a podcast about mentorship in climbing.
4,000+ downloads.
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"I'm late to listening but here's my weekly thank you for producing this pod. I just am continually so surprised at each episode how hard I relate and how seen I feel."
Laney
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"We listened to every episode of your podcast on our drive back from Moab yesterday. We are loving it!!! It stirred some really great reflections and conversations between us. And the flow and subject matter has been lovely. Thank you for making it!!"
Abbey
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OMG I binged your podcast episodes on a long drive yesterday and was totally blown away. The episodes are so insightful and beautifully structured. I love the way personal narrative is woven in with expert research, and the storytelling is so compelling. I found a LOT of resonance with my experience in mtn biking."
Allyse
Hi, I’m Freddie, the host and producer of Buddy Check.
Buddy Check is all about the mental side of climbing — in our own heads and in how we relate to those around us.
It all started as a way to understand my experience learning to climb.
The first time I went sport climbing was in the spring of 2018 in Vantage, Washington with an ex-boyfriend. By the next spring, we were preparing to move into a slide-in camper on the back of a chevy pick-up truck and live on the road to rock climb. We had come to an unspoken agreement that it would be great if I could sport climb 5.12 by the time we left.
That spring, I sent my first 10c on a weekend trip to Squamish. In August, we spent a month at a crag in Idaho and I sent my first 10d, 11a and then my first 12a. On November 2, 2019, we left for Salt Lake City, kicking off what would be a yearlong road trip around the American West.
So, I learned to climb from an ex-boyfriend. And I achieved our unspoken goal. But it backfired.
I progressed quickly and put pressure on myself to progress even quicker.
I never climbed enough easy and moderate routes before pushing to harder grades to ever feel comfortable on routes even well within my ability.
I wound up waking up every morning, terrified to go climbing, and if I’m being honest I often prayed for rain.
I learned to not take up too much space, thinking that if I wasn’t going to have any fun, at least I could still make it the trip of a lifetime for my partner.
Buddy Check started as a way to understand that experience, to talk to people in climbing that I admire to help find that understanding, and ultimately to come back to climbing for myself. Season 1 chronicles that process and through speaking with researchers, climbing coaches, and asking over a dozen other people how they learned to climb, it looks broadly at mentorship in climbing and the role our mentors play. In Season 2, I’m asking how people with ADHD and other neurodiverse experiences relate to their climbing.
Before I ever tied into the sharp end, I worked as a journalist for a handful of small publications around the American West. My storytelling, interviewing, and research experience comes from those years telling the stories of others. Through Buddy Check, I’m still holding space for others to share their stories and I’m weaving my own in too. Read more of my work: