EP 44: Steven Dimmitt (feat. Ethan Pringle) — The Guy Behind The Nugget Climbing Podcast

Steven Dimmitt is the host of The Nugget Climbing Podcast. In this reverse interview, Ethan Pringle takes over and asks Steven about his upbringing, his path through climbing, and about starting the podcast. This episode also features questions from past guests on the show, asking Steven about some of his biggest mistakes, lessons learned, climbing heroes, and inner life.  

Support on Patreon:  

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/steven-dimmitt  

Nuggets:  

2:13 – Beef and veggie breakfast tacos   

5:04 – Switching interview roles  

6:49 – The early years and growing up in Wenatchee, WA  

10:27 – Traveling as a kid, South America, and cockroaches  

13:02 – Getting robbed in South America    

15:22 – Parents, podcast hikes, and connecting through the podcast  

20:40 – Piano lessons and threatening to cut my fingers off  

22:13 – Music up through high school  

26:01 – Going to college in Bellingham, majoring in music, and playing in (and living with) a band  

29:30 – My first (and second) climbing experiences, and working at the climbing gym in college  

34:01 – My first climbing trip to Bishop and climbing ‘The Hunk’  

35:47 – Connecting with climbing and moving away from music after college, and a new excitement for music now  

38:50 – Summer jobs in the fruit warehouses  

43:53 – Working for the Forest Service, bouldering my first V0 through V10 (except V6) in Leavenworth, and discovering I had weak fingers in Joe’s Valley  

45:31 – Learning how to sport climb at Equinox, and resonating with sport climbing  

49:45 – Living in my Subaru after college to climb, Ten Sleep, the first Climb Strong Training Camp, and the ‘Superman’ video  

53:20 – Visiting Bend/Smith for the first time, lacking purpose on the road, and moving there to work for Entre Prises (EP)  

57:31 – Making climbing holds for EP, and working in aerospace   

59:57 – The Adventures of Sloth blog and my uneventful 25th birthday  

1:02:28 – Smith Rock, “eating your vegetables (with sand in them)”, and working in the grind  

1:05:31 – My approach to training while working in Bend, my ‘Grinding’ blog post, following the (altered) Rock Prodigy program, and changing my tune   

— [Guest Questions] —    

1:11:45  – [Mike Doyle] What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in regards to training?  

1:16:53 – [Drew Ruana] What inspired you to start the podcast?  

1:24:32 – [Audrey Sniezek] What is the biggest challenge in producing a podcast?  

1:25:51 – [Ian Yurdin] How has the podcast influenced your climbing? How is it a drain and/or boon for your climbing? Are you sending more since you started the podcast?  

1:28:50 – [Bill Ramsey] When interviewing famous climbers how do you strike a balance between interviewing them for things they’re famous for and therefore have already been covered, and asking original questions that cover new ground?  

1:30:37 – [Tonde Katiyo] You are a great listener. Do you think that is a personality trait or something that you’ve cultivated?  

1:32:33 – [Charlie Manganiello] What’s the one thing you wish someone would have told you when you first started pursuing hard rock climbs?  

1:36:09 – [Mike Kerzhner] If you could take a trip for a month with one climber, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?  

1:37:11 – [Steve Bechtel] If you could only do one more hard route in your life, which one would it be? Why aren’t you trying it now?  

1:38:59 – [Brittany Goris] If you could climb only on one type of rock (i.e. granite, sandstone, limestone, etc.) for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why?  

1:39:59 – [Chad Andrews] What’s your ideal balance between meaningful work, travel, and climbing in the future?  

1:42:11 – [Blake Cason] Describe a snapshot of a memorable climbing experience you’ve had.   

— [Ethan’s Questions] —   

1:46:56 – What is your inner life like? And do you think there is a discrepancy between how you seem to others and how you seem to yourself?  

1:52:23 – What have you been especially grateful for lately?  

1:57:30 – What does the word “God” mean to you?  

2:07:36 – “Be kind to one another.”  

2:11:55 – “Is a whale a fish or a mammal?”