Chris and Heather Weidner are a hardcore climbing couple, both with many 5.14s under their belt across multiple rock climbing disciplines. We talked about drink counting, New Year resolutions, current injuries, the steps to becoming a kneebar wizard, projecting tips, hard conversations, and balancing climbing goals with maintaining a healthy relationship. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing Show Notes: http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/chris-and-heather-weidner Nuggets: 2:41 – How Heather broke her own finger climbing at Shelf Road, and being injured together 5:52 – Counting drinks 9:24 – New Year resolutions, goal setting, and the Green River trip 13:52 – Heather’s climbing origin story, her background in dance, and the choreography of projecting 18:48 – Chris’s climbing origin story, and being introduced to rock climbing and mountains 21:05 – Living in Boulder and maintaining roots in Vegas 21:50 – The art of becoming a kneebar wizard 29:35 – Philosophy of kneebaring, getting better vs. training, and beta tactics 35:06 – Tinkering with beta 38:35 – How Chris breaks down a new project, and training the rests 41:28 – Kneerbar training exercises 44:04 – How Chris broke his pinkie by kneebaring 45:44 – Sourcing kneepads, Send pads, and kneecap tape explanation 49:45 – Heather’s kneebar beta, and why women can handle pain better than men 51:35 – Go-to shoes for kneebars 53:20 – Adam Ondra is making kneebaring cool again 54:37 – Send pads, leg warmers, and man warmers 57:33 – ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’ 1:03:18 – How Chris hurt his shoulder 1:04:38 – Balancing climbing together with climbing with other people 1:09:14 – Chris’s passion for climbing (and ticking boxes), and Heather’s love for projecting 1:13:11 – Expectations going into a hard project, and being ok with not doing all of the moves the first day (or several days) 1:16:12 – ‘Stockboy’s Revenge’ 1:18:15 – “Ask Chris what it’s like for him to have Heather outperform him on his project?” 1:19:22 – Heather’s “bullheadedness” in projecting, and focus vs. adaptability 1:21:01 – Hitting rock bottom on ‘China Doll’, and addressing inner demons 1:23:28 – Getting mental coaching from Arno Ilgner, meditation, and therapy 1:25:23 – Heather’s meditation practice, and the flow state of climbing 1:26:53 – Breakdown of ‘China Doll’ 1:30:23 – What Chris learned from ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’ 1:32:53 – Heather’s mindset when tying in for a project burn, and how Chris’s projecting philosophy has changed 1:35:57 – Learning to adapt, and the power of letting go 1:37:04 – Why Heather is excited about bouldering 1:38:20 – Gratitude 1:41:17 – Kids and hard conversations 1:45:12 – Another decade of improvement

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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