Episode 35: Tanner Wilson is a Not So Average Joe

Tanner Wilson is a 22 year old climber from the middle of Ohio who just went on his first extended road trip of over five weeks.  Originally he had one big goal planned for the trip, but just before hitting the road he made a mature decision and changed his mind about what he wanted to accomplish.  Because of the new goals, Tanner learned several important lessons... ones that take most of us many trips and seasons to absorb.  

Share us on your social medias and, as always, thanks for listening.

We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.

Like what you hear?  Subscribe to The Power Company Podcast on ITunes, Google Play, or Stitcher Radio, and leave a rating and review!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Kris Hampton  00:01

This episode of the Power Company Podcast is brought to you by you. It's all about you, made specifically for you and kept sponsor-free because of you. Thanks for listening and for helping us build this.

Tanner Wilson  00:18

As soon as I saw it, I knew that I was like, this is what I want to do. I'm not I don't even care if it's a V9, I don't care if it's like a V4. Its the coolest boulder problem I've ever seen.

Kris Hampton  00:45

What's up everybody? I'm your host, Kris Hampton. Welcome to the Not So Average series from The Power Company Codcast brought to you by powercompanyclimbing.com. In this series, we talked to the regular folks out there, you know, the people just like you, and we try to find out why you're not so average. In this episode, we're talking with a 22 year old climber and friend of mine, Tanner Wilson.

Tanner Wilson  01:10

 I'm Tanner Wilson. I've been climbing for four and a half years, although it would be five years this summer. And I'm from Miamisburg, Ohio, a little town just south of Dayton. 

Kris Hampton  01:21

And that's Dayton, Ohio, not Dayton, Tennessee, lest you think that Tanner's lucky to be close to so much really great climbing. I'm from Ohio and I understand Tanner's predicament. The predicament of everyone in Ohio who wants to be a boulder it's there's not a whole lot of great bouldering nearby, and Tanner went on his first big road trip this winter. And shortly after he posted on our Power Company Community page on Facebook, five lessons that he had learned on his trip. And you know, much like climbing often does, I think there were some life lessons hidden in there. But first let's let's talk to Tanner a little about the trip itself.

Tanner Wilson  02:07

Well, we went to the Triple Crown at Horse Pens, first thing.

Kris Hampton  02:13

Good place to start with destroying your elbows.

Tanner Wilson  02:15

Yeah, good place to start destroying your elbows and your skin and your chest and everything...fore arms. But we were at Horse Pens for a week stayed throughout the Triple Crown and then a couple days after that. And then I branched off from like all my friends that came down with us and we headed to Rocktown and we were at Rocktown for like, four and a half weeks. So it was like five and a half weeks total.

Kris Hampton  02:38

You split apart to some other little areas now and then right?

Tanner Wilson  02:41

We went to LRC once, went to Little River Canyon once and then went to Citadel, which was really cool. 

Kris Hampton  02:48

Oh, yeah, I've heard it's cool, I haven't been. 

Tanner Wilson  02:49

It's sweet. Kind of pebbly, but good, good climbing. And then went to Pep Boys three times.

Kris Hampton  02:59

 Okay. 

Tanner Wilson  02:59

Yeah, so that was really it. We tried to stay exclusive to Rocktown just because there was so much stuff that we wanted to do there

Kris Hampton  03:06

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  03:08

 That we didn't really have, we didn't want to go anywhere else. I mean, Rocktown's pretty much the mecca.

Kris Hampton  03:14

Yeah. Rocktown's pretty badass. Had you, what was your longest climbing trip prior to this one?

Tanner Wilson  03:21

I think eight or nine days? I did a like a tour of the Southeast. We just did the big three, so we went to like Rocktown and Stone Fort and Horse Pens.

Kris Hampton  03:29

Right for two or three days at each or whatever.

Tanner Wilson  03:33

I think we did two days at Rocktown, two days of Stone Fort and then the rest we stayed at Horse Pens.

Kris Hampton  03:37

Yeah, so you barely even got to see it.

Tanner Wilson  03:39

Yeah, no, we didn't see anything. I didn't even have Rocktown guidebook when we went, so we were just like walking around trying to climb stuff with chalk on it. 

Tanner Wilson  03:45

Yep.

Tanner Wilson  03:45

 Knew what The Orb was. That was about it.

Kris Hampton  03:47

Yeah, totally. I think that's the way most people come into it. Yeah, are you set up in like the cool Sprinter van, you know, #vanlife, that whole thing?

Tanner Wilson  03:57

Haha no. No #vanlife. I have a pretty beat up 1995 Toyota 4Runner, um, and I had all of my stuff on one side. I took the back seats out and laid like the backrest down. 

Kris Hampton  04:11

Yep.

Tanner Wilson  04:11

 Um, all my stuff was on the passenger side in like totes, and I had like a shelf in there. Like a tote with drawers. 

Kris Hampton  04:18

Right.

Tanner Wilson  04:18

 And then I had like, it was barely wider than my shoulders. I almost had to sleep on my side every night. But I had foam in there with a sleeping bag and a blanket and a pillow. That was it. So no, #vanlife. Couldn't stand up in my car.

Kris Hampton  04:35

So you and Connor didn't in cuddle at night?

Tanner Wilson  04:36

 No, no, he was actually he had like, a double decker thing going on in the back of his Ford Expedition, so he had like this much room between him and the top of his car

Kris Hampton  04:48

Oh he had like a foot between himself and the top.

Tanner Wilson  04:49

Yeah he had everything you needed with him. So it was ,he couldn't sit, he couldn't even sit up. I could at least sit up. But yeah, Connor was like when he got in his car, he was going to bed. That's was it. He was going to be and reading a book like this.

Kris Hampton  05:03

Haha right in his face. 

Tanner Wilson  05:05

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  05:05

 When Jessie came down, what did you do?

Tanner Wilson  05:07

Um, Jessie has a Ford truck and she has a camper shell on the back of it. So we put like, it was sweet because in my 4Runner I can't stretch my legs out. Like I would have to put my feet in between my seats to stretch my legs out all the way. And the back of her truck is like eight feet long. So I immediately took all my stuff, put it in the back of her truck and slept in it because I could finally stretch out. I can finally like move around. It was it was nice. It was definitely cool. Yeah, no, no big van. Jessie has her van but it's in the shop right now.

Kris Hampton  05:42

Yeah, she's got a sweet little bus. Pretty sweet...what's her bus' name again?

Tanner Wilson  05:45

Joy. 

Kris Hampton  05:45

Joy. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, that bus is amazing. I might end up stealing it from her.  Were you cooking every night? 

Tanner Wilson  05:55

Yep

Kris Hampton  05:55

I know you didn't spend a ton of money on this trip, right?

Tanner Wilson  05:57

No, I went in to Horse Pens with like $1600 I'd saved up because I didn't originally didn't plan on going on this trip. You know, I just saved money for like, month and a half, two months. And then I spent like $600 or something that Horse Pens. I don't even know what like, I bought a ton of food. And you know, obviously beer. It's a Triple Crown. If you're not drinking beer, somebody's gonna hand you a beer anyway.

Kris Hampton  06:24

Haha yep yep

Tanner Wilson  06:25

 So yeah, but I bought a ton of beer and then like camping was like $100 because we stayed for a week. 

Tanner Wilson  06:30

It's kind of expensive to camp there. 

Tanner Wilson  06:31

Oh, yeah. But um, yeah, I spent way too much money there. And then I ended up having like, I think right around $1100 bucks when I went to Rocktown, came home with like $350.

Kris Hampton  06:43

NIce dude. 

Tanner Wilson  06:44

Cook cooked every night but definitely didn't eat as much as I probably should have. 

Kris Hampton  06:51

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  06:51

My stomach shrank like a whole bunch, I think because I used to eat a ton and now I don't eat hardly at all. So in a way, it was good. I lost like 11 pounds on the trip.

Kris Hampton  07:02

Nice, down into bouldering shape.

Tanner Wilson  07:04

Yeah got into bouldering shape. 

Kris Hampton  07:05

Yeah. #dirtbagdiet? 

Tanner Wilson  07:08

Yeah. For sure.

Kris Hampton  07:18

You know, most of us want to bounce all over the country on our first road trip and climb everywhere we can. And and I think there's some valuable lessons to be learned there as well. But I think it was important for Tanner to spend, you know, this entire month and a half in one general area because he came across some some ideas that may not have presented themselves, had he been spreading his time out to other places. And when Tanner posted on our Facebook page, the five lessons that he had learned, his number five sounded really simple: that that crimps aren't actually his weakness. But I think it's important to note that a lot of us in the gym, have these perceived weaknesses and outside I shouldn't I shouldn't necessarily differentiate, but we have these perceived weaknesses and when we believe that we're bad at something, sometimes we just won't try that hard.

Tanner Wilson  08:22

Really didn't hit me until I did Guillotine, that V6

Kris Hampton  08:26

Uh huh.

Tanner Wilson  08:27

Heinous crimps, like for the first like five moves. 

Kris Hampton  08:29

Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  08:30

Um, I was standing under it. I couldn't see the holds like there's chalk on these little nubbins like fingernail crimps. And I was like V6, my butt. But I ended up doing it like four or five tries. And that's totally my anti style

Kris Hampton  08:44

Right.

Tanner Wilson  08:44

 Slab techy small crimp climbing. Not my forte. 

Kris Hampton  08:48

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  08:48

I ended up doing it really easily. And I'm like, huh, because it didn't feel that bad. 

Kris Hampton  08:52

Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  08:52

And then we got on a few other crimpy problems that were easier. And then it really hit me where I did Sherman Photo. Because I had tried Sherman Photo once this past summer. And it was also 90 degrees. But I try not to ever blame the weather unless it's raining.

Kris Hampton  09:08

But at the South at 90 degrees in the summer, it may as well be raining all day. 

Tanner Wilson  09:12

Haha yeah. But um, that really, really bad crimp in the middle of the face you had to lock off on 

Kris Hampton  09:19

Yep,

Tanner Wilson  09:19

 I could not even touch that. I couldn't even lock off on it. So came home and did some hangboard stuff. And went back and did Sherman Photo in like, less than 10 tries.

Kris Hampton  09:33

 Nice. 

Tanner Wilson  09:34

So that crimp felt great. It was colder. So that helped. It was sticky. But yeah, I realized that hey, you know, maybe I don't have to avoid things that are super crimpy, because I would normally.

Kris Hampton  09:47

 Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  09:48

And then Connor would kind of kick my butt into shape and be like, no, get on it. Like it's not that bad. They are just crimps.

Kris Hampton  09:53

 Well, yeah, good job, Connor. 

Tanner Wilson  09:55

Good job, Connor. Thanks, buddy.

Kris Hampton  09:57

 Yeah, well, so why do you think that is? Do you think it's all just because of the hangboarding or do you think there's something else there that...

Tanner Wilson  10:03

I think the hangboarding helped, but I did only hangboard for like two months. And it was, it wasn't like a hangboarding plan. Like I would hangboard sometimes and sometimes I wouldn't. You know anything helps kind of thing.

Kris Hampton  10:15

 Sure.

Tanner Wilson  10:16

 I think that I was just kind of wussing out, really. And I would you know, I would hit a bad crimp on a boulder problem ad even though I would latch the hold, I would just drop off like no, I'm not I'm not messing with that. 

Kris Hampton  10:27

Right, right

Tanner Wilson  10:29

 It. It was a mental thing, I think. And it sounds silly. Like, oh, you're scared of crimps? Like yeah. I'm pretty scared of crimps.

Kris Hampton  10:35

I mean, all of us. Most people, most of us let go before we're, before we fall off. You know, I'm definitely guilty of it. I know most people are most people that I watch. So I think that's important to learn, you know. And did that develop while you were out there do you think? That ability to try hard? You said you were starting to flash fives all the time starting to flash sixes. You must have turned on some try hard there.

Tanner Wilson  11:01

I seriously did. There's a certain amount of grit that you have to have once you get to a certain grade in bouldering.

Kris Hampton  11:10

 Yep. 

Tanner Wilson  11:10

And I never had that grit. I would never just grin and bear it, you know. I had never yelled on a boulder problem until this trip. Yeah, I'd never wanted never made me scream and then I screamed on one. Felt great. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders. 

Kris Hampton  11:28

Haha screamed on one. Felt great.

Tanner Wilson  11:30

 But um, yeah, I just every time I latch a bad hold now I just tell myself to grit and bear it. And you know when you can hear your fingernails cracking on the on the crimp, you know, you're not coming off? 

Kris Hampton  11:40

Yep

Tanner Wilson  11:40

Unless you let go. You're not coming off. 

Kris Hampton  11:42

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  11:42

 So you just gotta have that thing in the back of your head.

Kris Hampton  11:57

And that leads us right into Tanner's number four point. You know, after dedicating some time to training, Tanner jumped two grades from the spring season to the winter season. And he began flashing his previous project grades which were around V6, low V7. And he realized on this trip that whether it's indoors or outdoors, if you work hard and stop making excuses, that's when progress happens. What were the excuses you were making? Prior to that?

Tanner Wilson  12:34

There was a bunch. I got a whole book of them. But most of the excuses that I had was just out of being in a gym environment, like at RockQuest or at Urban Krag where there's tons of people in there all the time. 

Kris Hampton  12:48

Yep. 

Tanner Wilson  12:49

It's really hard to focus. And I would go in, and I'd be super psyched on my session. And then I would go in there and I would just end up climbing on whatever and like, all that problem looks cool. Let's get on that. But I'd end up talking to people. But now I'm that jerkwad with my headphones in that doesn't talk to anybody. 

Kris Hampton  13:05

Right, right. 

Tanner Wilson  13:05

I that was my biggest excuse was, Oh, well. The gym is gonna be here tomorrow. Let me just climb a little bit today. And then tomorrow, I'll come back and then I wouldn't come back. 

Kris Hampton  13:16

Sure

Tanner Wilson  13:16

And there were a lot of excuses on why I was falling off of things, when really it was just because I would always just tell myself, I wasn't strong enough. When in reality I was I was just falling because I didn't have the right foot or I wasn't keeping my feet on or you know, just silly things like that. And it's hard to make yourself like realize, hey, you're being an idiot. Actually just climb and buckle down and try and climb.

Kris Hampton  13:20

 Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  13:21

And it was just hard for me to tell myself to do that. And it was like an ego thing. I guess a little bit.

Kris Hampton  13:50

 Sure. Sure.

Tanner Wilson  13:51

 It is like all this problem's BS because I can't do it.

Kris Hampton  13:54

Right. Oh that moves just awkward. Or you know, that just doesn't suit me.

Tanner Wilson  13:58

Yeah

Kris Hampton  13:58

Yeah, exactly.

Tanner Wilson  13:59

So that was another big one was just just random excuses like that.

Kris Hampton  14:05

Yeah. Did you have, like did Connor hold you accountable or people you're climbing with? Did...

Tanner Wilson  14:10

Connor would sometimes hold me accountable, yes. I'd be like, Oh, no, screw that. Like, you're like a foot and a half shorter than me. Like, of course you can do it and he'd be like, No, no, no, no, no. You can do it. You can do it. Yeah, yeah. And then same thing with him. You know, I could just reach a hold. He'd be like, Oh, you can just do that cuz you're taller. I'm like, well jump.

Kris Hampton  14:28

 Yeah, totally.

Tanner Wilson  14:28

Do something.

Kris Hampton  14:29

Yeah, there's lots of super strong short folks and lots of strong tall guys. So you know, you both get to use the excuse and then you both get to say not a chance.

Tanner Wilson  14:39

Yeah, I was his Jimmy and he was my Daniel.

Kris Hampton  14:44

That's a good way of looking at it. I like that comparison for a lot of reasons. And not least because if you look at Jimmy and Daniel's climbing, they're not guys who are just out there projecting at their top level all the time. If you look at Jimmy's 8a scorecard, he's got 948 double digit boulders. And if you look at Daniel's up until he stopped logging ascents in 2014, he had 723 double digit boulders. So those guys are out there getting a lot of volume and, and learning to climb really well. And on this trip, Tanner did 89 problems over V2.  Forty of which were V5 and harder. And remember his previous project grade was V6. And he says that that kind of mileage changed his climbing. And now he knows he's capable of climbing smooth and efficient, like the strong climbers that he admires. And I wondered if that was something he went in into the trip with the intention of learning to climb smooth and efficient.

Tanner Wilson  16:02

You've seen me climb, plenty of times.

Kris Hampton  16:05

Yep.

Tanner Wilson  16:07

I cut feet and I do these weird drop knees. Everybody calls it wonky Tanner beta, and I do all this stupid stuff that I need to quit doing. And you've told me that and other people have told me that. 

Kris Hampton  16:18

I don't know that you need to quit doing it. But find the the other solutions as well.

Kris Hampton  16:24

 Yeah,

Kris Hampton  16:24

 I think it's good to have your, your quirky beta that works for you. It's good to know that it's good to be able to see it and to find it. But I also think it's good to know those know  how to do those solutions that work for most people.

Tanner Wilson  16:41

Yep. And I don't know, it was just, I knew that I was climbing like crap. I looked like in the videos that I have of myself. 

Kris Hampton  16:51

You didn't look how you wanted to look

Tanner Wilson  16:52

No, I looked like I had never climbed a rock before ever in my life. It was just I looked really, really bad. And I realized that, like looking at my videos from this trip prior to other trips. It was just night and day difference.

Kris Hampton  17:12

Right.

Tanner Wilson  17:12

 Like I actually look like I know what I'm doing. I was actually kind of sussing out my beta and like reading the route before I would get on. Normally, I'll just get on it and just throw for holds. And if they're good, I'll hold them. If they're bad, or if that's not the hold then I'll fall. I quit doing that. So that was cool. Never been a good flash or onsight climber. And that changed because I kind of learned how to read routes outside.

Kris Hampton  17:37

 Yeah, yeah, you look I mean, I watched the video of you doing? I think it was it was a video of you doing Golden....

Kris Hampton  17:47

Throttle. 

Kris Hampton  17:48

Throttle.

Tanner Wilson  17:48

Yeah that one's cool.

Kris Hampton  17:49

Yeah, and that's a heady problem. You know, you're way up there doing some hard moves. And you looked confident.

Tanner Wilson  17:57

 I felt good.

Kris Hampton  17:57

You looked like you were climbing really well.

Tanner Wilson  17:59

I onsighted that one, thank god. Never gonna do that one again, probably.

Kris Hampton  18:04

 Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  18:05

But I got on that one. And we threw all the pads down. We had a bunch of pads. I was like, I'm gonna I'm just gonna do it right now. Because we were trying to get all of our ticks on the front page. You know how it has like the best of the best? 

Kris Hampton  18:17

Right right.

Tanner Wilson  18:17

We were trying to get all of them up to V6.

Kris Hampton  18:20

 Nice. 

Tanner Wilson  18:20

And I think that I like three V5s left and then 4 V6s left to do

Tanner Wilson  18:26

 Sweet

Tanner Wilson  18:26

 But those ones were just, I don't know why, but we couldn't even touch them.

Kris Hampton  18:30

Yeah, that happens you know,

Tanner Wilson  18:33

They were they were extremely hard. But yeah, I got on Golden Throttle. And I got up there and it just was like, Oh, crap. I'm like, above the fall zone. Gotta chill out. Same thing on Freeze Fall. I downclimbed from the top move on that thing, like three times before, over in the summer.

Kris Hampton  18:48

Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  18:49

And I got on it. And I did it first try this time. Just had to chill out. I like highballing now.

Kris Hampton  18:56

Yeah, comfort levels change. 

Kris Hampton  18:57

It's, it's nice.

Kris Hampton  19:01

There's absolutely no question that spending those five and a half weeks in the Southeast bouldering and doing 40 problems V5 and harder made Tanner a better climber. Progress and climbing isn't all about just getting to the next grade. Sometimes it's about mastering the grade that you're at. And, you know, Tanner went into this trip with a big goal in mind initially, and and that goal changed. And, and he made a really mature decision just before he left on his trip, and that's his number two point that sometimes goals can change and that's okay.

Tanner Wilson  19:51

So I started planning this trip like a few months before I actually left. First priority was to send The Orb. Then that changed right before I went on the trip because I realized that if my main goal is to send The Orb, the first two weeks, I'm probably just going to be on The Orb and on everything around it. I'm going to warm up on the same stuff. 

Kris Hampton  20:13

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  20:13

 I'm not going to get to see Rocktown like I wanted to. So everything changed. And I wanted to do 100 boulder problems over the grade of V4/V4+. And I actually came kind of close to that goal. But that goal also changed because I realized that I was just kind of like, beating myself into the ground. 

Kris Hampton  20:37

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  20:38

It was like, okay, let's go to this area. Do all of the fours, all of the fives, all the sixes and all the sevens if we can. And it was just not working out. It was too much hard climbing for me. 

Kris Hampton  20:49

Yep.

Kris Hampton  20:51

So the hardest thing you've done prior to the trip was hard seven, easy eight, somewhere around there. And so it's probably a good decision to say, Okay, I'm not gonna focus entirely on The Orb, which is one of the hardest eights in the South.

Tanner Wilson  21:07

 Yeah.

Kris Hampton  21:09

 In the world. And instead get a bunch of mileage in.

Tanner Wilson  21:13

Yes. I realized that I needed to be a good climber. I was sick of going down on trips, you know, even it was just a three day trip to Stone Fort or Horse Pens. I'm sick of falling off the same things. Not because I was not strong enough to do them, but because I just could not figure them out.

Kris Hampton  21:29

 Right. Sure. 

Tanner Wilson  21:30

The feet were not there for some reason. You know, I was my sequences were all messed up. So I was just getting sick of being just a mediocre climber. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go down here and for the first like, two weeks, I don't think I got on anything harder than V6. 

Kris Hampton  21:47

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  21:48

 Just because I'll get on a bunch of V4s and V5s with my buddy Connor. And we would climb them slow. We would try and climb them well. 

Kris Hampton  21:55

Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  21:55

And that really worked out because the last two weeks of the trip, we kicked ass. 

Kris Hampton  22:00

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, whose idea was that? To climb them multiple times and climb them really well?

Tanner Wilson  22:06

Well, it was kind of, we went into it with the same mindset, which I think really really helped us out because Connor he's, he's climbing like V7s. He just got his first V8 and he's been climbing for a little over a year.

Kris Hampton  22:19

Mm hmm. Nice.

Tanner Wilson  22:20

 Crushing.

Kris Hampton  22:21

 Shout out, Connor.

Tanner Wilson  22:22

Yeah. Shout out to Connor. But we talked at Horse Pens about how different we are as climbers. He's, you know, I'm 6'2". Huge plus 4 ape index. 

Kris Hampton  22:36

Right.

Tanner Wilson  22:36

And then Connors like

Kris Hampton  22:37

You're a giant. 

Tanner Wilson  22:37

Yeah, well. And then Connors, like 5'6". Short. He's really good at techy stuff. I'm really good at like big thuggy slopers, compression stuff. 

Tanner Wilson  22:47

So we went in there. And we're like, we need to climb a whole bunch of stuff multiple times and try and do it like the other person. Yeah. I don't know, you just, you can't always go out of your way to accomplish certain goals, or to keep them set in stone. And I think more people should realize that and try and put that into action. Because if I would have kept the same goals, I guarantee you my time at Rocktown would not have been as great as it was.

Kris Hampton  22:47

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  23:15

 Yeah, it wouldn't have been as productive for sure. You know, it's it's easy to latch on to a goal like The Orb because it's this iconic, amazing boulder problem that sits right there in the front, where everybody sees it every day. And you know, I mean, it's the one it's the one to do there. 

Tanner Wilson  23:31

It's sweet.

Kris Hampton  23:32

 You know, and it's easy to latch on to that. But it very easily could have happened that you spent the whole trip, much like I just, did trying that one boulder, and then it doesn't happen. And then you have to go back and and nowhere in there are you getting that month of experience under your belt that you did just get. So I think the step that you took is the is the super smart one, you know, and really learning to become an outdoor rock climber, then you can go into the gym and more effectively train to do The Orb. Yeah, you know, you'll be able to apply that better the next time you walk out there.

Tanner Wilson  24:12

Yep, and goals change and that's okay.

Kris Hampton  24:18

To be to be perfectly clear here, I think that Tanner made a really mature decision in switching his goal from this grade based goal to to something more volume based. Instead of chasing this number, he decided he wanted to be a better climber and he knew what he needed to do at the moment to get there but I don't think that's always the answer. You know, sometimes, projecting a single boulder is the answer. It's the thing you need to make advancements in your own climbing, and after this break, we'll hear more about how Tanner like all of us do, got wrapped up into a project. And we'll also hear the number one lesson that he learned from his trip. 

Kris Hampton  25:05

What's up everybody. Kris here, pardon the interruption. I'll keep this short and sweet. Since this podcast started taking off, and we've been growing it, you guys have been asking how you can help out. I've got three ways for you. Number one, you can become a patron. That just means you give a monthly donation to the podcast $1 and up, and you get something in return. And you can check out what those rewards are at patreon.com/powercompanypodcast. Best of all, we'll keep it sponsor and commercial free for you. Number two, you can rate us and review us on iTunes. I know it's a pain in the ass to go to iTunes and do all that. But it really helps us out. At least that's what I'm told by the podcast powers that be. And number three, perhaps the easiest way and the best way to help us out is to share us on your social medias. Anytime you see us post up a new podcast, please share it with your friends, tag people who will really appreciate it, or who need to hear the advice that we're giving. All right, thank you guys. And back to the show. Welcome back. We're here talking with Tanner Wilson, a 22 year old climber from just outside of Dayton, Ohio, who took his first big road trip and and even though he had spent some time getting stronger in the gym and training and you know, he had this big goal to do The Orb, one of the most famous V8s in the country. Just before his trip, he changed his goals. And changing those goals, you know, made Tanner a much better climber. And just like all of us do, you know that led him into getting wrapped up into a project. Something he tried on his trip and now is stuck there in the back of his mind.

Tanner Wilson  26:58

I've been like obsessed with this thing for so long. I've never even seen it in person. 

Tanner Wilson  27:02

You just saw the videos of

Tanner Wilson  27:03

 I was like holy crap. That's so cool. Like the coolest line ever.

Kris Hampton  27:07

Was it like a rainy day the first day you were there?

Tanner Wilson  27:10

It was rainy. It had been raining. I think it had stopped and then we got there late. It was after Dustin got off work. So it was like four o'clock, I think.

Kris Hampton  27:20

Cool.

Tanner Wilson  27:20

 So we went in and put in a night session on everything. But saw Salo's Roof when we walked in and I about crapped my pants. It was like...

Kris Hampton  27:28

 It's big.

Tanner Wilson  27:29

 Oh my gosh, it's so big. It's way bigger than I thought it was gonna be. There's so many moves. It's this giant roof. Why aren't there bolts on it? Like all this all this stuff was running through my head. 

Kris Hampton  27:38

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  27:38

 And I ran, I like dropped my pad like ran down cross the creek was like, stand under and I was like, oh, man, I got it. I gotta do this. I gotta get on this. I don't care if I can do two moves on it. I got to get on it.

Kris Hampton  27:50

 Yep. 

Tanner Wilson  27:51

And I'm definitely not a V9 climber yet. Every V9 that I've ever tried, I just chuff right off. Usually can't do more than three or four moves on them. 

Kris Hampton  28:02

Right.

Tanner Wilson  28:02

 Um, got on Salo's Roof. And I put together the bottom boulder problem from the start to the weird like underclings in the roof.

Kris Hampton  28:10

 Yep. 

Tanner Wilson  28:10

In like four or five tries at night. 

Kris Hampton  28:12

Nice.

Tanner Wilson  28:13

 And was super psyched after that. I was like wow, it can actually go.

Kris Hampton  28:17

Yeah, it's a cool compression boulder leading up to that roof.

Tanner Wilson  28:20

 My favorite kind of climbing. It's just all the holds are pretty good. 

Kris Hampton  28:23

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  28:23

 But it's just big hard moves over and over and over again. It's like the best thing ever, in my opinion. But got on it and worked it and did well on it. And then left. I was like, Okay, I'm satisfied with that. Let's go. Came back the next time. And my buddy David was actually working it when we got there. And he's a crusher. He He's a superhuman, in my opinion. He did Space Ranger in a koala suit.

Kris Hampton  28:56

I don't even know what Space Ranger is.

Tanner Wilson  28:58

Crazy-ass trad climb. Like at Tennessee Wall. It's like a 5.12 R-rated trad climb.

Kris Hampton  29:03

 Oh, I was thinking of boulder problems. Okay.

Tanner Wilson  29:05

Nope. He did it in a koala suit. He's obsessed with koalas. Not really sure why but it's pretty funny. But um, 

Kris Hampton  29:12

It has something to do with trad climbing. It makes you a little nutty.

Tanner Wilson  29:15

Yeah, but he he did it in like three tries. So I was like, Oh, crap. Now I got to do it. Yeah, we had so many pads under like the whole thing was lined with pads. There's no excuse other than the fact that my endurance is pretty piss poor. 

Kris Hampton  29:28

Right. 

Tanner Wilson  29:28

So I got up there and I did the bottom boulder problem and I fell off of this move that I can do in my sleep. Like three times in a row. Super ticked off, had to chill out for a minute and then got on it. Got to my high point which is like four or five moves from topping out. 

Kris Hampton  29:45

Yeah. 

Tanner Wilson  29:47

I hit the bad crimps on the roof, came out to the jug and went to another jug and just totally biffed. Couldn't close my hands. Like I was just pumped. I tried to rest in like this weird kneebar like a double knee bar in those under clings on the roof. And I spent more energy trying to get in there then I did getting anything back. 

Kris Hampton  30:06

Sure, sure

Tanner Wilson  30:06

So got to my high point, and then rested for like 30 minutes, got back on it. Fell off like the fifth move and I'm like im done with it. I was getting pretty pissed off. I just gotta chill. And then we went did a bunch of other stuff like some V4s and 5s that were there. And everybody's like, you're gonna get back on it. And I was like, No, I'm not ready for it yet. Like, I know how I'm gonna feel when I get to that same high point. Not ready for it. Cannot close my hands. My forearms were like, bigger than my thighs. It was just like it was it was bad. It looked like Popeye. And so now what I'm doing is I'm taking some of your advice that you gave me for training for it. And hopefully it goes here, middle to the end of March, I plan on going down there, you know, given the temperatures and the weather's good.

Kris Hampton  30:59

Hell yeah. And what we talked about, and, you know, correct me if I'm wrong here. But you you're not much of a sport climber. Like that's not where your background is at all. 

Tanner Wilson  31:10

That's where I started, though. 

Kris Hampton  31:11

Sure, sure. But it's not where your hard climbing is? 

Tanner Wilson  31:13

No, not at all.

Kris Hampton  31:14

 And, and that thing is long, and pumpy.

Tanner Wilson  31:18

 Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  31:18

You know, so when you approach me, you were like, should I be getting my endurance up and power endurance, you know, can I train it all at once? What should I be doing? And my thought is because you're just coming off this trip, your, your power was, is high, and your your understanding of climbing is high right now. So keeping that power up, I think is important, especially since you got to the end. You know, and so if you can keep that up, and then on the lead-in to going there, the month before or whatever, you know, the three to four weeks before, do some 4x4 type circuits or something where you're getting pumped. They're harder moves, but it's power endurance, and then finish it with some juggy steep climbing, that that's what threw you off.

Tanner Wilson  32:13

 Yep. 

Kris Hampton  32:13

You know, and I know you're capable of doing it, you're you're probably physically capable of doing it right now. But that, but what that'll do is give you that mental edge to be like, okay, I've been more pumped than this in the gym. And I've climbed harder steep jugs than this while this pumped, so this isn't going to be a problem at all. 

Tanner Wilson  32:35

Yep. 

Kris Hampton  32:36

So when you're that high off the ground, the slightest little doubt creeps in and you're done.

Tanner Wilson  32:41

Yep. You're cutting feet and dropping.

Kris Hampton  32:43

Yeah, totally. You're not willing to take the take the backsplash. You know that fall onto the pads

Tanner Wilson  32:48

Yeah pretty big backsplash on that one.

Tanner Wilson  32:51

I looked down a few times. 

Kris Hampton  32:52

Oh, yeah

Tanner Wilson  32:53

I got out on the roof. It was a little nerve wracking. But, um, there's one thing that I have going for me is I'm not afraid to fall. Yeah, I'm notorious for skipping clips in Red River Gorge because I'm too pumped to stop and clip like, just get to the chains. Run, run, run. 

Kris Hampton  33:08

Right. 

Tanner Wilson  33:08

And I got like a 45 second pump clock. If I can get up something in 45 seconds or less. I'm good. But anything longer than that if I have to rest I'm toast. I don't get anything back. Yeah, so

Kris Hampton  33:19

Yeah, and you know, starting with that compression boulder takes a lot out of you. Even if it's your style, even if it's something that you did fairly quickly. That's a lot of energy you're spending on the bottom of that boulder probably and then you're left with I don't know what is it? 40 feet of roof climbing

Tanner Wilson  33:36

Close. Yeah, something like that. Probably close to 20 moves after that boulder problem and that boulder problem is almost 20 moves itself. 

Kris Hampton  33:43

Right. 

Tanner Wilson  33:43

So it is really hard and everybody's like Tanner, why did you pick this one to be your project? Like you should just go to Red River Gorge and sport climb. 

Kris Hampton  33:52

Why did you pick it? 

Tanner Wilson  33:54

Because it's just as soon as I saw it, I knew that I was like, This is what I want to do. I'm not I don't even care if it's a V9. I don't care if it's like a V4. Its like the coolest boulder problem I've ever seen. And obviously I want to go I want my picture standing on top of it. So...

Kris Hampton  34:08

Nice.

Tanner Wilson  34:08

It's gonna be it's gonna be good one day, I'll get it.

Kris Hampton  34:21

He will because he's in it for the right reasons. He really loves the idea of this boulder problem and even though it's doesn't suit his strengths very well, Tanner's very aware of what he needs to do to reach his goals and makes good decisions in that department. But his trip back to Salo's Roof got thwarted by work. He ended up getting pulled down to Florida for a few weeks and wasn't able to make it back to Chattanooga just yet. And while he was in Florida, Tanner reached out to our Facebook community again and you know, asked what he could do while he's in Florida to stay in shape and, and a couple of Florida climbers reached out and said hey, here's the gym. We climb at you know, we'd love to hook up and, and I think that's that's what this whole sport is about the community and you know the getting to know new people and being psyched for your partners. And and that's the number one thing that Tanner said he learned on this trip was that it wasn't all about him. You know, sometimes giving up the spotlight and and just cheering on your friends can be more rewarding than sending a boulder yourself.

Tanner Wilson  35:34

The first time we went to Pep Boys, the only reason, I had never been, never even thought about going, other than because I saw a video of Salo's Roof and it looked really cool.

Kris Hampton  35:41

 Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  35:42

Um, I didn't even know where it was. My buddy Dustin that lives down there, he was like, guys, I got this project at Pep Boys. I haven't tried it in like a year. Let's go. Let's get on it. I was like, Okay, cool. And it ended up being Riverfront...Riverside, whatever anybody wants to call it...

Kris Hampton  35:59

Which is amazing boulder. 

Tanner Wilson  36:01

Oh it's super cool. That's like one of my favorite ones I did on the whole trip. But Dustin, he, just for some reason, he just could not do it. He's plenty strong. But he was like, man, last time I was here, I tried it in my street shoes. I didn't have pads. Like, let's go get on it. So I like I didn't know what to expect. I'd never even seen the boulder. So I got like, four pads on my back. I'm like trucking into Pep Boys. And we walk up and it's like 12 feet tall. 

Kris Hampton  36:30

Yep.

Tanner Wilson  36:31

 I just carried all these pads in for no reason. And I was like, man, but Dustin was super, super psyched to have us out there. Like he was so excited to show us his project, something that we had all never seen before. He was ready for us to work on it. And we all worked on it. Had a blast. Dustin did not end up getting it. He will, it'll happen. But um, you could just tell that he was super, super excited, and super happy to have his buddies at his boulder that he showed us. And you know, it's just, it's just really cool. It's cool to see that. And a lot of times when you're in a group of people with your climbing buddies, you want to be the person everybody's, you know, cheering on on their project. And you want people to be throwing pads for you and yelling and hooting and hollering and doing all this stuff. But you can't always be the person in the spotlight. 

Kris Hampton  37:27

Right. 

Tanner Wilson  37:28

And I also realized that because I went out climbing with Ryan Copeland one day, and he's super strong. And he was getting all this stuff. And he had some friends that were not as strong as him. And he had all these projects that he wanted to do. Well, you know, when it came time for them to climb, he was throwing pads and cheering them on, twice as hard as they were him. 

Kris Hampton  37:53

Yeah.

Tanner Wilson  37:54

So it was really cool.

Kris Hampton  37:56

 Yeah, I think I think reciprocating that back to your partners is huge. You know, and it just, it just boosts the morale of the whole party, it just makes the whole day go better.

Tanner Wilson  38:09

Everybody climbs a little bit better, usually.

Kris Hampton  38:12

Yeah, and I think in a situation like, like with you and Connor, or with you and your girlfriend, Jessie or, you know, whatever, where you where you're taking on some of the, you know, you're invested in their climbing, you know, and I feel the same thing when I'm out with Annalissa or, you know, with with people I've worked with in the past, where I have, I have some investment into their climbing, so I'm putting energy into what they're doing. You know, I'm stoked to either be taking cool photos for them, or, you know, I'm just I get excited to see them work on problems. And then I get even more excited to see them send. You know, a lot of times, I'm more stoked for them than I am for myself. You know, I definitely tend to have this like, Oh, I just finished it. Let's move on to the next thing, you know. But I'm, I'm like on a high all day when I see somebody else, try really hard and send their project.

Tanner Wilson  39:13

Like Jessie, she did her first V4 like our first day at Rocktown. She just came off with a knee injury. Had not been in the climbing gym for like two months. Straight off the couch, sends her first V4. I would not have cared if I'd done nothing harder than V1 that whole trip because Jessie did her first V4 and she's been hard after it for a while now. So that was really cool. She just did her first V3 this spring, past spring, a year ago, almost. 

Tanner Wilson  39:37

She's crushing.

Tanner Wilson  39:38

She's getting it, she's getting after it. So it was really cool to see. And like when Connor would do one of his projects that I would sit under with him for an hour or two. Like all the time, you know, just watch him fall, watch him fall off moves that he had done 100 times before. Get frustrated. You get to see that whole process and then it's rewarding for both of you when you're out there and you're actually with them, seeing them invest all that time and effort into something.

Kris Hampton  40:03

Yeah, go through that whole range of emotions and frustrations and you know, joy and you know, the whole thing. It's so...

Kris Hampton  40:10

 Punching chalk pots.

Kris Hampton  40:11

Yeah, no doubt man, the whole the whole range of human emotions happens on these little 12 foot tall rocks.

Tanner Wilson  40:17

And it's so dumb, but it's so cool. 

Kris Hampton  40:19

Yeah,

Tanner Wilson  40:20

Yeah there's nothing better. 

Kris Hampton  40:21

Awesome. Cool, man. Thanks for sitting down with me. I really appreciate it. And I'm, you know, I'm stoked for how your trip went. And, and I think you made all the right choices. I think that's, I think it's tough to do. You know, I look back at so many trips I've taken and wish I would have made different decisions about how I structured the trip or how I approached climbing on that trip. And, and I think you I think you hit on a bunch of things. And it doesn't sound like it was an accident. No. That's pretty cool. Definitely worked out. Yeah. Yeah. Good job, man.

Tanner Wilson  40:54

I can't wait to do it next year.

Kris Hampton  40:55

All right. Well, thanks, man.

Tanner Wilson  40:57

Thank you.

Kris Hampton  40:59

You know, I have full confidence that Tanner will get back and he'll do Salo's Roof, and he'll do The Orb. And, you know, onto bigger and harder boulder problems. And, and I know that when he does that he'll be he'll do it as a much better climber who moves the way he wants to move. And he'll be surrounded by the people that he's made connections with. And, you know, it takes a lot of us years to realize that those are the important parts of the sport, this lifestyle, the important parts of climbing. And Tanner learned all these things in a five and a half week trip to Tennessee and Georgia. And that's what makes Tanner Wilson a Not So Average Joe.

Kris Hampton  42:02

Thanks again for listening to our Not So Average series. We do this because we love it. And because we believe that everyone has a story worth telling. And these episodes take a ton of time to produce and we want to deliver a good podcast to you guys. So any help you can give is hugely appreciated. Let us know how you like the new format on your social media or in a review on iTunes or by becoming a patron. You can like our page on Facebook or follow us on Instagram @powercompanyclimbing and well you can tweet about us but like my main dude Nollie Simon says we don't tweet we scream like eagles.