Circle Up! Podcast

In this episode Kyra and Allison discuss multiple topics surrounding the "grey areas” of ethics within climbing. Things like, does a top rope ascent “count” as the first ascent of a climb? Can you down climb a climb to preserve the onsight? What about having an “oh shit” rope draped next to a highball top out as a safety net in case you panic? These are the important questions that we don’t have answers to, but do have opinions on. Hopefully none of this is too hot of takes for anyone, we kept it to our opinion and are not trying to shame or influence anyone with these thoughts and ramblings.

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In this episode, Kyra and Allison break down Kyra’s performance at the first World Cup of the season, where she made semifinals and finished tied for 11th—a strong start to the year. The following weekend brought the season’s first Lead World Cup, packed with fast-paced action and drama. From route setting and rule changes to performance mindset, they unpack it all with their insider perspective as athletes.

In this episode, supported by OCÚN, Kyra is fresh off competing with the new scoring format at Team Trials. Kyra and Allison together unpack what they missed when they talked about it before actually experiencing it, and how it might change the sport moving forward. They wonder how World Cups will be impacted and get excited for the season to officially start with Kyra heading to China just a few days after this episode was recorded.

Then they dive into the latest Olympic announcement: three medals will be awarded for Sport Climbing in LA28 with 76 total athlete spots across lead, boulder, and speed. They take a few educated guesses at how the selection might work, and what this shift means for climbers who’ve traditionally excelled in more than one discipline.

Along the way, they veer into a quick race walking and x games tangents, chat about the Olympics as a brand, and talk about Brooke Raboutou's impressive First Female Ascent of Excalibur, 5.15c, becoming the first woman to climb a route of that grade.

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This episode is brought to you by OCÚN Climbing https://www.ocun.com/

In this episode, Kyra and Allison had the pleasure of going to the Tension Climbing shop in Denver, Colorado and chatting with Will Anglin before their flight home about how the Tension brand started and how he developed the Tension Board 2 (aka the TB2). It was fascinating to learn about the process, starting from learning from lessons with their first product (the TB1), to creating holds digitally, setting the board, and then working within constraints to finally get what we now see in gyms across the entire country and world. Will sprinkles in some of his own philosophy and vast climbing wisdom throughout, enjoy!

In this episode, Kyra chats with Jesse Grupper, her good friend, roommate, and fellow Olympian. Jesse and Kyra start off by sharing some insight into their house and their similarities and differences when it comes to training mindset and planning. Jesse shares his thoughts about being an "underdog" in the past and how its helped him push himself and his limits while achieving benchmarked goals along the way. They then talk about how that's changed throughout the years. Jesse shares insight into why he feels so restless on rest days and him and Kyra chat about how climbers can try to use their platform to make a positive impact.