the week, normally, two times a week, I'll row 10Ks, they've got a pegboard there as well. And then I've got a hangboard that I have with me. So some weeks, I'll be so busy that I won't make it to the gym. But if I can't make it to the gym, I just make sure that I keep my body active.

Kris Hampton  21:01

Yeah. And you've got your training set up that you can do with. 

Cody Roth  21:04

Yeah. And I'm always tweaking it a little bit. Yeah, I'm not really regimented in my training, but I just tried to look at the projects that I'm doing and try to figure out, Okay, what am I lacking? And then like, with this project I, Me, Mine, I was definitely lacking a little bit of finger strength. So just doing a little bit to maintain the finger strength, just doing enough to maintain some power endurance. 

Kris Hampton  21:23

Yeah.

Cody Roth  21:24

 I'm still with me with my climbing. I'm not ever doing one style. So I'm also trying to just maintain fitness and everything. Yeah, because I'll try that project here. And then I'll also want to go to Europe and do like 30 meter route. 

Kris Hampton  21:36

Right.

Cody Roth  21:36

 So I tried to just focus a little bit on everything. And I think it's also important to know your strengths and know your weaknesses. 

Kris Hampton  21:42

Definitely, that's huge. 

Cody Roth  21:44

And to train your strengths really hard. Like you shouldn't, you shouldn't say, Okay, I'm strong at this. I'm just going to let it fall to the wayside and practice this thing on this thing that I'm weak at. You still got to know. Okay, that's my strength. So I still need to perfect that and then emphasize a little bit of specific stuff with your weaknesses. 

Kris Hampton  21:59

Yeah, I think it's important to have, you know, my clients who have a very specific strength and a very specific weakness, I definitely load their training toward their weaknesses, but I'd like them to spend at least a quarter of their time on their strengths. You know, that keeps you motivated. If nothing else, because your that's where you're performing really well. And that's what keeps us stoked to keep going.

Cody Roth  22:21

 Yeah.

Kris Hampton  22:22

 Are you getting outside during this six months of work?

Cody Roth  22:25

I am. So typically the way it works is I'll have a week in Houston, and then I'll have a week off back home in Austin. Okay, so I go through a really intense work week, and then the following week, I have completely free.

Kris Hampton  22:34

And that's throughout the whole year.

Cody Roth  22:36

 And that's throughout the whole year. 

Kris Hampton  22:37

Okay.

Cody Roth  22:37

On occasion, sometimes, depending on just the demand with clients. Sometimes I'll have to work three weeks, four weeks in a row. 

Kris Hampton  22:43

Yeah.

Cody Roth  22:44

 But then usually that means that I can then take three weeks to go to Europe or four weeks off for various amounts of time in a row or extra time at Christmas.

Kris Hampton  22:53

 Yeah. So I'm curious more about this route. I know that, you know, when you came back to the states originally from Innsbruck, or from Europe, you repeated or did the FA of have some old trad project, is that right? 

Cody Roth  23:09

Yeah. I Did.

Kris Hampton  23:10

I kinda remember reading about that a while ago?

Cody Roth  23:13

Yeah, I did a couple tread first two cents in New Mexico and I came back. The one that I did the first ascent of had been this kind of iconic line just above the city of Albuquerque where I grew up. It's like 10,000 feet, and on just this beautifully striking granite wall that looks more like sandstone than it does granite.

Kris Hampton  23:30

 Yeah, yeah. There was a video of that one right?

Cody Roth  23:31

 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 

Kris Hampton  23:33

What's the name of it?

Cody Roth  23:33

What that one's called date with death. Okay. And before before, you know the C threes and the really small cams it was rumored to be kind of like an X rated route. 

Kris Hampton  23:42

Right. Right.

Cody Roth  23:43

 And the tragic thing about it the guy who had the vision for the line he fell on like the very last move on his best burn supposedly, like rumor has it a photographer was out that day and was in the way on this ledge. That you have to mantel on to so I guess he was pumped. The photographer was in the way and he fell, like 90% of the 99% he did the climb you know...

Kris Hampton  24:03

Right. 

Cody Roth  24:04

He just didn't clip the chains 

Kris Hampton  24:05

Yep. 

Cody Roth  24:05

But it was far enough away to where you couldn't give him you know, it wasn't above the chain. It was still like you almost did it. But you didn't do it. 

Kris Hampton  24:11

Yeah.

Cody Roth  24:11

So because of that incident, it was always like it has been climbed has not been climbed. But

Kris Hampton  24:15

 Right. 

Cody Roth  24:15

He never really claimed it as climbed. John Duran was this guy's name. 

Cody Roth  24:19

He was also kind of like a Gary Newman of climbing where I think he was definitely... 

Kris Hampton  24:19

Okay. 

Kris Hampton  24:23

ahead of his time

Cody Roth  24:24

 ahead of his time. Then it's a weird route. The first I mean, it's bullet rock. In the first 65 feet of it you can protect it reasonably well with gear, then the gear kind of dries out. So there's two really old bolts on the top that he placed by hand. And without at least one of the bolts had definitely be like super death, borderline free solo.

Kris Hampton  24:44

 Yeah.

Cody Roth  24:44

Kinda climb. So I did clip the bolts at the top on that line. But yeah, and a lot of the stuff in the Sandias around Albuquerque they follow that style where it's like really creative gear placement. And then where there's no chance to place gear, then there's a hand drilled bolt. It's all in the wilderness. So 

Kris Hampton  24:59

Gotcha. Yeah. 

Cody Roth  25:00

Power drilling can't occur there, which is kind of cool that it's preserved to this sort of unique kind of hybrid style of climbing.

Kris Hampton  25:06

Yep. Are you more motivated by FA than you are repeats?

Cody Roth  25:11

Not really, if it's if a route just looks really cool more than anything, I want to do it. It is exciting to like when I've bolted my own routes, or when I've rediscovered route on my own and finding the sequence and the methods on your own. That's like a really exciting discovery. 

Kris Hampton  25:25

Right.

Cody Roth  25:25

And you lose out on that when you're repeating things. But at the end of the day, if the line looks amazing, I'm just motivated climb it

Kris Hampton  25:32

Yeah. is the one you just did. Was that something you put the bolts into? Or was it an established project?

Cody Roth  25:40

I didnt' actually. It was established, everything was in place. It changed, there was a hold to the kind of deteriorated in the time that I was doing it. And I had to come up with a totally new sequence this year because of that. So then...

Kris Hampton  25:52

 how much time...

Cody Roth  25:53

...I was mainly working at alone?

Kris Hampton  25:54

How much time did you put into it prior to the hold deteriorating?

Cody Roth  25:57

Quite a bit of time. So that's definitely a little bit hard on the head when it was like within spitting distance, where it was like, Oh, this is gonna happen any day. And when did that happen? I guess it was. I went to Europe for a work trip in November and did some climbing afterwards. And then yeah, I came back in like, this hold just wasn't the same. I don't know if it crumbled a little bit while I was trying it on my last good try. And I didn't realize.

Kris Hampton  26:20

Right.

Cody Roth  26:21

I don't really know what happened. But luckily, I found another hold. And with that hold, I was able to make a new sequence. 

Kris Hampton  26:27

Okay.

Cody Roth  26:27

But yeah, mentally, it was really frustrating.

Kris Hampton  26:29

Yeah, well, What went through your head that first day back and you're like, Oh, no, the holds basically gone?

Cody Roth  26:35

Luckily, I could do the other move fairly quickly. But then as I started to link that, so I was pretty optimistic. And not to determined.

Kris Hampton  26:40

So you pretty quickly started looking for another solution?

Cody Roth  26:42

Pretty quickly, I looked for another solution. I was like, it's just not the same. It can't be at first I thought, actually, I guess No, that's not true. It took a few days. Initially, I thought that I was just weaker. And then the more I looked at, I was like, no, that holds just not the same hold. And then from there, I did find another hold. But and I first I was quite optimistic. I thought it's not going to change a thing. But then as I started to try the to link the movement, I realized that it was quite a drastic change. And that it was definitely like, kind of going back to the drawing board.

Kris Hampton  27:11

Yeah, you kind of you kind of glossed right over that it took a couple of days. But I think that's pretty important. Because in the span of a couple of days, I mean, some people haven't even spent a couple of days on a route ever in their life, you know, and walking up to something you've put work on, put work into getting to the move, and, and all of a sudden, something's different, something's changed. A lot of people just bail right then and there, you know, like, that can't do it anymore, you know, and just be pissed off and angry. So what, what kept you coming back for a couple of days?

Cody Roth  27:48

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  27:48

To keep trying something you could do previously. And now all of a sudden couldn't do?

Cody Roth  27:52

 I guess the challenge, because I knew it still has to be possible. And I didn't want to go around in circles. 

Kris Hampton  27:56

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  27:56

I didn't want to just be pissed off and lament the facts, because somebody is going to climb it if I'm not gonna climb it.

Kris Hampton  28:01

Mm hmm.

Cody Roth  28:02

 So I thought I might as well put all of my effort into it, I started to try it. What was cool about that was I got a little bit burned out on the route. And so I started to try some of the other harder lines on the cliff, and I had success on those. And then, yeah, I kind of took my foot off the gas, but it actually really benefited me, I started trying some other lines on the cliff. And for a while I was like totally focused just on that line. So after that happened, I still put a lot of energy into it. And I wasn't seeing progress. And then I kind of took my foot off the gas played around on some other lines still didn't like, forget about it. So typically, I'd warm up I'd give one maximum two tries. It's pretty hard on the skin. 

Kris Hampton  28:39

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  28:40

So I'd give two like honest burns on it, and then I pack it up and then go check out other things on the cliff. 

Kris Hampton  28:45

Okay. 

Cody Roth  28:46

And I think that was really important, I think just for keeping the psych.

Kris Hampton  28:50

Yeah, I think you're right. Nate and I were just talking about that with our trips to Hueco and how they're going and it's definitely tough to keep motivated if you're not topping out anything.

Cody Roth  29:01

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  29:01

You know.

Cody Roth  29:02

 And it's also hard when you you know, when you know that a line is close, and you're excited about it. It's hard not to get totally tunneled in.

Kris Hampton  29:08

 Yeah.

Cody Roth  29:08

When I was younger, I would never do that. But the older I get, and the more that I realize it's fleeting sometimes I get suckered into doing it. 

Kris Hampton  29:14

Oh Yeah, I do for sure.

Cody Roth  29:16

 It's but yeah, it's good also to try other movement. And sometimes it's surprising that even though you're less focused, there's also that element of less pressure. 

Kris Hampton  29:24

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  29:24

I think once I started to try some other routes on the cliff and have some success, I went back to that one with a lot less pressure. And I think that Definitely...

Kris Hampton  29:32

Yeah, I think it's also probably important that you're in an area that doesn't have dozens of 14c's and 14d's?

Cody Roth  29:40

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  29:41

You know, or you might have just bailed on that one and move to another one.

Cody Roth  29:45

 Right, which is a little bit of what I did, but I had put so much effort into that route. I didn't want to just like completely forget about it. 

Kris Hampton  29:50

Yeah

Cody Roth  29:51

It's like no, I have to keep on trying to move on. I have to keep on trying because yeah, I've put more work into this than anything else I've put work into. I'm not just like, going to let it go with without a fight. 

Kris Hampton  30:01

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  30:02

But no trying other routes and I think just for my confidence, it gave me a lot of confidence. The weeks before I did it, I flashed my first 14a nice and then I did a couple of 14cs. One I downgraded but doing those routes and a handful of tries that made me confident and...

Kris Hampton  30:16

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  30:16

What I was trying and the amount of time that I was putting in it gave me conviction, I guess to Alright, this is definitely hard. 

Kris Hampton  30:22

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  30:23

And just to kind of Bunker down.

Kris Hampton  30:25

Yeah, that's pretty cool. And you said you think it's fleeting? How fleeting do you think it is?

Cody Roth  30:29

I mean, I want to think that it's not fleeting, because I feel really good. Yet at the same time. There's no telling three years ago, I had a weird compartment injury, my left arm,  And I lost probably nine months of climbing in one year. And I spent a lot of time surfing. 

Kris Hampton  30:42

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  30:43

And yeah, like when my girlfriends and I when we first started dating, she was a climber and a surfer as well. I just come back from South Africa. I'd spent a lot of time there. And I've been battling the injury before I went there. I went there did sport climbing and bouldering during that trip. I stayed, I managed to stay there. 80 days that trip. It was just a great trip. But um, yeah, by the end of it, like this injury was becoming so debilitating that the last bit of my trip in South Africa i'd just been surfing and put climbing completely on the backburner. 

Kris Hampton  31:10

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  31:10

And then when I came back, we started dating and she was into surfing as well, we were both living in New Mexico, not really the ideal place for surfers to live.

Kris Hampton  31:18

Right. Yeah.

Cody Roth  31:18

We were like putting the boards in the car driving 12 hours to San Diego to surf like for three days or four days, we did a couple surf trips to Nicaragua. And I was just like, she kind of thought that I was like, not going to climb anymore.

Kris Hampton  31:30

Over climbing.

Cody Roth  31:31

Or that it was just going to be like a fitness kind of social thing for me. 

Kris Hampton  31:34

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  31:34

But um, but as that arm started to heal, I got hungry again. But, it took about a year there for me to get that hunger and the motivation back.

Kris Hampton  31:42

Yeah. You know, I think it's easy to, to believe that as we get older, it's it that it is fleeting, you know, and maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that puts a little bit of pressure on us. And I think you sort of alluded to that in the 8a write up. And, you know, I sort of feel the same thing as a 40 plus year old climber who's really just discovered bouldering. I feel like, and I've said this multiple times over the last few weeks that I feel like I need to learn to boulder hard while I still can, you know, and, you know, I wish I would have tried to boulder this way in my 20s or in my early 30s. But the fact is, I feel like I'm still getting better, you know, and you're climbing better than you ever have. So maybe it's not as fleeting as you think, you know, but maybe that pressure is good.

Cody Roth  32:31

Yeah, I think it is good. I mean, I see a lot of examples to where I think that it's not fleeting. 

Kris Hampton  32:35

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  32:35

Like one of my best friends back in Innsbruck, he's 42 now and like, just last year, he quietly freed the Mirror Wall. 

Kris Hampton  32:42

Yeah. Nice.

Cody Roth  32:43

 And it's like doing some of his best sport climbing is still in 14c climbing shape. 

Kris Hampton  32:47

Yeah.

Cody Roth  32:47

And doing tons of stuff. And he's 42 and it looks just as fit as he did when we were climbing together when he was the age that I am now. 

Kris Hampton  32:54

Right. 

Cody Roth  32:55

So yeah, I see it in Arno Petite. There's a lot of people Stevie Haston. Who's...

Kris Hampton  32:59

Yeah, the Yuji Hirayamas'

Cody Roth  33:01

The Yuji Hirayamas'. There's definitely where I think, no, I think climbing can continue on. The hard thing with climbing i think is the power sport like surfing I can see doing that well in the 70s. 

Kris Hampton  33:10

Definitely.

Cody Roth  33:11

 And but again, it's like much more a style sport and a technique sport, whereas climbing you do have that raw power. 

Kris Hampton  33:17

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  33:18

That risk of injury. 

Kris Hampton  33:19

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  33:19

And all the rest of it.

Kris Hampton  33:21

Are you feeling like like I know, BJ has bumped up against this and Lander where he feels like he's done most of the hard things. And he's having a hard time searching things out. And you're going to be here in Austin for another four or five years. You said something like that?

Cody Roth  33:36

Yeah. No, no telling at this point.

Kris Hampton  33:38

Are you feeling like you've bumped up against some sort of glass ceiling here?

Cody Roth  33:42

There's still enough projects in your here that I don't feel quite that way. 

Kris Hampton  33:45

Okay. 

Cody Roth  33:45

But four to five years. If I continue with the vein of form that I have at the moment, I could maybe start to feel that way. 

Kris Hampton  33:51

Yeah

Cody Roth  33:52

We do have Mexico not too far away. Okay. But still, it's a six hour drive. There's also some stuff in West Texas that's kind of unexplored along the Pecos River. 

Kris Hampton  34:01

Yeah.

Cody Roth  34:01

Actually, in closer in San Antonio there's also some climbing that I haven't checked out. 

Kris Hampton  34:05

Oh, really?

Cody Roth  34:06

It's also on private property and also somewhat access challenging potentially.

Kris Hampton  34:10

Make you have to work for it. 

Cody Roth  34:12

Yeah. So I think there's enough that I can stay entertained. The big thing that's new for me here is that it's so warm here. I've never lived in a place so warm. 

Kris Hampton  34:20

Right.

Cody Roth  34:21

 So your season is a little bit shorter. We do have really good deep water soloing in the summer. But the last years there's been so much water here that it hasn't been it's all been underwater. 

Kris Hampton  34:29

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  34:30

So like this last summer was definitely a little bit grim for me. I spent so much time in the gym. I've just like put my head down and did a ton of work took on as much work as I could so that I could have free time in the winter. 

Kris Hampton  34:41

Yeah.

Cody Roth  34:42

And just plugged away at the gym.

Kris Hampton  34:44

Yeah, you've kind of taken the, you know, a different path, I think than most of the you know, the accomplished sport climbers in America and you're certainly in this, you know, climbing at around the same level that they are. Do you like that sort of underdog Dark Horse feel? Something you enjoy?

Cody Roth  35:06

Yeah, it's comfortable for me because I've always been the dark horse. I was the kid from New Mexico competing in Colorado. And then I was the kid from New Mexico sleeping in a tent competing in a World Cup. 

Kris Hampton  35:16

Right, right.

Cody Roth  35:17

With a really, really small budget. So yeah, I've always been used to being the dark horse. The one thing that is really nice now for me is that I have this job that gives me a really nice income that there's no pressure like to climb well. That's whereas in the past, all of my money was from sponsorship from routesetting. There was like this constant pressure to have a personality to have success to do all this stuff. And now what I really like is I feel no pressure at all, like tomorrow, I can have no sponsors, and it doesn't change anything.

Kris Hampton  35:44

Right.

Cody Roth  35:45

 I'm still gonna own this house that I own, I'm still gonna have work. And it's nice to have value outside of climbing that I've really grown to appreciate the last three years. 

Alex Puccio  35:53

Yeah, definitely. When you were when you were dirt bagging around Europe and doing these World Cups. In your head, did getting a career and getting a job and having that structured life. Did that seem like the death of climbing?

Cody Roth  36:07

Yeah, I wasn't sure. I was living so much in the moment that I just kind of felt like I wasn't gonna live past 30. 

Kris Hampton  36:13

Yeah, yeah.

Cody Roth  36:13

 And then suddenly, you get to 28 29 30. And I go, man, I guess I am maybe gonna be around for a while. 

Kris Hampton  36:19

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  36:20

So yeah, I think I was living so much in the moment that I was just trying to put it off. But then once I hit around 28 29, then reality kind of sets in. And yeah, and you realize that you maybe do have to start planning for your future? 

Kris Hampton  36:33

Yeah. And I don't think it's, you know, honestly, I don't think it's all that different. When you're, when you're a dirtbag, and you're making it all work and making it happen. You're just this resourceful human as it is, you know, so that when you have a career and a structure, you just become that same resourceful person and make your situation work.

Cody Roth  36:52

Yeah, exactly. 

Kris Hampton  36:53

You know, I, I just I'm thinking about it, because there's so many kids staying at the ranch at the Rock Ranch. And they're all just, you know, living the dirtbag life right now, which is super fun to watch. You know, I'm 20 years older than almost all of them. So it's it's super fun to watch. But I think they all think about as, think about getting a career as like the death of their climbing life, you know, and I don't think it's that way at all. And I think you're right in the midst of proving that, which is pretty cool to see.

Cody Roth  37:21

Yeah, I think you just have to find something that works for you.

Kris Hampton  37:24

 Yeah. 

Cody Roth  37:25

And be creative. 

Kris Hampton  37:26

Yeah. 

Cody Roth  37:26

Again, I think what you touched on with having resourceful this climbing definitely teaches you how to be resourceful. 

Kris Hampton  37:31

Yeah, definitely.

Cody Roth  37:32

And how to not be wasteful. So there's definitely a lot of skills that you can learn there that you can apply. Toso many other things and still find a balance.

Kris Hampton  37:39

Yep. So you said you're maybe gonna head back to Europe. That's the ultimate plan. Eventually.

Cody Roth  37:45

Maybe I could see moving back there at some point. 

Kris Hampton  37:48

Yeah.

Cody Roth  37:48

We'll see how things develop in the coming years. But yeah, I definitely do love Europe. I could definitely see myself living in Slovenia, or Croatia. Or even Sardinia, the island of Sardinia I really love.

Kris Hampton  38:01

Is that where Stevie is?

Cody Roth  38:03

 Stevie's in Malta.

Kris Hampton  38:04

 Malta that's right.

Cody Roth  38:05

Also looks like a really cool Island. I haven't been there it's definitely on my list.

Kris Hampton  38:08

Yeah, it looks amazing man. And again the you know the opposite path you're not you're not headed to Spain to you know, live the sport climbing life.

Cody Roth  38:18

Spain's a little too crowded I think for my tastes and I want to live in a place Sardinia really would be ideal. I want to live in a place where I can surf and climb. 

Kris Hampton  38:24

Yeah.

Cody Roth  38:25

 And my girlfriend and I we've done a couple trips there climbing and surfing. We've just had such a great time. They're so. If I were there, everything worked out I hope that maybe five years time or so that that could maybe be a place that we'll be living.

Kris Hampton  38:37

Yeah. And I'm sure their projects they're waiting to get done. Endless.

Cody Roth  38:40

I mean, Sardinia is such a magical place. It's kind of like I kind of describe it as the Wyoming of Europe. 

Kris Hampton  38:47

Yeah.

Cody Roth  38:47

Like if you stuck Wyoming in the middle of the Mediterranean, that's kind of Sardinia there's way more open space there than other parts of Europe. 

Kris Hampton  38:53

Really?

Cody Roth  38:53

 It's not at all overpopulated. There's it's just such a gorgeous place. And the I really love the fact that there's so much open space there and endless amounts of like climbing and uncrowded places surfing and uncrowded places. A good climate. nice people.

Kris Hampton  39:10

Cool. Nate, you have any questions? Any thoughts?

Nate Drolet  39:14

Yeah. Seems like you've had a bunch of like kind of big transitions in your life between like, different types of climbing and also just where you've lived either like New Mexico or Europe. And now Austin. Do you feel like there's been any big constants that have helped you kind of stay grounded through all that?

Cody Roth  39:35

Yeah, I guess so. Definitely. The friends that I've had in each of these cities have been really important. Like the community I had an Innsbrook It was so good for my development. There were so many good people supporting me there and who had my back? Yeah, like just too many to count and Innsbruck taught me a lot about community. There's a lot of really good things within the culture there. That were really valuable to learn, you know, and Innsbruck if somebody has a good day and they send the crag, rather than everybody saying, oh, we're not worthy, we're not worthy. Come to the bar and we'll buy you a bunch of beers in Innsbruck. It's more the attitude is no, you had a good day. So you're gonna buy everybody else beers. Because like, you're like trying to pass on your good fortune. It's more the attitude as I was really fortunate. So the beers are on me, Thanks for supporting me, we can, like celebrate that, you know, like learning that side of things. I think that was really important for my development. Because when you're younger, and when you're having to put all of your money and all of your effort into climbing, it's easy to get selfish. But seeing that attitude of just sharing was really good for me, I think. Yeah, my family's always been like, emotionally supportive, with what I'm doing with climbing. And also my friends who I grew up with climbing in New Mexico to this day, they still support me, and they did a lot for me. I did do a lot of self training. But I also had a really good coach in my younger days, who kind of brought me up to a level and also gave me the freedom to kind of experiment he'd make kind of general training guidelines and plans. And then from there, Lance Hadfield, his name, he's still the head route setter and manager of the Stone Age climbing gym in Albuquerque, which is where I grew up. That gym was like, really important in my development, too. I think. Initially, when I started climbing, I started climbing outside. There was like a horrendous gym that had mattresses on the floor and like rocks glued on to plywood with Sica. It was just a bad scene, the guy who ran it was convinced the belay loops were the death of everybody. And all of his followers cut their belay loops with knives. Like I can remember that being 12. And like when I got my new harness, and I was at the gym, and like these people were older than me in their 20s there weren't a lot of kids climbing there. You go to the gym and you'd have whatever your regular harness and they'd be like on and I just cut belay loop off with a knife and it only took one minute, I'm not sure about that webbing, it must not be that strong. You're just like cutting toxins into these people, you know, where it's like, Man, that stuff's like 22 kilonewtons strong. What are you talking about? Of course, it's gonna break if you take a sharp knife to it. It's not rocket science, you know, so Stoneage coming in and opening at that time, what was a really compared to what was there definitely a state of the art facility that was definitely really pivotal, pivotal in my development as a climber. And just the it was, I think I did have an advantage in that I was one of the few kids climbing in the city. A lot of the older climbers kind of took me under their wing, let me travel with him. And it forced me to be kind of mature and responsibility. And now here in Austin, there's just so many great people in the city, that are all motivated, the climb and supportive and we just all tend to support each other. We grill together when we're done climbing. We do other things outside of climbing, it was similar in Innsbruck, that way to that the social side of things was really important, and that it wasn't like the focus was never that it was all on you. And even like now, it's cool like Kilian Fischhuber and Anna Stoher. They're like on talk shows and Austria and they're really well known. But they walk around the city of Innsbruck where they live like normal people, you know, nobody stops them. Nobody harasses them, no, but they're just like seen as regular people, also at the climbing gym, that they go to train, there's not a whole lot of like, star power, I guess, or like star obsession that really hasn't caught on there.

Kris Hampton  43:10

Yeah, um, I think that was a great question, Nate. And I'm stoked that, that it's your answer like that the community played such a huge part in it, because that's, that's something we've really tried to focus on, you know, in building the Power Company. And, you know, we just think the the community's the most important part of it. And, I mean, I just hit you up via Facebook Messenger, like, three hours ago, and you were like, Yeah, come to my house. You know, let's talk. I think that's one of the coolest things about this community.

Cody Roth  43:39

Yeah. I love that about climbing. And when you travel, you see a similar thing. Like that trip we did to Peru. I saw a few photos on the internet. Figured out who posted the photos, figured out his email address, wrote him a message. And he was like, Oh, yeah, I'll pick you up at the airport. I was like, cool. Bring back 200 bolts. 

Kris Hampton  43:54

Yeah totally.

Cody Roth  43:55

 So over, we can bolt and we'll leave him and he picked us up at the airport. And like, it was amazing. And even this last for Christmas, New Year's this year, we went climbing on mainland Greece. And like the climbing scene on mainland Greece is like what the climbing scene was in Albuquerque in the 1990s. 

Kris Hampton  44:10

Right.

Cody Roth  44:10

 Only they have like, ridiculously amazing limestone as far as I can see. Yeah. And so a few people climbing, but like a similar thing, where we got in touch with a guy who was a developer in Bolting routes there. And this is just a super cool dude. He worked as an engineer. And he's like, unfortunately, I have a lot of work this week. We like arrange to the cafe where we would meet and he wanted to give us a guide. And so we're hanging out at the cafe and he's like, oh, because I can't go climbing with you. I've got to pay your food bill. No, no, you can't pay your food is like it. Here's your guide, like that side of climbing. I love so much where there's that side of it. That's, just like as long as I want to, as long as I climb, I want to contribute in that same same way. I want to support younger climbers the same way I was supported. I want to try and be I don't know a little bit of a role model that way.

Kris Hampton  44:55

Yeah, that's that's a good way to do it. I think it's a you know, it's a hugely widespread, but really tight knit community. I think that's, that's really cool. And it's, you know, having people like you, who were mentored that way, and then giving back. I think that's gonna keep it going. So

Cody Roth  45:12

Let's hope, let's hope. Yeah, I'm blown away at how many people are climbing now, just in the 23 years that I've been involved with it just like in the last five years. 

Kris Hampton  45:20

Yeah.

Cody Roth  45:21

We're definitely going to have some challenges with that. Of course, a lot of good is going to come out of that, too. 

Kris Hampton  45:26

Yeah.

Cody Roth  45:26

I really hope that also sponsored climbers and people who are pursuing it professionally, that it's going to put more money in their pockets. Because compared to with is popular is climbing is getting I think it's kind of a travesty that for the most part, so many talented people are so underpaid. You know, you compare to a sport like surfing, like the top surfers making 5.5 million the top competition surfers making $5.5 million a year.

Kris Hampton  45:50

Right.

Cody Roth  45:52

 And for sure, Surfing is bigger than climbing. But is it that much bigger?

Kris Hampton  45:54

 Right.

Cody Roth  45:55

 Like there's such a?

Kris Hampton  45:57

Yeah, yeah, hard to say I, I agree, I hope that a lot more money makes it to the the best athletes, you know, they're the ones who inspire everyone else and keep everybody else motivated to go out. And, you know, I think they deserve it. And just like in every other sport. So.

Cody Roth  46:13

And I hope as well with the associations that they'll be able to get more funding. Another tragedy I see with like, the development of climbing in America, country like Australia, country like France, basically, every European country, Holland included, which doesn't even have a single rock in the country. They have a sports council, you know, that's recorded by the government. So then as a sport, like climbing becomes recognized, they can then draw money from the sport council. So what that means is the kids who have talent, like none of it's coming out of their parents pockets. If they go to the World Championships in China, or wherever it is, like the Federation is covering those costs. It's meaning that the most talented people are getting the opportunity, rather than just the people who have money. And I think in America, that's gonna be a big challenge with climbing right now. Gym memberships are getting ridiculously expensive. 

Kris Hampton  46:59

Yep. 

Cody Roth  47:00

And then for anybody who has talent, like it takes such sacrifice, and I think a lot of talent is probably getting overlooked or turning to other sports. Because, there's just not the support.

Kris Hampton  47:11

Yeah, I think you're right. And I think that the, you know, maybe the dirt bagging life saves that for the for the outdoor climber, but that doesn't necessarily work in America for the competition climber.

Cody Roth  47:24

Right. Or just and also just for developing,  the best possible talent. Even if it's rock climbing, it's still not the easiest thing to pursue, or the Yeah, the thing, if there is more money coming in, hopefully, that can also help climbers who are looking to climb outside also, like, in Austria, and even in Greece, for that matter, like the local tourist councils and whatnot, are giving money for bolt, and paying, like people real routes to go bolt routes. You know, like, if you're good at bolting routes, you can kind of turn that into like a side income. There's also a lot of development that way, which I think it's also good that it supports the people who are contributing so much to the sport.

Kris Hampton  48:05

Yeah, I think we've got a lot to learn over here. So hopefully we do.

Cody Roth  48:09

Yeah, knock on wood.

Kris Hampton  48:10

Hopefully the the added. What's the word I'm looking for here? the you know, the added attention that it's getting? turns it into something positive. So

Cody Roth  48:21

Let's hope I'm optimistic.

Kris Hampton  48:23

Yeah. Well, man, thanks for, you know, inviting us in and letting us just crash your house here. So

Cody Roth  48:30

Anytime.

Kris Hampton  48:31

I appreciate it. Yeah,

Cody Roth  48:33

yeah. No, I enjoy your podcast.

Kris Hampton  48:35

Thanks, man. 

Kris Hampton  48:35

And your rap music.

Cody Roth  48:38

Yeah, I also wanted to ask you, you're so you started off as like an offwidth climber? 

Kris Hampton  48:41

Yeah, totally.

Cody Roth  48:42

And invested alot of years trad climbing. And now your main focus is  bouldereing?

Kris Hampton  48:46

Right now. I think it is. Yeah, you know, I I definitely went the sport climbing direction for a while. And ultimately, my goal was to build my skills for trad climbing. I wanted to do big long climbs. And, you know, I feel like right, now's the time, I need to be bouldering. While I can, like I said earlier, and, you know, I'll eventually parlay all that over into into trad climbing again. 

Cody Roth  49:13

Yeah. And living in Lander, you're gonna have the Winds?

Kris Hampton  49:16

 Yeah, yeah. I'm so stoked to get into the Winds.

Cody Roth  49:18

Fun things around. 

Kris Hampton  49:19

And there's a lot of guys around there who are getting more and more stoked on trad climbing. So yeah, I'm psyched to get out with those guys. For sure.

Cody Roth  49:27

 Yeah, that's a cool evolution.

Kris Hampton  49:28

Yeah, you have to come up and we'll go. We'll go into the wind.

Cody Roth  49:31

It won't take much.

Kris Hampton  49:33

Yeah. Awesome, man. Well, thanks.

Cody Roth  49:35

A pleasure. Thank you so much.

Kris Hampton  49:39

I just want to, you know, make this point one more time that that community is really such an important part of what we're doing. I know Cody and I talked about it a little in the podcast and i've you know, maybe I've harped on this before in the past, but, but really, that's what it comes down to. And I just think it's amazing that I can hit this guy up that up. Never met. And a couple hours later I'm in his house and we're having this conversation that seems like we've known each other forever, you know, and that's pretty cool to me. So thanks, Cody, for having us over and thanks to Austin and Crux Climbing Center again for bringing us out to Austin to begin with. And we've got lots of things coming up. So stay tuned for sure you guys are getting another episode before the end of the month because I promised three if you got us over the hump on our Patreon site, and if more you guys want to become patrons and keep these things coming and more episodes per month, you know that's what's gonna happen. That's patreon.com/powercompanypodcast. You can find us there. You can find us at powercompanyclimbing.com we're on the Facebook's we're on the Instagrams we're even on the Pinterest. If you need things to be excited about and images and recipes and whatever else we got all sorts of things on Pinterest. I don't know what it does. Some of you do some of you love Pinterest. So go find is there. You're not however going to find is on the Twitter, because we don't tweet. We scream like eagles.