Kevin Lindlau is one of the rare birds who excels at both comp and outdoor drytooling.
🧊 About the episode
Kevin Lindlau is one of the rare birds in drytooling who excels at both comp *and* outdoor climbing. In January, Kevin completed the second ascent of “Aletheia”, rated D16 ✅, becoming only the second person in the world to climb the grade. (There’s some nuance here since other routes have been proposed at D16, but this is the first route that has been repeated and the grade corroborated). Anywho, on the comp side, Kevin was the first American to ever make World Cup Finals in Lead in 2019, and he has regularly made Finals since.
In this episode, we talk about:
- 🧊 How Kevin came to climbing after a gruesome accident that ended a promising bicycle racing career
- 🧊 Overcoming self-doubt along the way
- 🧊 The important role of mentorship in his development (shout out to Marcus Garcia)
- 🧊 How to train for high-end roof climbing and competitions in the same year
- 🧊 What most people get wrong about ARC training
- 🧊 The future of drytooling routes
- 🧊 And of course, latte art ☕️
*Just a warning that Kevin gives a graphic description of his accident. If you’re squeamish, you might want to skip that part. If you’re a sadist, well, enjoy, I guess.*
"It was really fun, Matteo (@cinepilon) was able to make this route in a way that you couldn't just figure four or nine it. You couldn't just DTS it. You had to use both skills to get through it. And that's huge. I think that's very futuristic in the sport.
And it made the route very difficult. There was like floating underclings and things that you would see in competition climbing that were on this route, which was sick. I loved it. And it made the route more challenging. And that was a step up from anything else I believe that's been done."
🧊 Resources and links
If you’d like to follow along with Kevin’s latest latte creation, his ice axe juggling or climbing, you can follow him on:
🧊 Credits
📸 Cover photo by Kara Vogler (@mtnghoststudio)
Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!). This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
🧊 Sponsors:
New for Season 2, a huge thanks to Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries for supporting this show!
Aniiu Gloves: What do you get when you combine 30 years of ice climbing and product design chops? Well, if you’re into gloves you get Aniiu — a boutique climbing brand on a mission to produce the best ice climbing and drytooling gloves around. Doug, Jun, and the rest of the team spare no expense in the pursuit of durable, dextrous and waterproof. Best yet, they are made from recycled textiles — which saves waste from the landfill — and they are robustly built so they won’t end up there anytime soon. To learn more about your friend in the cold, head to aniiu.com. That is aniiu.com.
Furnace Industries: We get it, ice season never really ends… it just kinda blends between rock, plastic, and plywood until waterfalls freeze over again. No matter how you train in the off-season Furnace Industries keeps you going ‘til your next bout of screaming barfies. With their gym-safe DRY ICE Evolutions you can keep up your fitness indoors. And if you’re looking to challenge yourself on your homewall, they have the largest stock of drytooling holds in America. Check out their full lineup of ice and drytooling gear at furnace-Industries.com… where It’s Always Ice Season.
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