Phil Wortmann doesn’t look at outrageous projects like most people. Rather, it’s a puzzle to be solved and the pieces might just require a whole new set of skills and close to a decade to put it all together.
🧊 About the episode
Phil Wortmann doesn’t look at outrageous projects like most people. It can’t be that he took too many hits to the head, because he stopped boxing early, and it’s not la la optimism either.
Still, for someone to make a 5.13 project on Pike’s Peak their first at the grade and to establish what is likely the Lower 48's hardest, longest and most sustained mixed climb requires a little something something. That something something is something Phil thinks others can develop too, by the way.
In this episode, we chat about:
- 🧊 The importance of long-term goals and how he approaches them
- 🧊 What went into projecting “Samsara” and “Drop the Mic”
- 🧊 Establishing The Ghetto, the hardest drytooling crag in Colorado outside of Ouray and Vail
- 🧊 Helping to preserve The Golden Book and Colorado Springs climbing history
- 🧊 Why gatekeeping grinds his gears
🧊 Resources and links
To follow Phil’s latest exploits, he’s on Instagram @thewordmann.
Here is his account of projecting “Samsara” and here is the AAJ article about “Drop the Mic.”
🧊 Credits
📸: Cover photo by Scott Turpin.
Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!). This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
🧊 Sponsors:
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.
🗣️ Leave a review!
If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice.
Related posts
Written by
