EP 18: Mikey Schaefer (Part 1) — Meaningful First Ascents, Becoming a Jack of All Trades, and Building the Pyramid

Mikey Schaefer is a photographer, filmmaker, and an all-around climber whose accomplishments range from dangerous first ascents in the mountains to 5.13+ big walls, 5.14 sport climbs, and V10 boulders. We talked about some of Mikey’s most meaningful first ascents, experiences on Liberty Bell, balancing risk and reward, becoming a jack of all trades, and building his pyramid.

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Show Notes:

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/mikey-schaefer-part-1

Nuggets:

3:03 – The ‘Eggsadilla’

6:56 – Mikey’s first major FA on the South Face of Mt. Bradley (‘Little Big Man’)

14:32 – The Dancing Dihedrals feature, and the A3 rating

18:10 – Getting old/soft (joke), how Mikey’s risk profile has shifted, and balancing risk and reward

21:44 – Putting up first ascents, “Who’s experience am I doing this for?”, and Mikey’s perspective shift in putting up new routes

25:33 – Learning by making mistakes, and when to push your limits

30:22 – Preserving the experience of routes

32:53 – Liberty Bell and the arc of Mikey’s climbing progression, rope soloing, father time, and putting up the hardest big wall route in WA

45:55 – Finding the gem (‘Dark Side of Liberty’)

49:54 – Being called a sandbagger and Mikey’s thoughts on grading routes

56:31 – Mikey’s tendency to not think he’s as strong as he is, “good” vs “great” climbers, and a shifted paradigm

59:00 – Being a jack of all trades, balancing multiple disciplines, how different disciplines help each other in a spiral, and climbing Cerro Torre

1:04:17 – The ‘Why’ behind Mikey being a jack of all trades in climbing, his influences and personality, and being the swiss army knife on productions

1:08:10 – Why Mikey doesn’t set long-term goals or make long-term plans, letting opportunities arise, and not knowing what’s next with COVID

1:13:18 – Varied approaches between different climbers, “There’s no recipe for success”, finding clues, and making the most of the cards you’re dealt

1:17:35 – Adding the training and bouldering bricks to the pyramid

1:19:03 – How Mikey trained to climb his first 5.14, repeaters using the Beastmaker App, weighted pull-ups, and muscle-ups

1:33:20 – Using video recordings as a tool, and front levers with Alex Honnold

1:37:13 – Being a shorter male climber (5’3”), different strength requirements for men and women, and an interesting comparison between Mikey and SJ

1:44:20 – The main benefits of bouldering and training the “try hard muscle”