Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, from The Climbing Zine

47 episodes listed below

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Climbing stories with dirtbag memory.

The gist

Dirtbag State of Mind is a warm, unrushed climbing show from The Climbing Zine, built around conversations with climbers, artists, writers, and zine friends. It favors origin stories, road-life memory, route lore, zine culture, and the strange ways climbing shapes a person over polished achievement talk.

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About Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, from The Climbing Zine

Dirtbag State of Mind is a climbing show from The Climbing Zine with the feel of a long conversation after a day outside. It is not built around quick tips. It is built around people, places, stories, and the slow way a climbing life takes shape. Episodes often start with something tactile: a zine issue, a typewriter at a festival, a published essay, a book, a film, a route, or an old story pulled back into circulation. Then the show lets the guest talk. That patience is the point. Karly Rager’s episode connects poetry, La Gloria, El Salto, multi-pitch development, a huge fire, and a feature article called Permission Slip. Ashima Shiraishi’s conversation follows the arc from child-prodigy reputation and competition pressure into art, mindfulness, meditation, and introspective films. Chris Sharma’s episode carries both awe and familiarity, moving through hard sport climbing, bouldering, deep-water soloing, the Dawn Wall, Yosemite possibility, and the humility that shaped his influence. The Alex Honnold classic arrives as a pre-season return, framed by recent building soloing and the nerves of recording a major interview online. Sonnie Trotter’s two-part conversation has a looser, life-arc shape. It moves from teenage road trips and early climbing identity into books, training, podcast experiments, older climbers, and the pull of being well rounded. The show also preserves older zine material, including Adventures with Two Tent Timmy and stories tied to Yosemite climbing history. It cares about clean climbing, environmental ethics, route style, and the communities that form around crags and printed pages. The tone is affectionate without becoming glossy. Technical terms show up naturally because the show assumes climbing is a shared language. Still, the most memorable moments are often about leaving home, meeting mentors, getting burned out, finding art, or watching a route become part of a wider story. The production has a handmade quality, with music by Devin Dabney and recurring notes from The Climbing Zine universe. It feels less like coverage from outside the sport than a record kept by someone who has lived near its edges for years. Dirtbag State of Mind is for listeners who want the culture, memory, and inner weather of climbing alongside the grades and names.

Made for: For climbers, zine readers, route-history obsessives, and anyone drawn to the human side of rock climbing. It especially suits listeners who prefer long, reflective conversations over fast advice or competition recaps.

What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its closeness to The Climbing Zine: guests are often connected through essays, books, films, festivals, old stories, and shared climbing places. It treats achievement as one thread among art, friendship, ethics, training, and time.

In their own words

A climbing podcast from The Climbing Zine

As heard by us

Based on 5 episodes we listened to · August 2026

A climbing interview show where routes, training, road life, art, and obsession all belong to the same sporting culture.

Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, from The Climbing Zine, belongs in Sports because it treats climbing as a culture people live inside, not just a set of results or hard sends.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Some campfire seats come with Sharma, Shiraishi, Trotter, and the questions you hoped someone would ask.

Press play if you want

elite climbers nudged past the tick list into burnout, art, training, road life, and why climbing sticks
the host to ask how a route, a zine piece, or a teenage road trip actually felt from inside

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

climbing origin storieszine culture and printed storiessport climbing and bouldering historybig walls and multi-pitch routestraining, burnout, and competitionclimbing as art and writingYosemite climbing historyclean climbing and environmental ethics

Talks about

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Find your next episode

About Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, from The Climbing Zine

In their own words

As heard by us

Why you'd press play

Talks about

Podcasts like Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, from The Climbing Zine

Episodes

Poetry in Motion with Karly Rager

Climbing with Multitudes with Ashima Shiraishi

From Prodigy to OG with Chris Sharma

Untroubled with Alex Honnold (Dirtbag Classic)

In Love with Climbing with Sonnie Trotter, Part 2

Creeksgiving by Luke Mehall

Help On The Way at Cave Wall West

In Love with Climbing with Sonnie Trotter, Part 1

Preview of our Sonnie Trotter Conversation (with Cliff Cash poetry)

The Low Key Legend with Jimmie Dunn (Dirtbag Classic)

TC The OG with Tommy Caldwell

From Tech to Tolstoy and Trad Climbing with Sam MacIlwaine

Don't Be A Trad Princess with Mary Eden

Dirtbag Rich: Blake Boles and Luke Mehall

Life Is A Beautiful Struggle: Ryan Devlin and Luke Mehall

The Art of The Belaytionship with Andy Vo

A Letter And Poem for Kurt Blair

Everybody Climbs in Indian Creek with Tim Foulkes

The Dirtbags Aren't Dead, They're Just In Mexico

Untroubled with Alex Honnold

The Mom Crux with Mallory Logan (co-hosted by Shaun Matusewicz)

Beats, Climbs, and Life: A Conversation with Kris Hampton

You Belong Here: A Conversation with Steve Bechtel

Holding Space and Leading The Way: A Conversation with Shara Zaia

The Microdose Mixtape

Climbs Fall Apart

Pursuing The Struggle with Felipe Garcia

Climbing Is Not About Climbing with Chad Reich

A Love Letter To The Firebrand

Slab is Sexy and Inclusivity is Hot with Anna Hazelnutt

Evening Sends and Resistance Climbing with Andrew Bisharat

Exploring The Lines of Climbing and Writing with Greg Pettys

The Roots of The Zine with Bryant Aucoin of Sticker Art

ASCA, Making a World of Difference with Nate Lilies

Keeping The Zine Alive with The Runout

To Live and Die in Yosemite

On Mole with Mark Grundon

Sueños de Altura en Mexico with Becky Zunigar

So You Got Your Knee Stuck by Kaya Lindsay

Finding Nuggets in The Climbing World, A Conversation with Steven Dimmitt

Creeksgiving

Back to The Gravity Lab, A Conversation with Sebastiaan Zuidweg

Adventures With Two Tent Timmy

Women's Stories at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing, A Conversation with Lauren DeLaunay Miller

The GOAT, A Conversation with Beth Rodden

How To Cry on a Mountain with Jennaye Derge and Marcus Garcia

The Vulnerable Warrior, A Conversation with Stacy Bare