EP 205: Adrian Vanoni — Finger Crack Wizardry, Blue Collar Sending, and Lucid Dreams About Beta

Adrian Vanoni is an up-and-coming finger crack wizard who has been on fire for the last few years. We talked about him breaking into 5.14, freeing El Cap ground up and then in a day, training for the famous ‘Cobra Crack’ using a campus board, doing the first free ascent of a 5.14 finger crack in the alpine, lucid dreaming about beta, going after hard routes that will force you to grow as a climber, and much more!

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We are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:

• Michael Roy, Craig Lee, Mark and Julie Calhoun, Yinan Liu, Zach Emery, Alex Pluta, and Matt Walter

Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/adrian-vanoni

Nuggets:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:02:04) – Mustaches, haircuts, and wired headphones

(00:05:16) – Our conversation about trying to climb 5.14

(00:07:42) – Geeking out about ‘Badman’ 5.14a

(00:08:40) – Collecting unfinished business, and sticking with it on projects

(00:11:04) – Little Si, and a new crag in WA

(00:13:30) – Adrian’s lifestyle

(00:16:04) – The glamorous life of an amateur climber

(00:20:29) – His beginnings in trad climbing

(00:23:29) – Developing the skills to free El Cap

(00:24:16) – Freeing ‘Golden Gate’ ground up with Sam Stroh

(00:26:14) – Comparing his and Sam’s tick lists

(00:30:54) – Putting ‘El Corazon’ in a day into context

(00:40:44) – Will’s impressive belay season

(00:41:25) – Blue-collar sending

(00:46:39) – ‘Mr. Chicken’

(00:53:38) – Trying hard is trainable

(00:58:50) – Anticipation, expectation, and redpoint stress

(01:00:59) – Living in the present, and appreciating the journey

(01:04:00) – Sending ‘Cobra Crack’ 5.14b

(01:10:25) – Training for Cobra on the campus board

(01:17:31) – Visualization and lucid dreaming

(01:21:30) – More ‘Badman’ beta

(01:25:01) – The nuance of resting on sport routes

(01:29:09) – Beta depends on context

(01:35:58) – Prusik Peak and ‘Prayer for a Friend’

(02:00:24) – The style of big wall ascents

(02:10:06) – Street credit

(02:18:07) – Sending ‘Prayer for a Friend’ 5.14-

(02:22:56) – Goal routes and boulders

(02:31:42) – Social media vs. inspiration

(02:39:41) – Not everything is for everyone

(02:45:54) – My climbing as a more public person

(02:49:26) – Growing to meet a route where it is

(02:51:26) – Get on the hard thing you want to do

(02:57:57) – ‘Freerider’ in a day

(03:13:19) – Wrap up and EXTRA teaser!