Learning to ice climb in Ouray and plug gear in the Gunks isn’t your typical introduction to climbing, but Kathy Karlo’s journey has been anything but ordinary.
Now known for her willingness to tackle bold trad lines and embrace type two challenges, @inheadlights established herself in the southeast climbing community by becoming the first woman to complete the Tennessee Wall Triple Crown - three 5.12 roof cracks outside of Chattanooga - and the Linville Destroyer - a massive linkup that adds six formations and a committing river crossing to the already formidable Linville Crusher in Linville Gorge.
Listen to Episode 30 of the Ground Up Podcast on your favorite streaming platform to learn more about Kathy’s journey as a climber, her work as the executive director of @nomanslandfilmfestival and what ultimately keeps drawing her back to Southeast climbing despite years of sampling the best to offer in places like Indian Creek, the Black Canyon and Vedauwoo.
📸 Cover photo courtesy of @karenklane
#tradisrad #climbinglife #womenwhoclimb #tradclimbing #rockclimbing
The arc where you start loving women differently: Not competitively, not cautiously. You start rooting for them even when you don’t know them. You realize how healing it feels when women protect each other instead of comparing.
The arc where you redefine what being “taken care of” means: It’s not about dependency, but more about partnership. You want someone who understands how hard you’ve worked for your calm and protects it, not interrupts it. You realize you can be soft and calm without being small, and cared for without being caged.
The arc where you stop toning down your desires to look humble. You stop playing small in a world so vast, in a life where you can be so much more…where you can be the standard.
📸 @calebtimmermanphoto
💪🏻 @ann_maroo
Fear shouts.
Intuition whispers.
One protects comfort,
the other protects your path.
Learning to pause between these two is a practice — to listen for the one that speaks in peace, not panic. One pulls me backward to safety, the other forward to truth. They sound the same when I’m scared, even if I’m only a few feet above my last piece, and only stillness can tell me which is which.
On my last day in the Red, I sent Charlie, a 5.13b gear line, on my fourth attempt. I’m incredibly proud for putting it down with the short window I had, making it my hardest trad route to date.
This year, I’d met the most broken version of myself. This old version couldn’t see myself for who I really am, which was limiting in so many ways. Climbing Charlie was an unbinding experience, free of self-concept or fear. I gave myself a lot of grace and self-trust on this one, tried my very best, and surprised myself at the chains.
Thanks to @ann_maroo for planting the seed this summer 🌱🙏🏻 and to @susanreedsbooks@ann_maroo@ethan_pringle@markherbison@alynnrinah and @phillybear_ for the amazing support. I can’t wait to see what comes next 💫
Photos and spiderwand contributed by the one and only @calebtimmermanphoto
Well, 👋🏻 it’s been an awkwardly long time, but here are two main updates after disappearing from IG for a year and a half: I bought my first house and now I am blonde.
Life has taken some unexpected twists and turns, and I recently read somewhere that learning from your experiences and evolving through them is the greatest form of self love. May we never stop fucking up, learning, and growing. I’m finally accepting that it’s about being brave, not perfect.
I know I have a tendency of wanting things to be right, right away. But it truly takes a lifetime to see your own patterns and face your traumas; I have spent the last nine months reviewing, revisiting, and releasing the shit that isn’t mine to carry into the next chapter. It’s been a heart-stomping, crying-alone-in-rivers, and being scared shitless kind of year. It felt like I was running a marathon for the last eight years that I never signed up for, and the bone exhaustion crashed me out harder than I thought it could.
But in putting roots down, the inner clenching is dissolving and I’m starting to release my death grip on things I can’t control, to challenge comfort, and not to rush the milestones because everything has a season. I’m drinking more water, breathing more deeply, and I’ve stopped pouring from an empty cup.
I’m saying “yes” when I mean “yes” — but more importantly, “no” when I really mean “no, that’s not for me”. I finally realized that when you stop people-pleasing, some people will stop being pleased — and that’s ok. I admittedly wasn’t leading in my own life, but instead of shrinking myself the way we so often can and do, I’m making sure that I’m in the room now and telling myself to do the opposite: show the fuck up and be present.
These are just a few snaps of people and moments over the spring/summer that have brought me joy, and I’m grateful for those friends (not all pictured) who held an infinite amount of space for me as I moved through these changes and big grief. Each and every moment helped something in me emerge that said, “you matter, too.”
It has been an honor and joy to work alongside BBC journalist Jo Jolly and the @bespoken_uk team over the last 12+ months.
Finally watching the release of this series launch feels like I can pause and catch my breath. I’m deeply yearning to reconnect with community this spring and summer. Meanwhile, the end result is something I feel incredibly proud to be a part of. I’m so grateful to @harrisbespoken , @leeleecoyle , and Carys for reaching out to me to play a small role in their dynamic vision.
In a new four-part season of the BBC World Service's Amazing Sport Stories podcast, Chasing Mountains follows five mountaineers as they try to become the first woman to reach the summits of the 14 highest mountains in the world.
The first episode of Chasing Mountains launched on @bbcsounds Monday, 4/15. Episodes released weekly. Chasing Mountains also airs weekly on BBC World Service radio from 6/26. Subscribe to stay updated on each episode drop. Trailer link in bio. @bbc@bbcsounds #podkath
Sometimes you go to Joshua Tree to climb splitter cracks and keep it together on scary run outs. Other times, you roll around with your significant other in an oddly placed bed in the middle of the desert.
Either way you cut it, it’s an @allezoutdoor experience. #smallbusiness #womenowned #allez #allezoutdoor #fortheloveofclimbing @allezoutdoor 🌵
It’s almost the end of November and I’m still out here wearing crop tops but not mad about it. Excited to give Bugs From Hell a proper rip next week when temps cool down! Last season I worked way too much, the weather didn’t cooperate and things were oft wet, and my motivation was low. This year, the motivation to try new (to me) trad lines has returned tenfold so I guess it’s time to put all the bouldering and sports action to good use.
EP 53 (holy smokes!) - A Guy Walks Out of a Bar…
The year is 2023. Booze has been around since circa the late Stone Age. But a lot has changed since then.
The science community, along with many others, have been rejecting terms like “addict” and “alcoholic” and recommend non-pejorative, person-first language with the hope to increase better recovery outcomes.
These terms can carry a lot of cultural baggage and stigma. Since we’ve started this show, we’ve had a couple episodes that explore addiction from a few different angles, and how it impacts those who experience it.
FLC podcast recognizes that there are more appropriate and clinically accepted words, and we’ll try and utilize them when we can. Inevitably, with new understanding will come new language, and this episode is meant to focus on how we can better understand and support people in long-term recovery.
And it’s stories like this one that give us more people-centric focus on recovery, and remind us that our capacity to recognize experiences of shame runs parallel with growth.
Thank you @turtlebeard for joining the conversation. 📸 gnarraly @aperture_alike #fortheloveofclimbing #flcpodcast
For the Love of Climbing is proudly presented by @patagonia // @patagonia_climb
Celebrated another rotation around the sun in my favorite place in the world. Thankful for the people in my life after what has felt like five long years of trudging through the shit, for those who gave me support and space for discovery, the good and bad, ugly and beautiful.
For those of you in the trenches, it *does* get better and the community around you blooms when you heal and with you while you are actively healing. Love is alchemy. Nebulous. A life force unto itself, and I’m so grateful to be here.
Thank you for the photo @tylerjallen !
