I was just talking to one of my friends in the bathroom and then she walked out of one of the stalls and we looked at each other and we were like, oh my gosh, it's Janja.

So then we went to ISO.

I just was talking to one of my coaches like, I can't do it.

I felt sick, I was falling asleep.

It was only my third World Cup and being in finals felt crazy.

So I was just so, so excited.

And then when it was cancelled...

I was yeah really upset my first thought was like oh no what if I'd never make a finals again they'll just like make a comment or say like oh like if I was as light as you I'd do that climb Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast.

I'm your host, Jinni, and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today, Emma Edwards.

Emma is a boulder on Team GB, and 2025 was her debut in the senior World Cup circuit, and she's already made a World Cup finals.

However, if you don't recognize her, it may be because that was Prague where her finals got rained out.

In this episode, we'll go over all the mishaps that happened at Prague, including an allergic reaction.

We'll learn about her training schedule, Team GB, and the climbing culture in commercial gyms, and how often she goes through climbing shoes, which kind of blew my mind.

I hope you enjoy this episode with Emma.

Please pardon this brief intermission, but I'm excited to talk about Mad Rock's newest and softest shoe yet, the Remora Pro.

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Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the shoes or sizing, and you can use the discount code NOTREALCLIMBER for 10 % off your entire Mad Rock order.

Thank you to Mad Rock for helping to sponsor the podcast.

Now, back to the show.

How was your holidays?

Yeah, really nice.

Thank you.

And you?

yeah it was good do you have any like new year's plans or resolutions ideas oh god um i've not really thought about resolutions i want to be more organized um yeah i need to get on it um but yeah i don't really know to be fair do you have any new year's plans not really any plans i always try to make a resolution to like start stretching but it's just so freaking boring I can't do it it's hard isn't it it's like I used to have such a perfectionist mindset with it as well and like it's I think starting is the hardest part and I would be like if I couldn't like the thought of doing it badly I was like no I just can't be bothered to do it but actually like doing something's better than nothing but what's doing it badly for stretching I don't know like I went through a phase where I would have to do like 30 seconds in each stretch and I'd do all my stretches um and then doing it badly would just be like not I don't know just not doing it properly and then I would just find it really hard to stop because I'd have this whole thing in my head of god I have to get through like stretching but then I think since I've been a bit more like relaxed with it I like do it way more now Okay.

What's your routine look like?

Or I guess you don't have a routine because that would be too much perfection.

Yeah, maybe.

For stretching, I think it's, I try to stretch like every day.

Not every day is like a big stretching day.

Like if I'm tired, it's like getting to sleep is more important, I think.

But I definitely like try to do a bit of like massage gun and foam roll.

And then when I can't stretch, I don't know.

Yeah, I...

tried to get like a split one year very yeah very short amount of time that I spent trying to do that I've I always have the goal of middle splits that I've never done but it like I would I was doing it and I think maybe I was doing it too hard Oh, really?

Like overstretching?

Yeah, I think I was just like stretching too extreme for what I was able to do.

And then it made my knees hurt really bad.

Oh, really?

I guess sometimes like when you're holding middle split, it's like the inside of the knees.

That hurts me sometimes.

I don't know.

Was it that or?

It's kind of like when you maybe like fall and then it like bends the other way too much.

Oh, are you hypermobile or?

No, no.

It was just too much on the knees, I think, when I stopped.

then I never picked it up again no middle splits I feel like I'm like I'm relatively flexible but like box splits or middle splits is the one I just like I can't do and I need to be like committed for like yeah a long time and consistent but do you think it would help with climbing yeah for sure I think it's like the most important one for climbing with like keeping your hips into the wall and especially and with slabs and everything um but it's the one that I'm worst at which is really annoying yeah I wasn't trying middle splits though I was trying to do front splits that's the one where you're like oh this one yeah it wasn't for like climbing I just thought it'd be fun no no that's cool that's cool but maybe that can be your resolution as well yeah yeah yeah no for sure um how is winter training going winter it's going really well actually yeah I've started working with a new coach um and yeah it's going really well so far what does your training look like So currently, I've actually switched to doing three days on, one day off.

Last winter, I did six days on, one day off.

Whoa, that's a lot.

Yeah, it was, I think it like, I don't know, it's definitely beneficial in some ways, but then in other ways, it's not beneficial.

I don't know to do it right is hard and then I'm only doing Boulder so I think maybe this year the thinking was more like I'll try to have like three like good sessions like with skin and then a rest day and then just repeat but yeah I'm doing three on one off and just like everything really like climbing gym I don't know the usual like strength training and hangboarding stuff like that yeah yeah I think most sessions I'll have like some form of like fingerboarding or like I do like those pinch pickup things um and then I'll have like a climbing session which could be like subs and then power endurance or like comp blocks and then a hardboard session and then um not every day but a lot of days recently I've been having gym it's very much like I don't know it feels like it's like let's get out as tired as possible and like push our arms as much as we can do you is your coach there like the entire time while you're training no no um so he writes my training plan and then I see him like once or twice a week in person for sessions.

That makes sense.

What did your six days on training look like?

That sounds crazy to me.

Last winter.

Yeah, it was a lot.

It was more like I would do like hard day, hard day, easy day, hard day, hard day, easy day, kind of.

So maybe like the third day would be like slabs and conditioning or something.

So I'd have skin for the next days.

But it was just a lot of climbing, a lot of gym.

But I think if you like build up your capacity and you can train that much, then it can be okay.

I don't know.

Was it mainly just like a skin issue?

Yeah, I think I did.

I think now I'm preferring the three on one off to the six days because I just have.

more skin and energy for the sessions and I can make them like better quality sessions I think did you ever like tape up your skin to yeah yeah for sure I think I don't know it's really annoying and it's annoying like I've definitely found it mentally hard at first to be like taped and not doing a climb and knowing if I untaped that I would find it okay I think it takes like a lot of maturity to be like no it's fine like it doesn't matter it's just training you can tape um but when i was doing six days i definitely spent a lot of sessions taped i think yeah i mean i wonder if that's helpful too because then it makes you i don't know like work your grip harder yeah work your body positioning maybe it could be a thing i think erin spends a lot of time taped up and she has really strong hands so maybe it's the manual yeah actually i wonder if i should try that out just tape up every session yeah i mean because I feel like for me, I'm so texture dependent.

Like if the texture on a hold isn't good, I'm like over it.

Yeah, no, same.

I hate a badly textured hold.

Yeah, so I think maybe I need to work on that now that I think about it.

So yeah, let's get into learning more about you and your climbing.

How did you start out getting into climbing and competing?

My parents both climbed a little bit in uni, like not properly, but...

They occasionally went like outdoor climbing and so I think when I started climbing when I was 10 we were visiting family in France in Paris and we went to Font and I think that was my first time climbing and then we came home and I think I asked to go like I just asked to go climbing and then like six months later I joined a kids club and yeah I just really liked it.

Did you do, like, family trips?

We did when I was younger to Font, yeah, yeah.

It was really nice.

And then when did you actually start competing a bunch?

Or, like, do you, like, remember a moment when you decided to start doing it seriously?

So I started competing, like, quite soon after I started climbing.

There was, like, this competition circuit called the Youth Climbing Series in the UK, and it was, like, you do regional comps, and then you try to make it to the national.

like grand final they used to call it um so I did that like six months after I started climbing but when I like took it seriously I think that was maybe when I was like 15 or something I like just I don't know I decided I wanted to get onto the GB team and yeah what inspired you to want to get onto the GB team or like how do you make the decision that I don't know it's like hard for me to imagine being so young and deciding that it's something I want to do, I don't know, like, professionally or take really seriously.

It kind of, like, just, like, built up.

Like, I started with the regional comps and the national comps and then I would, like, make national finals and just seeing all the people in the GB team, it just felt like the next step.

And then, like, I really wanted to go to the internationals and I don't know.

Yeah, it just felt like the next thing.

that was coming I don't know like it just yeah you don't you don't feel like there was a specific decision it was just like this makes sense is the next thing to work towards I think so okay so yeah this was your first year in the senior circuit right yes yeah yeah I mean it was a crazy first year in the senior circuit I think you made semis in all world cups except for one uh yeah apart from Kachow at the start of the season yeah um how did it feel and what did you learn from the 2025 season um it was really cool uh yeah I didn't expect it to go so well like obviously I hoped it would go well um but it was just like crazy to be competing with the people who I've watched like on my screen for so long and to like just be in iso and just even like seeing them warming up it's just like insane um and yeah i think i learned a lot about like myself and uh the comps and was it like your first time um like traveling around for competitions too uh with the youth team i'd already done like a decent amount of traveling around europe and then uh for youth worlds I'd been to Dallas and South Korea and China actually before but um it was definitely like a very different experience and like having all the comps back to back that was yeah very new for me and i think i could have done things better i'm not sure i think yeah what would you like change about the traveling for next year not sure i think i need to figure it out for next year um but i definitely felt that i got like physically quite tired by the end of the season and i would hope to like um yeah hopefully with my coach we can figure out how i maybe don't get so tired like maybe it's a case of like training more or training a bit less i'm not too sure um but yeah i'd like to figure that one out like you were still doing training during the season um no like kind of like not training training so much like i wasn't doing long days um but i was still doing like shorter hard sessions because you want to stay recruited um I don't know I think it's a hard balance to find like the right amount to do I find it quite hard to uh like know what my body needs but hopefully with like the pasture and everything I can figure it out a bit better yeah and you also said it was cool to be an iso competing with the people you watched on screen yeah it was crazy who was like who are you like most like did you feel nervous warming up next to them was there like anyone that you super looked up to that yeah I remember in Kachow seeing like Miho and I was just like fangirling so hard like oh my gosh just like seeing her in person was crazy and then I remember seeing Yanya for the first time in Innsbruck like that was insane i think i was just talking to one of my friends in the bathroom and then she like walked out of one of the stalls and i was we looked at each other and we're like oh my gosh did you say anything or you just kind of stared just like tried not to like be too obvious um but yeah i think it was really cool to um like see those people in real life and yeah everyone's just like so nice and it's really cool I wonder how she feels when people just like, when she just like walks out and sees people like whispering about her to the side.

But yeah, how do you feel like warming up in that environment?

Like, does it feel nerve wracking and scary warming up next to people like that?

I think I definitely found it intimidating at first because just like watching people, like everyone is so impressive and like so strong, like the moves they're doing on the spray wall.

I was, especially like in Kachow, I was just like, oh my gosh.

But I think as the season went on, I became more comfortable with it for sure.

But definitely at first I found it quite intimidating.

Yeah, I bet.

One of the audience submitted questions that had come in was, how has the transition from youth to senior been for you?

And do you have any advice for youth climbers going through that transition?

Yeah, I found the transition from youth to senior, like, good but also hard at times because it's just that you're going into a much more competitive and harder environment and everyone is just so good and there's so many people i think if i had advice it would try to be it would be to try to be confident because it's really hard at times and i definitely found like going into senior I had a lot of like self -doubt and just when you like see the start list and you see all the names on the start list it's hard to look at that and think how am I meant to compete against these people because they're all so good but they're also just people and like everyone's in the same boat like yeah I think that would be my advice.

Did you feel like there was a difference in the actual boulders between youth and senior like they climbed differently?

Yeah I think senior one's definitely a bit more powerful in my opinion um which is really cool uh especially like in semi -finals like the power boulders are usually really really hard is that um more of a strength for you or do you get nervous when it comes to like power boulders i don't think it's my strength but i think in competitions i climb power boulders i find them the easiest to like get into a good mindset and try my best on like i find slabs in comps quite hard but power boulders it's just like okay i know this is going to be really hard i know i'm going to have to try as hard as i can and i feel like in a comp i can get into that headspace or like yeah quite well yeah what's your mindset on on slab uh i really like slab but i find slabs in comps quite stressful and it's something i really want to improve at next year I think it's one of my main goals because in training I feel quite confident on slabs and then I get to the comps and I like think about the slabs and see the slabs and they make me so stressed but yeah it's definitely something I'd like to be able to work on and be able to show some good slab climbing next year.

Is it like the time pressure or like the number of attempts that get to you?

I think it's A lot of the time it's the sequence.

I don't think I've ever been the best at like reading sequences from the ground, especially on slabs.

So I like rely a lot on my intuition on the wall.

But and then if I'm not feeling confident, it's hard to rely on that.

And I think I struggle with being confident on the slabs in comps.

So hopefully the next season.

I can be more confident.

Yeah, I think I'm super bad at reading from the ground too.

Yeah, I find it so hard.

That's something I need to work on.

But I don't know how to work on it.

Yeah, it's a tough one.

And then sometimes, like, sometimes I think it's better to use your intuition.

But then other times, like, you need to have, like, a plan A, a plan B.

I don't know.

It's hard to find the balance.

How do you feel about, like, coordination style?

I love coordination.

Like, I think it's my favorite.

kind of climbing yeah I really really like it do you have any tips there for how to figure them out more quickly I think for coordination a lot of it is like giving 100 % from the get -go and just committing like properly and even if it like because if it doesn't feel good at least you know that you've given it 100 % and you know it doesn't feel good that way I think that's really important um because if you don't commit then you don't know For me, often with coordination, I think of the position I want to end up in and then I trust my body that it's going to get me there and I just give it my all, I think.

One of the comps that you did the best in was Prague.

You ended up being in a finals position and then the event got rained out.

What was that experience like?

Prague was kind of crazy.

Before the qualies, it was an afternoon qualies, um for my lunch i had some like i had other stuff but i had some breadsticks and hummus and it just looked like normal hummus um i eat hummus all the time i really like it um and then i ate some and my lips like started tingling and i was like oh this is really odd and then i like check the ingredients and i see that it's like peanut butter hummus and i'm allergic to peanuts um so then i started to have an allergic reaction um and this was how bad is it I'm not anaphylactic so my throat doesn't close up but I was like getting like hives and yeah and then my stomach started to hurt and I like took my pills and everything um my antihistamines um but it was like just before I headed to ISO I started to have the reaction um so I was just there like oh my gosh like what have I done like this is so bad um But then, I don't know, I went downstairs, we were going to head off to ISO and the coaches were just trying to be like, no, you're okay.

Like, they were just trying to calm me down and, like, they were really good and, like, really supportive.

So then we went to ISO and then I just, like, I felt so bad at this point.

I just was talking to one of my coaches, like, I can't do it.

Like, I was just, like, falling, I don't know, I felt sick, I was falling asleep, it was just everything.

um and then we the it was raining and the comp got postponed so we got moved to some like museum and then we were there for a couple hours which was actually a blessing in disguise for me because I think um my reaction was like not so good at that time I was like um I was like going really hot then really cold then my whole body went red I don't know it was kind of crazy um So we moved to this museum for a couple of hours.

We went back to the ISO for the comp.

And then I was still like having the reaction, but it was definitely, it was like coming in waves and it was definitely a bit better.

But I remember like warming up.

I felt like so, so bad and like awful.

But then the comp went ahead and it was at like 8pm, I think.

um the qualies and uh by the time I actually got to like call zone for qualies the reaction had kind of stopped but um I hadn't eaten in like like since the hummus because I just couldn't stomach anything so I was I had like no energy um and yeah I think the coaches were really good like I was kind of freaking out and like, I'm not going to make semis.

I really want to make semis.

Like, this is all my fault.

Like, why did I eat the hummus?

But they were like, no, you can still make semis.

Like your body can do more than you think, but it doesn't matter.

Like you're doing all that you can do.

Yeah.

They were really supportive.

And so I did qualities and I felt like so bad, but I, and then after qualities.

I was like, there's no way I've made semis.

Like, because I only got like two tops as well.

And I was just like, no way.

So we walked back to the hotel and then I just like checked the results.

I was like, oh my gosh, wait, I'm in semis.

And then I was like over the moon.

Like I couldn't believe it.

Like I was in semis.

And then semis, we had a rest day in between.

So the allergic reaction was all good by then.

and semis went really really well what about that semis um went super well for you like was it just boulders that fit your style better um I think it was a mixture I think the boulders really suited me um and I think that uh because of the whole drama the day before I was just and because I qualified in the last place as well I was just like so grateful and happy to be there that I climbed so freely and I was just climbing really well I think and then you were getting ready to like climb in finals afterwards yeah yeah I guess I don't know the timing for how it all happened like you were still preparing for finals did you already start warming up or um yeah how did that go well so we let me think for finals yeah so me and Erin arrived and I say And I think we'd both started our warmup and then we got told maybe something would like, maybe it would be delayed a bit.

And then I think we did some games or something.

We were doing like a Harry Potter quiz at some point, I think, or maybe a friend's quiz.

I don't know.

But we definitely started the warmup and then we got told we were going to go out for presentation and we like got changed and whatnot.

But then we were told the event was cancelled and we were just all like, oh my gosh.

And it was, yeah, it was hard.

Wait, I thought you were, how did you do a Harry Potter quiz or like friends quiz if you're not allowed devices in ISO?

Oh, it was just like, we would think of questions.

Oh, seriously?

Yeah.

I don't know.

I think Aaron and one of our coaches.

are both like quite big Harry Potter fans so they were like competing and one of the other coaches was asking questions okay yeah that's funny huh sounds fun I guess friends quiz was better I think yeah I was also a big friends fan um so yeah I guess how did you feel about not getting to compete in finals or did you have any feelings about of like nerves or excitement for finals uh I think for finals I was like just so excited because i didn't expect to be in a finals like it was only my third world cup and especially after qualifying in the last place being in finals felt crazy um so i was just so so excited um and then when it was cancelled i was yeah really upset and i my first thought was like oh no what if i'd never make a finals again and it's not like the first thought you want but um yeah i found it really hard i think and i think i found um burn world cup quite hard because i um it was the world cup after and uh i just like put too much pressure on wanting to be in the finals again Yeah, I guess pressure and like expectations is kind of always really difficult for athletes to work through.

How do you feel about like the mental side of competitive climbing was another audience question that came through?

Yeah, I think the mental side is something that I still need to work on quite a lot because I think it's really important.

And I think being confident is really important in competition climbing, especially.

But I think I've never seen like a sports psychologist or anything.

I think it's definitely something I might look into before next season because I think it'd be really useful.

Is there anything thinking back on your performance in Burn that you would have wanted to change?

I think I wish I could have enjoyed the semifinal more.

I think it's kind of silly because I'd only made like one final.

but just because it was cancelled i found it quite hard to enjoy it because i was only thinking about making the final and rather than like uh being grateful for being in the semis and like being present on the boulders um yeah i wish i'd enjoyed that more because i think for me i climb my best when i'm like happy and yeah I guess like what were your thoughts during the semis on each boulder?

Because I feel like personally for me, I mean, I've never done any competitions where there's like an ISO format, but during competitions, I am thinking pretty hard about like where, what boulders other people are doing versus ones I haven't done.

Is that kind of what you mean when it comes to getting in your head during competitions when you're trying to think about getting into finals?

I think kind of the comps where it or the rounds where I think it's going the best I end up not thinking about the external factors and stuff I can't control um but sometimes yeah I do I had like in the past I've definitely thought some of those things like if someone tops a boulder next to you rather than like being concentrated on my boulder my mind's going to that and I think Yeah, it's hard sometimes.

And then, oh, do you get prize money from being in fifth place at prom?

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Back to the show.

Yes, I did actually.

I think I got 1 .5k, which is quite good.

Oh wait, that's not bad.

Maybe like 1 ,300 euros actually.

I'm not sure.

But I think it was one of the good tiers for...

prize money like i think there's like a silver platinum or something like that i think burn was high prize money too oh there's like differences between each world cup yeah prague and burn were higher prize money than other world cups i think oh i didn't know that yeah i heard like for some world cups the like even first place only gets like 2000 or something like that yeah i think so usually it's I think Burn was double what some other World Cups were.

I mean, I could be wrong.

Like, I don't want to spread false information.

No, that's interesting.

Yeah.

I think it depends on maybe the individual host, I guess.

I think so.

Federation.

A little.

I'm not sure.

Yeah, I didn't know there was so much difference between different comps, though.

That's interesting.

um and then another like general question I think you're kind of one of the slightly taller athletes yeah um yeah do you like remember that ever playing to your advantage or disadvantage at all during the season uh I think yeah it has its advantages and disadvantages definitely um some coordinations I think easier if you're taller um but also there was definitely some boulders this season that I found hard because of well it's not because of like it's something I need to work on um but there are definitely some small boxes this year that I could like train to fit in better I think what kind of moves are harder for you as a taller athlete uh I think like bunched positions I find quite hard um and like getting in and out of small boxes um based like it's something i can work on so just need to get my middle spirits yeah more stretching yeah yeah um so now getting a little bit into gb climbing um i feel like specifically the past couple years have been kind of crazy for team gb um almost seems like it came out of nowhere a little bit um what do you feel like it is that contributed to that is it like inspirational past athletes like having Shauna as like a um I don't know what's the word like idol or someone to look up to or is there like good gym density or what do you think contributes to it yeah I think the team's definitely transitioned a lot in the past couple years um and everyone is doing so well it's crazy I think, yeah, it's really useful to have like Shauna and people like that to look up to.

But I think it's just, I don't know, I just think everyone is working really hard and everyone is looking around and you see all these people working hard.

And yeah, it's really cool to be surrounded by really strong climbers at the World Cups.

Is it because you guys don't even have like a national training center or anything?

No, no.

um so we used to have a training center um but it wasn't amazing uh and then last year i think a lot of the guys especially really struggled with getting on world cup level or style boulders um because a lot of the stuff you just can't set in a commercial gym and they just wouldn't set hard enough for the guys so this year um we've managed to get a bit more support and instead of having a training center GB decided to have to use some money to set uh climbs in depot climbing centers i don't know they're quite a big climbing chain in the uk so now we've got these project boulders up at different centers across the country and i think it's really really good and yeah it's useful i guess it's surprising to hear that um the team was struggling with having hard enough boulders set before because I think everyone was doing super well last year as well.

Even on the men's side, you had Toby and Max and Diane and so many strong people.

So it's surprising to hear.

All of that was just on commercial sets and spray walling?

I think a lot on the spray wall and a lot on the woody board, for sure.

But also when they would all train together, they would make up a lot of moves.

just like push each other a lot they would always do like slab eliminates and do everything they can to practice the world cup style without having the world cup boulders and i think them training with each other they pushed each other really hard and that was really good okay yeah what about like um on the female side like do you feel like the setting at commercial gyms is decent enough to train on for you guys um i think it physically it's okay um like if you make your way around enough centers you can definitely get enough physical boulders but i think a lot of them aren't in the world cup style um it's more just like it's kind of quite basic a lot of the climbing um but with the new mint boulders with the collaboration between gb and depot it's really good and we've got like world cup style holds and world cup style setting and the right level so it's been really really useful yeah i guess for a lot of people who well i would say most people don't get the chance to experience the difference between like world cup setting and commercial setting um how would you describe the difference and what it feels like i think world cup boulders are usually um like more dynamic and harder to read sometimes like you have like multiple options and sometimes you have to pick between options and also you just get like bigger moves and slabs just take up the whole panel and in a commercial center it's hard to like you can't really set like that so it's hard to get exposure on the world cup style slabs when yeah you don't have them Yeah, I guess I've seen a decent amount of commercial sets just because through YouTube videos that Aaron or Toby post.

I feel like I see pretty interesting, at least dynamic boulders.

Do you feel like the dynamic boulders compare at all to World Cup boulders?

Yeah, I think occasionally we do get some really good dynamic boulders, but compared to some other nations, maybe we don't get enough of them.

Or we'll get one a month and it'll be really good, but then we won't get another one for another month.

But I think it's changing a lot now, which is really nice to see.

Yeah, I think it's just from the videos.

I feel like you guys have a lot of fun comp style setting.

But it's hard to tell just from videos.

Yeah.

Speaking of which, I feel like British people have always been killing it in the YouTube scene.

I don't know why.

Yeah, there is a lot of British YouTubers, I think.

Back in the day, like, there was a whole, like, vlog squad on YouTube.

Oh, like Zamala?

Yeah.

Oh, really?

No, I'm talking about that too, yeah.

Oh, okay.

Oh, I love it.

Do you watch her videos now?

No, I just saw that she started, like, posting videos again.

Yeah, oh, I've started watching them again.

I love them.

I don't know, it, like, brings me right back to 2016.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's so interesting.

It's just, like, I don't know, ever since YouTube started, it's been very, like...

british focus yeah there are a lot of british youtubers to be fair it's interesting did she just start posting again or was she posting the whole time but people weren't watching i'm not sure maybe she was i hadn't watched her since like 2016 um but then a couple years ago when she had otty or otterly uh one of her kids wait what is that Oh my god, she has kids now?

Yeah, she has two children.

It's insane.

Oh my god, I had no idea.

And her dog is still around, Nala.

Oh yeah, wow.

I've been watching her recently.

She posted like Christmas and her kids are so cute.

I'll have to take a look.

Yeah, they were so cute.

It was wholesome times.

Yeah, no, 2016 was a good year.

But anyway, I guess back to the climbing portion.

Yeah, a lot of British YouTube climbers as well.

So that's interesting to see.

Another audience question that came through, it felt like you also burst onto the climbing scene.

Do you have a similar feeling about that?

Like, do you kind of feel like it was a slow build or did you feel like you did a lot better than you expected this season?

No, I think I did do...

um better than expected this season um because obviously and obviously I didn't do world cups the previous season um because we didn't have that many spots and I wasn't at the level to get one of the like two spots we had I think um but I think definitely like over the years I've um improved but this year was definitely my biggest like jump I think Yeah, I guess from the audience perspective, it was kind of like you just showed up in semis and no one had heard of you before because most people don't watch like youth climbing.

Yeah.

A lot of people don't watch like the European cups either.

And so you kind of just like showed up and did pretty well.

And so I'm assuming people are probably kind of wondering, like, did you.

kind of know that your level was up there or did you feel like um you were competing at a different level the previous season um i'd started to get like good youth results um and i won the european youth championships at the end of that year um and then i really wanted to make it to the world cup team for the 2025 season um and then before the season we had um the British Championships where I came second but I didn't know like I knew that Erin was at a really high level but she was like she's yeah she was really strong and I didn't really have like a gauge of what level I was at but yeah and I think um yeah i found it like going into kachow i found it hard not really knowing where i was at um i don't know like i got a lot stronger and i felt a lot stronger but yeah yeah so i guess going back into climbing in the commercial gym scene in the uk um what is the uk like climbing culture like since i feel like you guys also have a lot of gyms around yeah yeah i think on the whole it's really good and i really like going to like my local gym and seeing everyone there there's like a bit of a crew on the wooden board and they're like all so supportive and yeah i think on the whole the culture is nice but definitely um there's definitely negative sides to it and sometimes uh like I find a lot of the gyms are still quite male dominated or like the training spaces can be quite male dominated um and I find it okay I think now because I'm like confident within myself and yeah but I definitely found it kind of hard growing up sometimes with that male dominated space hmm interesting I guess like what like i don't know what do you feel like that came with um just sometimes like when i was younger i mean it happens now but um i just don't let it bother me really but it's just like i would go on a climb and let's say some guy was on the climb as well and i would like flash the climb and then they'll just like make a comment or say like oh, like if I was as light as you, I'd do that climb.

And I was just like, no, no, no.

I remember one time I was doing like one arm of training and then a guy said to me like, oh, like how light do you have to be to be able to do that?

And I was just like, no, like, no.

I don't know.

Just like, yeah.

I've heard people like talk about that on like Reddit before, but it's never actually happened to me before.

No, yeah.

And I'm like very, like stickly so I guess I'm surprised that no one's ever said it to me but yeah did you have like a response for that or did you just walk away I think I just kind of ignored it like didn't give it the time of day yeah I'm just trying to think if like anything weird has happened to me I know people have mentioned like or sometimes I kind of get the feeling that I'll come off of a climb and then they'll like try it oh my gosh they got when the guys see you on the climb and they yeah that's the most annoying thing yeah i get it all the time like i'll be on like v i don't know like v9 or v10 or whatever and they'll be on like a v3 and then they'll suddenly i don't know i'm all for like people coming to train with me and like trying the same climbs as me like i think that's great like and like pushing yourself on climbs that are like too hard for you um But when they're on like a V3 and they see a female on a hard climb and then try to pull on, it's just like, oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I mean, at least they can try it and then see that it's not so simple.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Have you ever had them like...

I don't know the other day I was on this board climb and this guy came over from another area of the board because he saw me on this climb and he like tried to pull on like couldn't pull on tried to do the first move couldn't do the first two and then he like walked away like holding his back and I was like oh okay okay that doesn't happen to me as often because I don't think I'm climbing things that are as hard um but well actually I don't know maybe the culture is pretty good because if that does happen a lot of times i mean i feel like a lot of times they'll just be watching from afar and then if i send it or don't they'll just talk about like how hard it looked or that or like a lot of times they'll be like oh i could like never do that so yeah maybe the culture here is just a bit more nice at least vocally i don't know what they're thinking inside their heads um but yeah that's unfortunate that it's still kind of like that but hopefully maybe it'll shift yeah I think like recently I think we're seeing a lot more women in the gym and I think like 90 % of the guys you meet in a carnival are lovely and are so supportive um but there's definitely still a bit of that around yeah um so then outside of climbing or like uh competition climbing a bit um do you get much time to climb outside or does it interest you at all uh I yeah I've I do have a lot of time now to be fair because I'm not in uni anymore um but just with training uh I don't have so much time or like skin I guess to climb outside but I really enjoy it and I would love to get out more do you have any like projects in mind or is it just like you really don't have the time to even think about it right now I've not thought about it like properly but um i do want to go try i don't know if you've heard of the joker or and the ace they're like it's an 8a and an 8b at stanage uh in the peak district of that area oh i i guess in the peak district yeah but i'm like very not outdoor climbing yeah no no don't worry um no there's there's a couple like peak district classics that i want to try um but Other than that, I've not, yeah, I've not really thought about it, but I would love to go outdoors more.

I mean, fine by me.

I love competitions.

That's all I want to talk about.

You mentioned that you aren't doing university this year, but I guess, were you doing it before?

Yeah.

So I did my end of school exams and then I took a gap year.

And then I started uni in Leeds and I was studying biology.

And then that was until I was in first year.

And then earlier on this year, I decided to drop out.

And I want to go back, but I just want to focus solely on the climbing for now, I think.

I think in the UK, it's quite hard to do both or do both well, in my opinion.

yeah that makes sense and I guess you can always go back at some point yeah I think my thing I don't know it was hard because I've always been like really academic and really liked school but my thinking was that I can go to uni anytime and you can only be a comp climber at like one time in your life really I don't know or not only but I don't know like there's a limit on comp climbing and you can go to uni anytime Yeah, you got to take advantage of your working body when you're young, I guess, is what I think.

No, I think I follow a similar thing.

Like I should do all of the crazy sports that I can now and then save.

No, definitely.

Yeah, save the sedentary hobbies for later.

Like I have a whole plan of like what I'm going to do once I can't move anymore.

I feel like a lot of my hobbies are the...

when you can't move hobbies to be fair like I love like a crossword or something but okay yeah well what what else do you like to do without using your body uh I really like baking uh bake quite a lot uh yeah baking crosswords crosswords interesting well what do you like to bake one of my favorite bakes is like this passion fruitcake I've made that's really good um and then I think just a lot of cakes, to be honest.

I make a good chocolate and strawberry cake too.

Do you also do the decorating or just the cake making part?

Yeah, both.

Cake decorating is going to be one of my sedentary hobbies one day in the future.

Yeah, it's a good one.

Do you do extravagant decorations?

No, I'm not that good.

I'm just like, let's do it for fun.

Yeah, no, that's a fun one.

I'm excited to do that.

Back when you were still studying and doing climbing at the same time, what did that balance look like?

I think it was quite hard, especially so when I was doing my end of school exams in my school, we do like A -levels in the UK in your last two years of school.

so you pick three subjects and you do them i was doing maths chemistry biology um and in my school we had to be in school full time and um like nine till four or whatever and then i had training as well and i found that hard but also i wasn't training as much as i do now um and then during the gap year obviously it was fine and then when i went back to uni or when i went to uni I found it like really really hard because I was training to try to get on world cup team like six days a week and then yeah I was in uni like four days a week and it was hard with like some lectures would just be timed so badly and yeah it was not like sustainable I was like so tired all the time and I was like missing lectures like missing parts of training and it was like not good how many hours a day were you doing training uh maybe like six I would say um I very much like prioritized the training over the uni like um i would do my lectures but a lot of them were online and i would i was on like the sports scholarship thing so i could do i like spoke to my um supervisor and whatnot and i could do a lot online but it was still just like so much to do all that i think and i yeah didn't want to do both badly I guess, were you also living at home at that time?

I don't really know what the school experience is like in the UK, but I guess like in the US, you're like living in dorms on campus and then it's kind of like the whole experience.

Yeah, yeah.

No, so I moved into like student halls and there was like four of us in a flat and we shared a kitchen.

But then since then.

Since I dropped out of uni, I've moved back home and now I'm looking for apartments in Leeds because I want to move over there for training.

Is that like where the better gyms are?

Yeah, I think Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester is like the UK climbing triangle at the moment.

I think for comp climbing, the better gyms are in Leeds and Sheffield and I think also the scene over there.

is better at the moment and training with uh other strong comp climbers is really good yeah it always seems like that helps um okay cool so let's move into some of the other grab bag audience submitted questions now um the first one from kaito102 how do you decide which teams to train at locally or internationally um locally i think it depends what's on my training plan um i try to like Look at the focus of the day and pick the best gym possible for that.

But obviously some days I'll be able to go to Leeds or Sheffield on the train and some days I'll have to stick to, because I'm currently based in Manchester.

So I think I just kind of pick the best day for the plan and what I can do.

I think during training camps, like we go to Paris a decent amount for training camps.

um and you just go to the gyms with the best boulders i think like maybe we'll ask someone on the french team like oh like what what gyms are good and then similarly uh during the season um the coaches will talk to other coaches and it'll be like oh this gym's good they've got good con boulders up or something And then I guess like when you're traveling for competitions, do you have like a method of picking gyms to train at?

People just ask around and we talk to our coaches or we'll talk to other athletes and be like, oh, this gym wasn't very good.

This gym was good.

Honestly, you can see a lot on Instagram, I think.

Like I always like go on the gym's page, look what they've been tagged in and then see if the bowl does look any good.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Next one from ADHD climber one.

What's your advice for making climbing shoes last?

Making climbing shoes last?

Yeah.

I don't know if I'm the best to answer this question because I feel like mine don't last very long.

How long does it usually last for you?

Gosh, I mean, I'll use a different pair for unless there's like a comp back to back.

I think I'll use a different pair for every comp.

Oh, really?

But in training.

uh like not even like four weeks I don't like maybe like three weeks or something I don't know it depends how much salve I'm doing if I'm doing loads of salve oh seriously yeah I mean and it depends how long I wear them like if I wear them till they die and get holes in or if I don't but I think yeah I really don't think shoes last me oh my gosh I think I'm training wrong because mine lasts for like a year and a half at least and I thought that was short yeah what holy crap wait so and for every comp you usually do a new pair I think yeah like for comps I like them to be broken in like a specific amount yeah what's your like timeline I don't really have a timeline but I wear dragos and sometimes I like when There's like the branding on the bottom of the shoe.

When that's gone, I think that's a good indicator for me.

That's like the perfect shoe level.

Yeah.

Oh, that's so specific.

But yeah, that helps because I have noticed that too.

Yeah.

But if the comps like between Prague and Bern this year, I think I wore the same pair.

But I didn't like training them in between.

So I had a different pair with me to train in.

so i'll like do that sometimes but if yeah i'll yeah use different shoes for every comp and then but like recently i've been just using old comp shoes like getting through all ben um so i don't let them go to waste but wow so i mean that's like how many boulder comps in a year seven pairs of shoes during the season wow and I can't believe you go through it in four weeks I think I'm not climbing slab properly or you are and I'm climbing slab badly and just like going through the shoes yeah no I don't know about that although I think sometimes I am a little too careful with my shoes like sometimes I think I'm not committing to a move specifically because I'm like oh my gosh I want to use a lot of rubber like if I mess this up yeah wow okay no that's interesting to to hear so no advice for making climbing shoes last I don't think so no I'm so sorry yeah I have advice for breaking them in um yeah yeah what's that yeah I recently um I actually I got this advice from Quinn who's on the US team so I can't like claim to have come up with it but I've been bringing a hair dryer to the wall um so when it's cold I like blast the shoes with the hair dryer and it makes breaking them in so much easier and then I also wear like plastic bags to break them in because otherwise it's too painful but yeah but the hair dryer is such a good hack especially for the winter I think Yeah, I bet.

I don't really experience that much winter here in California.

Oh, in California.

Yeah, but it does still get cold, in my opinion.

Yeah.

And I usually just kind of like sit on my shoes for a while.

Yeah, that probably works too, to be fair.

Maybe you don't need to carry around the big hedge right with you.

It seems nice, though.

I think that would be more comfortable.

okay cool next question from daniel strucker um what was your favorite boulder from the brussels european cup oh where you got first so congrats on that thank you um my favorite boulder was definitely the last boulder in finals it was this paddle dino um and it was so good i didn't top it actually i fell off the last move but i really really liked that boulder that was really good was that like the competition winner for you or like the what's the word I like the comp the boulder which won me the comp or yeah yeah no actually it was the only one I didn't top in the finals it was the last one um but yeah I don't know I really really enjoyed that comp it was maybe one of my or that round it was maybe my favorite round or one of my favorite rounds of the season um and I think like i don't know the crowd was just like so good in brussels and the music was so good and my round was going really well um and i it was like the last boulder of the final and it was a coordination i love coordination and like the music was good the crowd were cheering i just had so much fun on that boulder even though i didn't do the last move but yeah it was really good what's good music for you at a comp i think just like upbeat music i think yeah okay next one from john ford 19 what's the intensity between tc and world cups i don't really know what tc is like training center maybe training camps maybe yeah i mean during training camps you're training so you're pushing yourself obviously really hard um And obviously in a World Cup round, you're pushing yourself hard.

But before the World Cup round, you're resting and recovering and making sure you feel good for the World Cup.

So I guess there's, I don't know, I think they're very different things, like training and then competing.

I guess, are the boulders set for training camps harder or easier or about the same as World Cups?

Oh, like during a mock comp round or something.

Yeah.

Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah.

I think it depends on the training camp, but I think they try to make them the right level.

I've definitely done training camps where they've been easier, the boulders, and definitely in the training camps where the boulders have been harder than World Cup boulders.

But I think it depends on the round.

But often in a training camp, I think it's better if they're harder because then you can go back.

and work on the boulders after and that's always quite good at least from a viewer's perspective it's hard to think that they would set something harder than a world cup but i always forget that during a world cup you only have so many minutes to actually send it yeah i think if it's not a simulation uh training boulders are definitely harder than world cup boulders because there's only like I don't know, like there's so many incredible climbers, but also four minutes isn't that long.

So if they're limit boulders, they're not going to be in a while.

Or yeah, they're going to be harder in the training camp.

Okay.

And last question is from Process Physio.

So from Andy, which I think.

Oh, he used to coach me.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

So he says hi, first of all.

And then his question was, does your brother Luke climb harder than you yet?

No, no.

Maybe he will.

No, I hope he doesn't.

But that is actually, like, one of my goals.

Like, I can't ever let him climb harder than me.

Yeah.

I think he would be better than me on, like, a big campus move.

But everything else, I've still got him.

How old is he?

uh he's 17 yeah oh okay and he started climbing when he was like 14.

so he's not been climbing that long oh my gosh wow yeah but he got like when guys like go through puberty and they get so strong he just got so strong so quickly like he can do more one -armors than me which does break my heart but um i still climb harder for now so that's good nice yeah is he trying to i guess like does he have climbing goals of like competing or is he just doing it for fun uh he does comps but i think right now like he's in school and he just he just loves climbing he goes climbing all the time um he doesn't do it as seriously as me he just yeah but he really enjoys it i think a lot of i think climbing is quite addictive and a lot of climbers even if they don't do it like seriously they still do it seriously i don't know i guess i'm surprised he actually started so late considering you were already climbing a lot at that time yeah I think when I first went climbing we did take him climbing as well um I remember he like took a fall or something and then he just decided he didn't like it and I think also because I was doing it maybe he didn't want to do it I'm not sure yeah but then yeah he got into it a few years ago And now he climbs all the time as well.

But I guess you don't want him to get too into it because then he might start beating you.

Yeah, I can't even be stronger than me.

That would be terrible.

I agree.

Okay, well, that's all the questions I had then.

Thanks for joining me today.

Any last -minute shout -outs or words of wisdom that you have?

Tips for coordination moves or anything like that?

Tips for coordination moves.

Do as many as you can.

Never avoid them because it's going to make the problem worse.

And just be confident.

Like if you commit, I don't know, what's the worst that can happen?

True.

Well, you could slam into the wall.

True, true.

But I think sometimes as well, when you take the slam into the wall, it's like, well, that's the worst that can happen.

So then you can commit.

I don't know.

Yeah.

People are going to go like slam into walls.

Yeah.

And do you want to let people know where they can find you?

uh yeah i'm emma .climbing on instagram i'm surprised you managed to get that handle yeah i've had it for quite a while to be fair since i was like 13 actually uh yeah there's another girl who i'm friends with called emma and she used to have the handle and then she like merged her accounts or something and she gave me like advanced notice she was like oh wow you can have the climbing Wow.

Congrats.

Thank you.

Okay.

Awesome.

Well, thank you again.

And it was amazing to talk to you.

Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast.

Don't forget to like, and subscribe if you enjoyed, otherwise you are a super fake climber.

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Thanks again for listening.