Jam Crack - The Niall Grimes Climbing Podcast

Ben Moon pushed climbing to new levels in the 1980s and 90s. He spearheaded sport climbing, training, and bouldering and was the defining image of our sport through his climbs, look and attitude. Hear all about it.

The past 15 years have seen Dave Bowes go on an cosmic journey which began in a terrible motorcycle accident. This led to Dave's brain becoming scrambled and then, through his journey in drugs, becoming unscrambled. Tune in!

Top Scottish climber od the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Cubby pushed the standards in trad, sport and ice, including the UK's first 8a, with Requiem. The dude. This is hours of fun, this one.

She's only small, but she's great crack. Comp beast, trad-tinkler, climbing coach with lots of horse-power. Join us for a beer and a chat. Turns out she's a better climber than I had realised.

The Steven Spielberg of climbing looning, filmmaking fun freak, North Wales-based, Orme-loving, injured climbing lifer, Chris Doyle chats to Niall Grimes under a burned-out boulder problem.

Portugese-born, 22-year-old Teresa tells us how climbing looks like from where she is sat, under a tree in Sheffield on a sunny Thursday. More tea, vicar?

Pin-sharp trad boiler and world-renowned anti-Varian Franco Cookson sits down with me in a pub and after a while we forgot what we came in for. Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please. I said two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please.

The more northerly member of the Beastmaker duo sifts through his thoughts on his greatest bouldering addition, the mega-highball 8B+, Bombadil. Also much crack about the Prow at Kyloe-in-the-Woods.

A super conversation with Zofia Reych, author of a forthcoming book, Born to Climb. We talk about her book, also about Fontainebleau, her Women's Bouldering Festival, the pandemic, autism and being gender queer. It's laugh-a-minute stuff!

Jerry Moffatt was widely considered to be the best climber in the world during his epic career spanning from the 1980s to the early 2000s. With hard first ascents and quick repeats on sport and trad and bouldering all round the globe, to epic soloing and competition success. Here hear some of his tales.

French climber, Alain Robert, has been one of the world’s most outrageous soloist for over 30 years. He has soloed numerous routes in the 8a – 8b range, most famously La Nuit du Lézards in Buoux in 1991 which stunned the climbing world. In the years since he has taken his skills and nerve to skyscraping heights by soloing many of the world’s tallest buildings. This lawbreaking pursuit has earned him great fame as well as his nickname, the French Spiderman.

He's an 80s trad boiler and Catwalk-walking sports cat. He's into telling you about his E7 when he's in the pub. He's got it in for Peakies. He's a right laugh. He's Mick Johnston.

Ed February tells his story of growing up in South Africa, finding climbing and the barriers he faced as a black climber in in the Apartheid era of the 1970s. Then how his world opened up in the 1980s and beyond.

Bernadette MacDonald reads another section from her book, Winter 8000. This time we look at the Polish mountaineer Maciej Berbeka's lethal affair with Broad Peak.

Another mix of tunes, a bit of a disco party vibe.

A random mix of some music

This 28-year-old Chicago/Colorado climber is one of the world's top female boulderers, with multiple 8B+/V14s to her credit. Yet she flies under the radar, deciding to avoid the harsh glare of self promotion on social media. Let's hear what she's all about!

Many laughs. Trad climbing lifer Sarah Jane Dobner talks about her self-published, award-winning book, A Feeling for Rock, and gives us a few readings.

Chris Kalman reads an extract from his book, Dammed If You Don't.

Legendary US climber and storyteller, major star of Yosemite climbing in the 1970s, the archetypical Stonemaster, John Long in conversation.  John was at the heart of some of the finest events in US climbing throughout the 1970s and went on to chronicle these in his short stories then to carve a career in literature and adventure writing. Big guy, big fun.