TBP 263: From 5.13 Big Walls to 5.14c Sport - Bronwyn Hodgins' Training

Bronwyn Hodgins is a 31-year-old Squamish-based professional climber and climbing guide whose main focus until recently was big wall and crack climbing. In 2022 she sent Necronomicon (5.13d/14a), which is one of the hardest roof cracks in the world. Before that send, she had climbed up to 5.13d sport and 5.13c trad.

In the summer of 2022, Hodgins and a team (including her husband, Jacob Cook) made a film about an expedition where they spent 65 days putting up many first ascents in Greenland, traveling between climbs via sea kayak. In fact, she’s made a lot of films and you can find them all here.

Needless to say, she is an accomplished, well-rounded climber and adventurer and I have a lot of respect for that. When I read about her recent ascent of La Rubia (5.14c / 8c+) in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain, I was intrigued. How did a big waller who’d climbed just one 5.14a sport route sent a long, burly 14c in Spain? So I asked her to be on the show to talk about her training and preparation for the route.

Turns out it’s a great story and she has a lot of wisdom to offer us.

Bronwyn Hodgins Interview Details

• Her climbing story – how she became a pro climber
• Big wall experience
• Crack climbing training
• How she got shut down hard on La Rubia and then trained for a year to send it
• Visualization on projects
• Managing fear of falling
• The festival for women and gender expansive people she’s putting on in July
• How running mid distance for so long prepared her for route climbing

Bonus Content on Patreon

• redpointing tactics on outdoor routes
• her diet
• what her lifestyle and finances are like as a pro climber
• sexism in climbing and guiding

Support the show and get all of the bonus episodes plus nutrition and mindset training at www.patreon.com/trainingbeta