In this episode Scott Johnston welcomes his long-time friend and fellow sexagenarian climber Jim Nelson. Jim and Scott discuss Jim's latest guide book.  Classic Cascade Climbs.  Jim, with co authors Tom Sjolseth and David Whitelaw have just published a follow up to his 2 previous Selected Climbs books.  This one; Classic Cascade Climbs, published by The Mountaineers Books is sure to fire the imagination of even the most seasoned climber.  While giving plenty of relevant beta for the climbs the killer photos are going to make you want to leave this book on your coffee table as inspiration. Link to purchase book:https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/classic-cascade-climbs-select-routes-in-washington-state

In this episode, Scott Johnston is joined by David Goettler. David is a member of the North Face Athlete Team, a professional mountain guide, and an accomplished alpinist. Fresh off of Everest after his successful summit without the use of supplemental oxygen, the duo discuss David's physical and mental preparation, embracing suffering, use of intermittent hypoxic training for preparation, and David's new approach for acclimatization this year that was a major factor in his success.

In the episode, Scott Johnston talks with Damon Tedford who recently returned from successful climbs of both Mt Everest and Lhotse.  While Damon and Scott have been in sporadic communication over the past couple of years using our phone consultation service he has been completely self-coached, using first our book Training for the New Alpinism to create his own training plan for the first couple of training cycles.  For this final training build up prior to the Everest-Lhotse trip he bought and used our 24 week expeditionary mountaineering plan and slightly modified it because we consider those plans to be the bare minimum needed to succeed.   Show Notes: Mountaineers on Mount Everest: Effects of age, sex, experience, and crowding on rates of success and death. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0236919  Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Update for Prevention and Treatment of Acute Altitude Illness: 2019 Update https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(19)30090-0/fulltext

In this episode, Scott Johnston is once again joined by US Army Captain Vince Paikowski, winner (with Alastair Keys) of the 2021 Best Ranger competition.  Last year these two military athletes trained using the tried and test Uphill Athlete methods.  This year Vince either personally coached or supplied these same training methods to a number of different teams preparing for the 2022 Best Ranger comp.  When the dust settled this year,  teams using these Uphill Athlete based training approach placed 1,2,3,4,6 and 7th.  Vince ad Scott discuss the  methods  which some tactical athletes in the armed forces are using to bring their fitness and preparation to a new level.

Nikki LaRochelle is joined by fellow Uphill Athlete coach Mike Foote in interviewing  ultra running phenom, Clare Gallagher, a major contender in the ultra running scene.

In the mountains, so many things are beyond our control; weather, snow conditions, avalanche hazard, rock quality, injury and illness to mention some of the more common.  How one deals with them is what can make the difference between a little adventure and tragedy.  Scott Johnston is joined by Kylee Toth dive into how experience and fitness allowed she and two companions to handle a recent unplanned bivouac during a scouting missing for their planned Bugaboo to Rogers Pass ski traverse.   A few weeks later, in better conditions the three of then set the fastest known time for this very demanding high alpine ski traverse.

In this episode, Scott Johnston talks with UA coach Nikki LaRochelle about her 1st place finish among co-ed teams and 4th place overall at the 2022  Grand Traverse ski mountaineering race in Colorado.  Nikki managed this impressive feat of endurance only 6 months (roughly) after the birth of second child. We discuss her training as well as balancing motherhood, working and training.

Scott Johnston discusses the evolution of the Uphill Athlete muscular endurance programming that has become a staple in the training of mountain athletes. Learn about the physiology, the intent, and the successful implementation of muscular endurance work in a variety of mountain pursuits. 

Scott Johnston and Uphill Athlete coach Jack Kuenzle discuss Jack's recent "Fastest Known Time" record on Mount Shasta, his background in the Navy SEALs, and more about the strategies he uses for moving quick over mountain terrain. Note: this was recorded before Jack's FKT on Mt Hood a few weeks later. 

Almost every athlete will have to deal with an injury of they keep training long enough. One of the most common type is to a tendon.  In this episode, Scott Johnston is joined by Pete Dickinson -- staff physical therapist for Uphill Athlete, and the US Ski Team. The two discuss tendon injuries, the physiology of the injury process, and sign posts for their proper rehabilitation.

Uphill Athlete coach Nikki LaRochelle hosts this episode where she  interviews Scott Johnston. They discuss Scott's diverse background in a number of different sports and career paths, as well as some of the major take-aways Scott has learned over 50 years of being an athlete and a coach.  

Our Chamonix Mountain Fit at home strength program has been immensely popular with everyone who has tried it. But what many do not realize is that we add more content to the program every year. In 2022 we added three new follow-along, physical-therapist-led workouts that we dubbed Chamonix Mountain Fit LITE. These workouts are shorter and great for athletes breaking back into strength training as well as high-level athletes needing mid-season strength workouts to keep those stabilizer muscles and the nerves innervating them healthy and strong to prevent injury

In this episode Scott Johnston is joined by Mark Sears and his coach David Thompson. The Trio discuss Mark's training during and through lock down and how Mark and Dave navigate the challenges of integrating base training and specific skill and technique work for running and climbing through the seasons.

By using the Uphill Athlete training philosophy of building a big aerobic base Vince broke with tradition and with his partner, Alastair Keys, won the US Army's Best Ranger competition in 2021 -- a multi-day ordeal that challenges the endurance, strength, and tactical abilities of the top athletes in the Army Rangers. Scott and Vince discuss how endurance base training was crucial for his success. 

In this episode, Scott Johnston is joined by UA-coached athlete Brian Carlock. They discuss the background and evolution of Brian's athletic development and understanding of training, and his experience with coaching.

Nikki LaRochelle is an Uphill Athlete Coach and highly accomplished Skimo racer. She will also be hosting future episodes of this podcast. Today Scott and Nikki discuss Nikki's athletic background, balancing athletic training with motherhood, and exchange stories about their training and sport histories. 

Scott Johnston, is joined by the newest addition to the Uphill Athlete coach roster, Kylee Toth. The two discuss Kylee's history as an athlete, and her transition from traditional sports to her highly successful career in skimo racing. 

Uphill Athlete Coaches Carolyn Parker, Maya Seckinger, Nikki LaRochelle, and Karen Bockel take up the question of how to balance being the best at all the different things.  Join the community by joining this important conversation. 

In this installment of the Uphill Athlete Podcast co-founder Steve House talks to Yoga Instructor Bree Dillon about their new joint venture: A recovery-focused yoga practice for athletes.The heart of the series is four classes that build into one another and allow you to progress on your own schedule. Level 1 starts at 30-minutes and Level 4 is 45 minutes in duration.For athletes who need to work on a specific area, we built out four body-area-specific video-based yoga blocks: Neck and Shoulders in 19 minutesHipflexors and Hamstrings in 19 minutesBack and Butt  in 16 minutesCalves and Feet in 17 minutesBree worked hard on these classes and we're confident they'll be a great addition to every athletes routine.

Training will never produce the desired results if you don't allow sufficient recovery between training bouts for the desired adaptations to occur. Uphill Athlete coach Scott Johnston discusses how to understand the feedback your body is giving you on your recovery status.  With the proliferation of devises that can easily overwhelm us with data many athletes over-rely on these metrics. Do they work as well what your own body is telling you?  Not if you pay attention.  Listen and learn to Scott's preferred tools for managing training load and recovery by tuning into your bodies subtle language.

Several years ago UA coach Scott Johnston helped Adrian Ballinger and his partner Cory Richards prepare for his successful ascent of Mt Everest's North Ridge without the use of supplemental bottled oxygen.  In this episode  the two of us discuss the training and preparation process for attempting big mountains, and having realistic expectations while on expedition.. Adrian is an IFMGA certified mountain guide and the owner of Alpenglow Expeditions. Adrian has lead over one-hundred fifty international climbing expeditions on six continents, and made seventeen successful summits of 8000 meter peaks.  In sharp contrast Scott as tried and failed to summit three 8000 meter peaks.  

A fascinating chat with three of our Female Uphill Athlete coaches. This time they dive into considerations for training with their reproductive cycle. The panel consists of three female  coaches each in their 20’s, 30’s, or 50’s.

In the mountain environment women often feel they are the odd-ones out. Here coaches Carolyn Parker, Maya Seckinger, and Karen Bockel openly share their own drives to not only do everything the men can do, but to do it better. Years of competitive sport, coaching, mountain guiding have given this remarkable group of coaches some wonderful wisdom and insights which they share here. Well worth a  listen for any Uphill Athlete, male or female.

David Goettler has been coached by Scott Johnston for more than 6 years.   Kilian Jornet  was the impetus for and co-authored with UA cofounders Steve House and Scott Johnston in the writing of Training for the Uphill Athlete.  David and Kilian recently returned from a failed attempt at an unassisted, oxygen-less speed ascent of Everest.  Scott Johnston unpacks their experiences of acclimatization, and training cycles at altitude; the unique situation of climbing big mountains post-lockdown; and the influences of social media on the projection and attainment of goals. 

For over a decade UA coach Scott Johnston was focused on the training of junior Cross Country skiers (with a side gig of advising Steve House on his training for alpinism).  During those years Scott had to tackle a myriad of issues from parents to high school distractions while learning to deal with the unique demands of coaching young athletes. In this episode, Scott is joined by fellow Uphill Athlete coach Maya Seckinger as they discuss training for juniors: how junior training differs from that of adults; tailoring training to the needs of kids; age-appropriate training for specific levels of development; and their personal experiences of training as juniors themselves.

When Art first approached UA for coaching he was woefully unprepared for an attempt on Mt Everest.  He not only didn't have the fitness needed he greatly underestimated the undertaking.  Despite warnings from his coach that he was not ready to tackle this huge objective  Art went anyway.  What ensured on the mountain nearly cost him his life.  Chastened, he returned to coaching with a realistic understanding of what it was going to take to succeed on the highest mountain  In May, at 75 years old,  Art summited Mt. Everest, making him the third-oldest person to have attained this feat. In this episode, Scott, Art, and his coach Seth Keena recap Art's experiences on the expedition, and the training process leading up to his summit bid, going back 2 plus years.  We captured this interview while are was still in Kathmandu, fresh off the climb with emotions still close to the surface.  

Scott Johnston talks to Sam Naney, describing in hilarious detail several lessons from his earliest days of climbing: Not nailing initial plans and objectives; successes and failures; and the beauty and wisdom to be found in the exuberance of youth.

In this episode, Scott Johnston and Sam Naney discuss the subject of speed, an often overlooked element in endurance sports. 

In this episode Steve House is joined by Hillary Allen. Hillary endured a tragic accident while competing in Sky Running (an ultra distance technical ridge running race). She and Steve recap her experiences of this accident, the grief and unexpected loss of sense of self that  arose, and Hillary's path to recovery. Hillary documents this process in her book: Out and Back: A Runner's Story of Survival Against All Odds.

Scott Johnston is once again joined by Phil Maffetone as they discuss  over training — particularly the common misconceptions, and social factors that perpetuate this unfortunate phenomenon.

In this episode, Steve House is joined by his longtime friend and climbing parter Barry Blanchard. As they exchange stories about coping with the aftermath of tragedies amongst the peaks they reflect on the ways specific events have shaped their experiences moving forward, and how they, and others they know, have worked through these events as individuals. For more information on Mountain MuskOx, please visit:https://www.mountainmuskox.com/

Steve House and Sky Yardeni, therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund, explore the process of living with grief,  integrating the new reality of life that comes after the loss of a friend, partner, or loved one.  In conclusions they summarize their discussions around loss, trauma, and grief within the mountain community.  Thank you for being a part of this important conversation.

Steve House and Sky Yardeni, the therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund continue their discussion about integrating stress, and most often how that relates to risk-taking and grief. Specifically how grief is not necessarily linked to loss and death, but may come from other forms of loss. This conversation traces an arc which moves towards creating and manifesting an attitude of wholeness, as individuals and as a community. Integrating the good and the bad. Lastly we discuss the stress continuum, PTSD and it's context, and the spiral of guilt that is so common in accident survivors and responders.Links we reference:https://www.responderalliance.com/https://americanalpineclub.org/grieffund

Mental health challenges, particularly the areas around trauma, loss, grief, and depression are a part of life for many mountain athletes.  Steve House begins this much-needed discussion with Sky Yardeni, the therapeutic director of the Climbing Grief Fund. The two share their personal experiences and Sky shares insights from his extensive professional background in working as a psycho-therapist as well as his time in, and after,  combat as Special Forces solider.This is the first of a multi-part series addressing our shared mental health challenges head-on as we explore strategies to help us navigate this landscape as individuals and as a community. Today's episode sets the stage for the topic and dives deeper into an exploration of resilience. Specifically the how to nurture and prepare your personal reservoir of resilience for the times you need it most.

Scott Johnston is joined by Doctor Jesse Charles, M.D. Jesse is a rural medical doctor and longtime adherent to the Uphill Athlete training methods. As a general practitioner in a rural setting, Jesse sees a wide variety of patients, from those at peak health, to the infirm. In this episode, Scott and Jesse discuss changes that take place as the result of regular exercise; exercise as a ‘phase change’ in the functioning of the body; how exercise facilitates learning; responses of the heart to exercise; nervous system changes and loss of motor units through time; the importance of balance practices in aging populations; the evolution of mitochondria; gut bacteria as a health indicator throughout life; dietary considerations for gut health; training progressions and adaptations for increasing vitality; and thoughts on arthritis prevention.References:Exercise promotes the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through the action of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate https://elifesciences.org/articles/15092Molecular Choreography of Acute Exercisehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32470399/Hyperglycaemia is associated with impaired muscle signalling and aerobic adaptation to exercisehttps://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-020-0240-7Physical activity offsets genetic risk for incident depression assessed via electronic health records in a biobank cohort studyhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/da.22967MAP training: combining meditation and aerobic exercise reduces depression and rumination while enhancing synchronized brain activityhttps://www.nature.com/articles/tp2015225Exercise Alters Gut Microbiota Composition and Function in Lean and Obese Humanshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29166320/Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolismhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0485-4Blood factors transfer beneficial effects of exercise on neurogenesis and cognition to the aged brainhttps://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6500/167Studies of a targeted risk reduction intervention through defined exercise (STRRIDE)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11581566/BDNF polymorphism predicts the rate of decline in skilled task performance and hippocampal volume in healthy individualshttps://www.nature.com/articles/tp201147Is Your Blood Sugar Undermining Your Workouts?https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/well/move/blood-sugar-diet-foods-workouts-exercise-muscles.htmlFiber-Mediated Nourishment of Gut Microbiota Protects against Diet-Induced Obesity by Restoring IL-22-Mediated Colonic Healthhttps://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(17)30497-3Association Between Dietary Fiber and Lower Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/181/2/83/2739206

In this episode coach Sam Naney talks with his athlete, professional free skier and ski mountaineer, Cody Townsend. Cody has had a long and illustrious career in free skiing and has been featured in many ski films. Cody’s most recent project is “Chasing The Fifty Classics” — the classic ski descents of North America. The two discuss this project, and in particular, Cody’s training as he chases these lines.

In this episode, Scott Johnston talks with Uphill Athlete's military and tactical coach, Drew Hammond. In this episode Scott and Drew discuss: Drew’s background; using hybrid strength and endurance methods; approaches for building an aerobic base for tactical athletes; training soldiers like athletes; training philosophy; scheduling training around deployment and at while at home; creating longterm positive change in base level physiology. 

Coach Sam Naney is joined by athlete Luke Nelson and coach, and 2019 Canadian Masters National SkiMo Champion, Scott Semple for a chat about all things ski mountaineering. Sam, Luke, and Scott have a great collective history in skimo racing. Join them as they talk about skimo racing in the US and in Europe; ways to train for and get involved in skimo; dive into some particulars about the gear needed; and learn how to get out there and make the best of ski mountaineering and racing.