For all of his expeditions and cutting-edge climbs around the world, Graham Zimmerman’s story is one of balancing adventure and exploration with social responsibility and an examined life. His book, A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains demonstrates that, and also serves as an ode to the friends and mentors he’s lost to the mountains.

Zimmerman became a professional climber at 24 years old. Now 37, Zimmerman is accomplished well beyond his years. He has made first ascents from Alaska to Pakistan, and in 2020 he received a Piolet d’Or for his climb on Pakistan’s Link Sar with Steve Swenson, Mark Richey and Chris Wright. He’s currently the Board President at the American Alpine Club and works for Protect Our Winters. 

In this episode, Zimmerman speaks to the need for systemic change when it comes to climate and social issues, and how climbers see those challenges through a unique lens. He reflects on his love for the mountains, and the sense of release and joy they provide him with.

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from the American Alpine Club.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Graham Zimmerman

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Dr. Len Necefer didn’t grow up skiing steep slopes or topping out on summits like he does today. Instead, his connection to the outdoors began with golf—a fact he shares rather sheepishly. Necefer was an avid golfer from age five until he was eighteen, when he moved to the desert southwest and realized how water-intensive that sport is. 

Necefer is a member of the Navajo Nation, and is working to bring more Native voices and talents into the outdoor industry through his organization Natives Outdoors. 

He believes in the importance of engaging with the environment in a thoughtful, meaningful and respectful way. As a backcountry skier and climber, he cultivates connection with the mountains he visits and the people he visits them with. He is a regular Alpinist contributor. 

In this episode, Necefer reflects on why having a sense of humor is essential when trying to communicate about heavy subjects like climate change; what it was like teaching himself to ski; and why it’s important for all of us to vote.

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from the American Alpine Club.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Len Necefer

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Lauren Delaunay Miller is an award-winning author, journalist and audio producer based in Bishop, California. Her first book, Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing, was published in the spring of 2022 by Mountaineers Books, and won the Banff Mountain Book Competition for Climbing Literature. 

Growing up on the East Coast, Miller says she wasn’t initially an outdoorsy person. But she was inspired to start climbing while at college in North Carolina—after seeing a photo of Alex Honnold climbing Yosemite’s Half Dome on the cover of National Geographic. She recalls that, at the time, she didn’t even know how to pronounce “Yosemite.” 

Since then, Miller has spent many days on Yosemite’s granite walls. In this episode, Miller talks about the power of using the mountains and climbing as a vehicle to tackle stories around larger issues in society. She speaks to her love of climbing, and how it allows her to connect with people and explore human stories, communities and relationships. 

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from the American Alpine Club.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Lauren DeLaunay Miller

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Steve House began venturing into the high mountains as a teenager, and has since built a career on climbing, guiding and coaching. By the time he published his book Beyond the Mountain in 2009, Reinhold Messner said House was “at the top of mountaineering.” 

House’s life in climbing has taken him all over the world. His most famous ascent may be the Central Pillar of Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face, a climb he completed with Vince Anderson. But he has compiled an impressive list of first ascents and new routes in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, the Alps and the Karakoram. Steve has been a professional mountain guide since 1992, and in 1999 he became the ninth American to achieve IFMGA certification.

But these days House lives in a small Austrian mountain town with his wife and two kids. In the mornings he spends time getting outside, while the later part of the day is dedicated to working with his company Uphill Athlete. He retired from professional climbing in 2020. 

In this episode, we revisit passages from Steve’s book Beyond the Mountain, discuss fatherhood, and finding his way in his new home in Austria. We learn about the climb that drove him to focus more on training and preparation, and eventually led him to start his company, Uphill Athlete.  And, we learn more about how he thinks about climbing and what it is to be human—to focus on the act of becoming rather than being.

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from Osprey.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Steve House

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Sarah Pickman is an encyclopedia of expedition history, in particular the gear early explorers relied on. She recently earned a PhD in history from Yale University. She’s an independent scholar, editor, writer and content producer based just outside New York City. 

Sarah is also a contributor to Alpinist. She’s written articles on expedition first aid kits and sun protection for the Tool Users section of the magazine. As it turns out, burnt cork is no substitute for sunscreen.  

Through her research and writing, Sarah looks at the gear explorers carried with them on their travels—to the polar regions and high-altitude mountains, as well as to tropical and arid places—and how this gear shaped their experiences and the cultural worlds they were part of.

Sarah takes us on a fascinating journey to the ends of the earth and back again. We talk about the spirit of exploration and much more in this episode. 

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from Osprey.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Sarah Pickman

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

David Smart’s life and work seem to intersect with climbing at every turn. He’s a lifelong climber, revered route developer and the editorial director at Gripped Publishing. He’s a founding editor at Gripped Magazine and has been crucial to its success and longevity for more than 25 years. 

Smart has published five books, including a biography of Royal Robbins that recently won the Banff Mountain Book Award for climbing literature. He also actively contributes to Alpinist, including his mountain profile on Cima Grande in Alpinist 76 and a recent story on Kodak’s Brownie camera and how it impacted the representation of climbing in the media and beyond.

Smart has developed more than 300 routes in the Canadian Rockies and elsewhere around the world. At age 60, he continues to climb several days a week and revels in the ambiance of his home range. 

In this episode, we cover a lot of ground, from his new biography on Royal Robbins, to the state of publishing and climbing media, to his passion for route development and leaving something behind for others to experience. 

Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from Osprey.

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: David Smart

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Justin Bowen’s first time scaling walls and new routes was in a climbing gym during a friend’s birthday party. It wasn’t until high school, driven by persistent memories of that experience, that Bowen started climbing on a more consistent basis.

Eventually, while attending college in Arizona, Bowen planned his first trip to Yosemite, where he jumped right onto the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral. He quickly realized just how much he still had to learn about building anchors and placing gear. A few years ago, Bowen met friend and mentor Mark Jenkins, who he says shared a wealth of knowledge based on his decades of climbing around the world. Bowen still climbs with and learns from Jenkins on a regular basis.

In this episode, Bowen reflects on how he manages fear—both in the mountains, and in his day-to-day life. He talks about being a PhD student, and the terrifying prospect of only having two-to-three weeks off a year to pursue climbing objectives after finishing school. And he speaks to the striking similarities between the Tetons and Mt. Kenya. Tales from Bowen and Jenkins’ Mt. Kenya expedition are featured in Alpinist 83.

This episode is brought to you by the American Alpine Club

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Justin Bowen

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

For Alan Rousseau, the allure of mountaineering is in the unknown. When he looks up at a mountain and contemplates whether it can be climbed, he sees a mystery to be solved. 

Rousseau is an IFMGA guide who divides his time between pursuing his own goals in the mountains, and helping others do the same. His achievements in the Alaska Range, to which he has ventured more than twenty times, include first ascents of Ruth Gorge Grinder and Aim for the Bushes. In 2020, his first ascent of the west face of Tengi Ragi Tau with Tino Villanueva was recognized as one of the year’s greatest climbing achievements and the pair won a Piolets d’Or. Villanueva wrote about the climb in Alpinist 81. 

In this episode, Alan reflects on more than ten years of climbing in the Alaska Range, and exploratory climbs like Aim For the Bushes that he and his partners established earlier this year. He talks about the difference between planning trips to Alaska and the Himalaya, and the mountains that act as his compass.

This episode is brought to you by the American Alpine Club

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Alan Rousseau

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Caroline Gleich lives on the ridgeline between adventure and activism. Her trips around the globe often transcend summit goals as she merges mountain missions with driving awareness around diversity, equality and inclusion, and environmental justice.

In 2019, Caroline summited the tallest mountain in the world—with a fully torn ACL in her knee. Two years earlier, she was the first woman to ski the entirety of Utah’s Chuting Gallery. But before she became a professional skier, Gleich thought she wanted to be a pro climber, after getting her start on old school sandbagged trad routes. While she ultimately pursued skiing, Gleich uses her rock and ice climbing skills to further her ski mountaineering goals. 

On the advocacy side, she organizes marches, protests and rallies to further the causes she believes in, and has traveled to Washington DC to lobby for Protect Our Winters.

In this episode of the Alpinist Podcast, Caroline recounts her Everest expedition, challenges stereotypes around body image, and dives into the dark side of her personality and how she plans for a future full of unknowns.

This episode is brought to you by the American Alpine Club

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Caroline Gleich

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

For Andrea Charest, climbing is entwined with community. She and her husband Steve own Petra Cliffs, a climbing gym and mountaineering school in Burlington, Vermont, where they also work as guides. She’s volunteered much of her time over the years to Crag Vermont, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving, protecting and advocating for climbing access in the Green Mountain State.

She empowers her fellow climbers to take the lead, and has a knack for enabling others to move past their perceived limitations.

Earlier this year, Charest became an AMGA-certified ice climbing instructor, a hard-earned goal years in the making. 

In this conversation, we talk about her journey through the ice instructor exam, and how she balances business, play and parenthood. Charest shares her love for the global climbing community, her excitement around the continued growth of Petra Cliffs, and the importance of helping climbers make the transition from the gym to the crag.

This episode is brought to you by Rab Equipment

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Andrea Charest

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Poet Sarah Audsley has an elevated point of view, even when her feet are on the ground. While the Vermont-based writer and climber believes she was indeed born to write poetry, she didn’t start pursuing it professionally until age 29. 

Before that, she traveled the world, from Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro to Turkey’s Mt. Ararat to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, before making her way back to Vermont, the state where she grew up.

Audsley’s work has been widely published, including her debut collection titled Landlock X. Her poetry and writing has also graced the pages of Alpinist, with poems published in issues 65 and 74, as well as an interview with Ed Roberson in Alpinist 71.

In this conversation, Audsley reads two select works, reflects on the idea of elective suffering, and relishes the elevated perspective climbing provides. 

This episode is brought to you by Rab Equipment

Alpinist Magazine: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Host: Abbey Collins

Guest: Sarah Audsley

Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn

Photos by Anne Skidmore