The Broad Beta Podcast
The Broad Beta Podcast and BroadBeta.com are spaces to openly share women’s and genderqueer experiences of climbing, skiing, and other mountain adventures, from the ordinary to the heroic. Our contributors tell stories that foster wildness within, and outside, ourselves. Through these stories, we hope to inspire and empower anyone who listens. Cover photo by @nathannorby of co-founder Jeannie Wall.
The Broad Beta Podcast
Zoe Holmes - How To Climb As A Wuss
This story was written by Zoe Holmes and originally published on the Broad Beta website in January of 2024. How to Climb As a Wuss takes us to the other end of the spectrum from Rock Warrior's Way. It walks us through embracing climbing as a freaked out, Elvis-legging wuss. We love Zoe’s toolkit for climbing as a wuss. Let’s be honest: her tactics are not only hilarious but all too relatable. She also writes about how she deals with her menstrual cycle inevitably affecting her head game.
Zoe grew up in London, but her family holidays were usually spent walking in the mountains. She took up climbing when she started her PhD in London in her mid 20s. She spent those years mostly climbing indoors except for the occasional trip outdoors. She moved to Sheffield in the UK during a lull in the pandemic. There, she really started climbing outdoors in earnest. She lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a year and enjoyed the sandstone, basalt and granite of the southwest. She now lives in Lausanne (Switzerland).
Follow Zoe on Instagram here: @zedoheeholmes
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Hosted & produced by Cat Coe
Intro music by Holizna Radio
Conclusion music by Rocky Marsiano