BRAD GOBRIGHT CLIMBING LEGEND ON FREE SOLOING AND DIRTBAG LIFE

just rolling just roaming you I got you I got not do is do this that I gotta not do that I always do this when I'm like getting interview and I get this little fat yeah fat roll I know be your got to go like that could be your signature yeah is with this program to just bring on people I find interesting inspiring and the adventure sports space for now till I get a call from Beyonce or something yeah till you move up but for now you got us me this is a stepping stone first first step right here we're actually here in Alex honnold's house right now um you can see his Academy Award right here I was saying about half the uh half the items in this house are Awards like seriously there's so many awards in this house the bathroom has Awards yeah lot of Awards you can look at one of's Awards while you take it wherever you look there's probably an award somewhere so how many awards do you have uh well you know you know uh this actually isn't the free solo uh gr you know Oscar yeah know it's the it's the it's the safety third one it gives you the heie jebs doesn't it it's like my hands are sweating thinking about [Music] it um if you guys had watched more of the Oscars after hanold got off the screen know we met Taylor Swift last night we got a best sketchy documentary Awards so here it is we did yeah so we did get most sketchy documentary award I think there was one it's a new category you know Brad came onto my radar about five or six years ago um as somebody who was you know bold bold traditional climber but also a uh a bold soloist and um as someone who comes um from a soloing background myself who learned to solo right along with learning to to rock climb it's something I've always admired and respected and so when I heard about you doing like you know the naked Edge running laps on the naked Edge stuff like that in in Elo is sort of intrigued and and I thought it would be really cool to start um just documenting some of your climbs yeah and that was a good year too that was a good year to uh to do that that was my Reckless season it was six months there was brutal yeah explain me yeah so it's interesting yeah cuz you have a different perspective on things now like tell me what that whole experience was like that um well you know I feel like uh the free solo for me or or just like kind of danger climbing in general tends to come in like waves and uh sometime you know there's some Seasons where I'm really into it and I'm doing a lot of it and other Seasons where I've kind of backed off and and just worked on like other stuff and that season and Boulder specifically more than any other time in my life was kind of of like the climbing x-rated routes and swallowing and you know ELO is the place to do all that and you know that was located like 15 minutes from my front door and uh and um yeah I was just really into that kind of thing um it kind of started with a lot of you why are you into that sort of thing you know I mean why um what is what is it about soloing well I think uh before before kind of entering That season that like fall season I was doing a lot of gym climbing it was like the summer time and I was kind of just spending a lot of times in indoors and I was getting really fit and then um you know my psych to kind of get outside and get excited and and sort of have more Adventure was kind of building up throughout the summer and then by the time like fall kind of rolled around good temps came um you know I started getting outside and my motivation was super high and on top of that I feel like all that gym climbing I did was making me feel really strong and confident and so those two things combined um mixed with like ELO being so close to my house it just was like kind of the perfect recipe for you know dangerous climbing I think and um you know and I guess you know I had friends that were into it and um you know who are your Inspirations for soloing I mean so you know because it's like not many people do it I feel like you know I feel like you know people are like worried that you know say be third or free Sol are going to kind of feel like it's a self- selecting thing for the most part but um what who who you know where did your I feel like um if I had to give one name I would say Dan Osman I think danman yeah you know watching the uh watching the masters of stone videos when I was a kid um he was kind of my favorite guy to watch and uh you know spectacle yeah he's a spectacle and um and I I guess I don't know if you could say he like inspired me to solo and do like you know scary climbs um but that's kind of like all I watched and I I guess I guess like I didn't really that was climbing you know like watching that stuff yeah Peter for sure like there's um like watching seeing photos of him like you know on on Rostrum and and stuff like that was pretty inspiring cuz you you were a us70 climber you came in u70 um what year I mean I guess I I guess you could say I really came to yosity in 2008 right right after I got out of high school I mean I attempted like I kind of half-assed college and then dropped out after a year and then 2008 I came to yuse and I guess you could say that's kind of when I became like a rock climber yeah before that it was more like you know I was in school I took wrestling and you know I was like I had all these things going on and climbing was a hobby climbed a bit and you know just in the gym um and then like when I got out of high school and moved to Yus to kind of take a break from college I'm like I'm going to move to yuse just take a break from school and then I got really into climbing and then like I never went back to school and then that kind of started my my years as a when you showed up in were you aware people like Peter crof John Backer oh yeah you know looking up at the roster as and being like whoa these these guy sto this back of Dean Dean was a big yeah yeah yeah Dean was a he's he was a big big inspiration for sure totally like his the the footage of him racing up the nose solo doing that that was like I I watched that like a thousand times you know that was really cool yeah interesting yeah it's it's I think it is interesting the sense that you know you're kind of a next you know a a newer generation climber and there's we grow up with more media you know and um so the fact that you were seeing Dan Osman and also the fact they naming like Dan Osman um and Dean Potter more as influences than say someone like you know like backer cro who I think were people who probably motivated people like Osman and and Potter to be who they were it's um it's interesting um you know what do you think you know what what do you think about that whole um I mean you know that whole media chain and now you're kind of kind of like people are going to be watching safety third yeah um yeah you know back to like what what motivates me to solo um I honestly I don't I don't think that stuff like masters of stone those those like characters really inspired me to solo I think it was more like I had I didn't really have anyone to climb with like that first year especially when I came to yed and I started really rock climbing a lot I wasn't very social and I was doing a lot of rope swallowing and with that just kind of came free swallowing on easy stuff and um like there'd be times where I'd be like rope soloing something like a single pitch thing I'd do it like 10 times just for the fitness and you know I had nothing else to do I didn't have anyone to climb with and then yeah I'd pull the rope and be like just run up it really quick and S it and then I'd come back you know like every few days and just solo it just for fun and then I guess that's kind of what really started the soloing was the those year those two years in Y where I was working and I I didn't hadn't really met anyone yet and I was doing a lot of solo climbing and it kind of like it just started happening and I should I I should you know I should I should tell everyone that you know Brad's also incredibly accomplished roped climber and traditional climber um and actually since we film free solo and and and I film Brad having a you know it was what you can interpret as a close call um I uh I was pretty impressed to watch you you know pour yourself into other disciplines set the record on the nose for a little bit until H took it again yeah six months though I had it six months six months sucks got the an Academy Award yeah man I know um but at least we can stay in his house yeah yeah it's a nice place yeah only Awards but it's still nice you can put his it's kind of the chair is a little like the arms are a little high kind of so explain to me you know like what was your experience of being in a film being filmed free soloing um you know I had concerns obviously and and and after I filmed you after we filmed you know you doing hairstyles and attitudes Brad if you haven't seen the film Solo's a 12 plus test piece um one of the best climbs in elado Canyon a real plasic and the krux pitch is at the very top of the best deal it's extremely technical extremely difficult and um a ter what I would call a terrible solo it's um it's pretty slippery and slopey and yeah I I I mean I would say it's definitely it it's maybe the best they ah well I don't know one of the definitely like yeah maybe the best face climb in Elo I don't know I think it's one of the best climbs in Elo yeah for sure period of any kind yeah and so I Brad like was you know had been he had actually gone up a couple times and bailed on the solo just got climbed up to it then down climbed and been like I'm not feeling it and um and then he called one day he I think it's going to go down I was like all right I'm going to go up into position at this point we'd already filmed you on a couple of of other solos and including the Dow Griffith which for um people who know it's uh probably won't be getting repeated much it's a slippery slippery that one's slippery yeah that one's slippery and gnarly and in some ways just as serious as hairstyles even though it's 11 plus but um less less reachy but more like kind of on the feet it's definitely easier but more on the feet more yeah you're like standing on like nothing at points and you're like right on this knife edge of rat and there's def you're not going to like catch yourself on anything but um but you know I filmed him on a relatively solid um ascent and then I don't know I guess I just just describe I don't know how would you describe like you know the process of being filmed on that making the film appearing in a film I mean it's in some ways it's your life has changed since then can you explain that experience yeah um I I mean I've had a lot of people like ask like you know you know Cedar and Taylor like did the did filming like them filming you did that like kind of influence you to sort of like do the solos and um you know I I honestly I don't think so so I think like I had the plan to do these specific solos that kind of like uh me a lot to you yeah meant a lot and like you know hairstyles was kind of the ultimate goal for That season and um I wanted to tick those off and you know you and Taylor just kind of happened to be there Taylor is um was was my uh co-director um and the editor for these films yeah and uh so he was also up there um filming side by side with me on hairstyles and actually there was a moment where you kind of like came around around from The Rock and then you pulled back in and you know it's like it's kind of one those things you're like oh is that a close call or not it was just sort of a weird moment you know yeah I um the so you know like you said earlier I there were two times where I was I had gone up there and I wasn't feeling it and I came down and this third time when when you guys were there um it was the same situation I climbed up there I definitely I felt better like I felt like fresh the temps felt better everything seemed to be pretty much perfect per and um I think what what inspired me to make the next move and commit to the Crux was uh the fact that it was like you know I was so close to going for it last time and I didn't feel perfect and this time I feel just about perfect um and that's I think kind of what inspired me to finally just be like all right I'm doing it you know and um and then like soon as I started making those moves kind of into the Crux I was like I don't know it kind of like there was sort of that insecurity that was like with me on the previous attempt where I was like still kind of like well maybe not you know and it was the first time that's ever happened to me in soloing and and the only time and um yeah it was kind of it was kind of interesting a weird experience where I was just like for a second there I was like like the bubble of concentration kind of like went away and I was like it was like you over cranked I think yeah I kind of over cranked and then it was like when you over cranked your body position was different and then your and then I think that's kind of what led to like like man I feel a little weird like at yeah I was like I'm going to I'm going to overgrip cuz why not I'm not tired I'm not going to pump out so it's like just garter cuz you know what's going to who cares I'm not going to wear myself out and then yeah I think maybe it put my body in a slightly different position which kind of made the balance a little weird and then I was like man this feels weird I don't know and then like you know that's kind of it was fine you didn't and then it was fine yeah yeah but I was like oh my God whereas Taylor was just like oh I'm just filming he didn't he didn't he didn't even notice it or notice what had happened whereas I was like o that was I was like yeah I hope they didn't didn't notice that I replay it in slowmo in the movie This Is It was it definitely made so it made me think you know about filming free- soloing you know in the past I filmed with hanold on cero um but he went up and soloed it and then we just went back and where he felt comfortable you know we basically recreated the um the kind of feeling being up there and exposure being up there on sections of the route that he felt comfortable climbing you know that he felt like you know he could just do kind of mellow style and whereas you know filming you on in the real moment I just realized you know well there's always with um a pushing the limit but even soling anytime you're filming soloing there's that chance of falling and dying and and you know I was just like whoa what if I had filmed film Filan it would have sucked for me but you know it also sucked for you guys that'll been in your head I think they go into that quite a bit in free solo you know like what it's like for the film guys totally yeah and it's like a weird I mean I think it's a little bit of a selfish thing to to film free solo in some way because you know it's going to be titillating you know it's going to be um exciting to watch but at the same time um yeah you're kind of getting in the way of the purity of the solo you know and um and so it's something I've thought about since then you know I film another hard free solo you know and I think you know if it were if if it was the right person it was like you or someone you know I just knew you were like purely motivated and and were you know going to do this stuff whether I was there or not and that's why I was there and if if I met if I met someone who was in that mode in that moment of time I would consider filming fre I'm certainly not like knocking people's doors down trying to think about doing this solo Rec I haven't film solo just saying just saying yeah but so anyway so the movie comes out I mean you were a derp at living in your um you're living in your uh living on the road Liv the living in that house with like 10 people um you know tabl and then the the the movie comes out yeah no it's been it's been good yeah I mean I'm still uh you know you got sponsored byi yeah and they're actually paying you paying me now yeah which is huge right so that means you're able to just climb all the time it's great so if you so you fully committed to being a full-time like this is your pretty much yeah yeah I um I actually well this summer I actually worked a little part-time job at a Climbing gym just to kind of give myself a break from living on on the road and um that was nice but uh yeah I'm I mean I'm basically I'm just climbing you know like I'm here in Vegas right now living in a house but uh like I'm not I'm actually I don't I'm not like technically working like a any side job I mean I'm making enough to just like live and train in the gym that's basically all I'm doing right now is training in the gym and uh I can say Brad is like freaking super strong right now yeah your number what number number uh well I was like uh on the moon board yeah I was like no 30 for like a little bit and then a few people like I think people some people from Japan I think passed me and uh so now I'm like yeah I'm like number 35 or six or something but that's impressive though like you know yeah I mean that's like you know all I've been doing for for like a month is Moon boarding yeah like a 100 or something I don't know way way up there his game yeah well to be fair he has been like only just touring and winning Awards so yeah he's been busy out with like celebrities wants to meet Bradley Cooper we'll see it's it's it's great like grand for speaking engagement yeah yeah he's been I think he's been super busy with that and um not really climbing but uh yeah I the weather's been terrible here in Vegas so I haven't really been getting outside so I've just been forced to climb in the gym which is sucked in a way but in in another way it's good because W you know I'm getting like more fit but also the psych for climbing is really starting to get high it's like I'm injured again you know like like you get injured and you can't climb for a while by the when you're when you're finally healthy again you can climb you're so psyched and I'm kind of feeling the same way it's like this weather's been like a bad injury you know it's like the psych all winner has been building up and finally hopefully in the spring when when it gets a little better I'll be like and you're familiar with with injuries youve got I I took a little fall climbing how many broken ankles uh three broken ankles um I've I mean I've rolled them countless number of times uh and um yeah one on the left when I broke my back and then I've broken the right one twice um I've actually broken it since since like a year after breaking my back around the same time I broke it the right ankle really bad and that put me out for like eight eight months that's a crazy story actually you like he was Brad was coming down from a descent in Red Rocks slips Falls breaks his ankle yep r at the base yeah r at the base of the rainbow wall you know which if if anyone's been up there it's a it's a huge approach and you know really technical it's like a climbers trail with like a lot of scrambling and Boulder hopping and like Crossing creeks and going through Cactus and you with h at the time yeah yeah we were climbing um we were climbing up there for like most of the day and then you know it was starting to get dark and we didn't have headlamps you know cuz we were like cocky and uh ended up just yeah slipping right at the base took a huge slide down the slab and uh broke my right ankle really bad and then uh and then we we contemplate yeah yeah we just crawled out like most of you know most of the trail getting down there like Alex couldn't Carry Me on his shoulders it's just too technical so I to like crawl out of there and then by the by the um time it started to get a little more flat more of a trail he put me on his back and carried me out and and seis actually came out too Jonathan seagis came out and gave us some headlamps and kind of they switched me off and um I didn't I I couldn't rode out on MH yeah yeah so they I I owe them big time I didn't complain it at the time but like the I think I was telling you about this earlier but like the one of the most physically challenging workouts I've ever had was like holding their shoulder while they were doing like this like this like kind of unsteady hiking well you know they're like they're they're hiking you know like that like up and down yeah yeah and I'm like I'm like holding like around their shoulders and it was like like doing this weird lockoff and for like a week afterward like this muscle right here was just throbbing like like it was almost worse than my freaking ankle injury yeah it was a weird weird muscle to work out and I was like the only thing I was thinking about on that when they were carrying me like the pain of the ankle just went away and then um I guess that's good weird you know yeah so like to to yeah to rewind a little bit so you so safety third finishes you you you know you start that your name starts getting out there you pick up some sponsors you go to yuse in yuse yeah you set the nose record set the nose record I guess it was like a year later yeah you uh I you know coming back from breaking your back and you did oh yeah you did the uh you climbed o cap in a day a couple times you did sou in a day yes I fre sou a day Corone fre yeah it's actually been great like uh getting the pickup from gichi I've just been like had a lot more time to dedicate to our climbing and like gosh I feel like my my uh the climate success has gone has gone a lot better cuz you know I'm not being better yeah yeah more time dedicated what I admire about you you're very like you know what I mean and you're very you're very talented and you respect like the old kind of just you know the the the old school traditional kind of values you know like big Walling and and that sort of thing is really important you know it's like a i that's what it's all about like big wall climbing you know like moving fast that's like my thin moving fast on like big walls that's I love that yeah totally there's something about it that's like if like people are like would you call yourself a free solo climber I'm like no I'd say like you know a big wall climber it would be my totally or you know great traditional like an all around traditional climber MH and you uh you you tore up Yus um and and then what what happened after that let's see uh so I've spent four Winters here in Vegas so I've done a lot of climbing in Red Rocks um it hasn't been four it hasn't been four years since safety no but there were there was there was uh I think two years before that two years before yeah mhm this this is my fourth winner and um been new someity uh oh oh Nell's here Nell's here cut the sun we had some technical issues we're just getting to recording Jo's was that place packed T Jo yeah no really it's a Saturday it wasn't packed no wasn't the one the one of the 2115 there on Sara W was you mind uh being quiet for yeah for a minute um like really like don't put up groceries or anything just be quiet oh my God is it on well no it it's smashed and turned off

Channel: Cedar Wright

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Id: eoRMp0wvEXM

Length: 22min 56sec (1376 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2024