Written in Stone: Climbing History
Written in Stone tells the (mostly) true stories of the most groundbreaking ascents in rock climbing history, one decade at a time. Hosted by Kris Hampton, you’ll hear the narrated, sound designed stories about what led to new levels in climbing, alternated with conversations with today’s top climbers about what inspired them about what went down way back then.
Season Two is focused on the 1980’s. The birth of sport climbing as we know it, the struggles with changing rules and ethics, the women who paved the way for the superstars of the 90s and 00s. Patrick Edlinger, Jerry Moffatt, Wolfgang Gullich, Catherine Destivelle, Lynn Hill, and more.
Like Todd Skinner always said, ”never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
- Update frequency
- every 5 days
- Average duration
- 49 minutes
- Episodes
- 86
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
Steve McClure on Ben Moon and Climbing Hubble
In 2000, Steve McClure completed a project Ben Moon had spent 120 days on and left unfinished, calling it Northern Lights and giving it 9a. The torch was passed.
A few years later, he climbed a route…
Buster Martin on Ben Moon and Hubble
Buster Martin burst onto the UK climbing scene as a 16-year-old by climbing Bat Route, a famous 14b at Malham. And even though he took a break from climbing, he didn’t fizzle out entirely like many p…
Ben Moon Launches Into Orbit
It’s hard to argue that any climber from the 90’s had a bigger impact than Ben Moon, and he did it from the launch of the decade.
While he wasn’t looking for controversy, he also wasn’t afraid to ma…
Katie Brown on Climbing with Lynn Hill and Her Other-Worldliness
If Lynn Hill kicked in the door at the start of the 90s, then Katie Brown ripped it from it’s hinges as the decade came to a close.
On April 11, 1999, Katie onsighted Omaha Beach in the Red River Gor…
Lynn Hill Reaches Critical Mass
If the 1990’s had a door, then Lynn Hill, one of the first American climbers to embrace the new European climbing ethics, definitely kicked it in.
At the start of the decade, no woman had climbed 5.1…
Written in Stone S1: The 1990s
The French vs. the British. Ethics wars. The hardest moves ever done on rock. A ghost in the forest and women showing the boys how it should be done. Host Kris Hampton tells the stories of rock climb…