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 2018, Bronwyn became the first Canadian woman to free climb El Cap in Yosemite when she did Freerider (5.13a) in five days. In 2021, she sent El Cap’s Golden Gate (5.13a), making her the third woman ever to free the route.
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
You can find all of that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free video episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page.
Bonus Interviews, Nutrition & Mindset Videos, and Group Coaching
You can find bonus content from this episode, as well as nutrition and mindset education on Patreon. Learn more about my guests, plus get practical video tips on how to feed yourself to climb your hardest, and how to make climbing as fulfilling and productive as possible with mindset shifts.
There are 3 tiers to choose from:
- Podcast Bonuses ($5/mo) – Support the show and get extra content every episode
- Full Send ($10/mo) – Podcast bonuses plus weekly videos on nutrition and mindset coaching
- Group Coaching ($29/mo) – Monthly group coaching sessions on mindset and nutrition
Leave A Comment