The Yosemite Triple with Laura Pineau

Laura Pineau
Choose objectives that scare you. It means it’s probably big enough. I think if you think of something and you’re like, “Oh, you know, that’s easy. I can do that.” Then it means, “Is it big enough?” I was scared for the triple, you know, until the day we did it. I wasn’t sure.

Steve
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Alyssa
Welcome to the Uphill Athlete Podcast. My name is Alyssa Clark and I will be your host today. On June 8th, Laura Pineau, hoping I’m saying that right, um or Pineau?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, perfect.

Alyssa
Pineau, okay. And Kate Kelleghan became the first woman to complete the Yosemite Triple Crown in under 24 hours. A monumental feat of endurance, Kate and Laura set a new standard for women in climbing and I’m so honored to have Laura with me today.

Alyssa
Laura, also known as Mademoiselle Fissure, which I want to get into, is a French professional climber for La Sportiva among Coros and a few other companies, and also is a climbing instructor from what I for my research and just an all-around badass.

Alyssa
So Laura, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Laura Pineau
Of course. Thank you for having me. I can’t wait to talk to you today.

Alyssa
Yeah, well, first off, I want to hear about Mademoiselle Fissure. Where did that come from? I have a guess, but I’d love to hear about that nickname.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, this is a funny nickname that I chose last November because I was working on this hard crack in Valle Orco, Greenspeed, in Italy, and I was climbing with my friend Paolo, who is Italian, and he was also speaking a little bit of French and kept saying, oh, mademoiselle, mademoiselle.

Laura Pinea
And then one day, I don’t know how it came out. He said, Mademoiselle Fissure. And I was like, oh, that sounds really great. You know, it’s a mix of crack, which I love. And then it’s a bit of French Mademoiselle.

Laura Pineau
So that’s how I was like, oh, that’s a cool nickname. Let’s just use this as a funny way to describe myself and where I want to go. Because I’m definitely a crack addict. You know, I love climbing cracks all around the world.

Laura Pineau
And this is definitely a new passion of mine that I’ve had over the past two years. And I thought, This was just a cool nickname to have.

Alyssa
Oh, I love that. Well, I mean, the way that I was kind of first introduced to you is that my husband also loves crack climbing and had reached out to you like, hey, I’m going to be in Chamonix. A, do you want to climb?

Alyssa
And B, like any cracks, because he was so ah excited that you love to crack climb. And I guess that’s not as common for French climbers to be kind of as much interested in the crack side of things.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, you’re definitely right. I think for French climbers, we have world-class limestone sport climbing all over our country and we have amazing bouldering as well.

Alyssa
Oh, fine.

Laura Pineau
So I think, you know, most people, if you live outside of the Alps and you’re not really close to Chamonix that has beautiful and amazing cracks, then you’re definitely way more exposed to bouldering gyms and to limestone sport climbing.

Laura Pineau
So that’s how I started climbing. I started actually above the water on limestone, deep water soloing. But then I was exposed to limestone sport climbing more.

Alyssa
so fine

Laura Pineau
And that’s what I’ve had most experiences on, especially as sport climbing. And then I did my college degree in the U.S. And then after my college degree, I had a one year work visa, and that’s when I bought a van, worked remotely, traveled all over the US until I arrived in Moab.

Laura Pineau
And that’s where I met this professional climber, Brittany Gores, who spent time showing me how to climb cracks and really was an amazing mentor to me on how you know, how to place gear, how to fall net, how to be comfortable, because everyone has a vision of track climbing as something, oh, it’s so scary. It’s so dangerous. You know, everyone reps gear all the time and it’s so not true. And there’s so many ways of learning track climbing really safely.

Laura Pineau
You just need, I think, to find a really good mentor, like a mentor. And someone who will take time to show you slowly how to do it and who won’t pressure you to go on harder climbs, on harder climbs than what your level is in a way.

Laura Pineau
And I thought Brittany was amazing to me for that. And, you know, sometimes I’m trying to teach other people how to crack climb and really take time with them and be like, okay, like, remember when you were a big beginner, hand jams were hurting your hands.

Laura Pineau
So you can’t climb as much as you can now two years after learning how to climb. And yeah, when you, when your husband reached out, it was so funny because I was like, Oh, amazing. Other people who love cracks. And whenever I’m traveling around, I’m always so happy to, you know, meet other crack lovers and go climb with new people. Cause I think that’s what makes the climbing community so special.

Alyssa
It definitely does. And I mean, you’ve already jumped into a couple of questions, but I was curious how, well, first of all, deep water soloing, that’s not something that everyone’s like, yeah, I just started deep water soloing, got right into it.

Alyssa
So how do you learn about climbing? Was it in your family? Like, what was your background as a child?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, it was definitely not in my family. So when I was younger, I did, you know, seven years of tennis, probably to spend time with my dad and do the same thing as my dad. And then I switched to boxing, English boxing for two years, which my mom kind of got me into because she knew I was not liking tennis anymore and was like, OK, we’ve got to find a new sport.

Alyssa
Hmm. Hmm.

Laura Pineau
So did boxing. And then one day, one summer, I used to go to this place in my hometown called Saint-Père in Toulon. And this is a place where most teenagers go and they cliff jump or they go swim, they hang out with their friends. It’s like a paradise for summer. It’s really a gorgeous place. And one day I met this climber, Fred, and he was like, hey, like, if you want to go climb, come, I’ll show you how to climb and I’ll show you around. So for four hours, he took me along the coast and showed me all the different sections, where to put my hands, and explained to me the movements.

Laura Pineau
And then every day I was going back to do the sections I was falling into what the water and I couldn’t do. And I was just obsessed with like, OK, one more move, two more moves. I know I can do it. I’m so close. And then, you know, I was not great at it. And even him, he was like, oh, like she’s not good at it. Like, where is she going to go? That’s what he told me years, you know, years after he was like, oh, yeah, you know, you are not really great those first sessions. So of course, you know, who’s great on session number one above the water climbing?

Laura Pineau
You know, it’s not an easy discipline and it’s pretty scary to be high above the water.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
And then another friend was like, okay, if you want to get stronger and come back to do more next year, you should go to a bouldering gym. And then that’s how I signed up in a bouldering gym in September after the summer. And I was hooked and then never stopped since then.

Alyssa
That’s amazing. Wow. I mean, that’s such fun, I’ve always wanted to deep water solo. I think it sounds amazing, especially since we used to live in Hawaii for a little bit. Like that’s the best place for it.

Laura Pineau
Oh, nice.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Alyssa
So we’ll have to get back there.

Laura Pineau
You should go to Mallorca. I think Mallorca…

Alyssa
Oh, okay.

Laura Pineau
No better place for deep water sailing.

Alyssa
Okay. Okay.

Laura Pineau
Mallorca is beautiful, amazing, and you can just rent an apartment in one of those little cities and then you walk a little bit and there’s so many cracks for or deep water sailing and so many that are really close to the water.

Laura Pineau
You see all those big cliffs on media that are super high, 15, 20 meters, where most people rap into it and practice on the road before even doing it, but then you have all of those other little cracks that are super close to the water, super safe.

Laura Pineau
And just an amazing summer vacation. Like when you take a break from running, I think it’s the perfect location for you to go in and deep water solo for sure.

Alyssa
but

Alyssa
Awesome. Yes. High on the list. Do you think that there is something? Because with deep water soloing, I’ve heard this said before that there is kind of this desire not to fall because you have like everything gets wet. You kind of have to restart.

Alyssa
It’s a lot more effort than, say, taking on a top rope or falling off a sport climb or something. Do you think that perhaps that foundation may have influenced your speed climbing later where it’s like, yeah, we just don’t really fall.

Alyssa
It’s not really a thing.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, that’s a very interesting perspective. I would say, so personally, as a climber, I’ve always loved challenges that are super scary. I don’t know why yet, and I’m not sure I totally understand why I’m chasing those scary objectives, but I did the first female ascent of the roof of Saint-Père, which is like thirteen b roof.

Laura Pineau
like roof climbing that’s maybe 40 feet above the water and you are upside down so your back is fully horizontal when you’re climbing and deep water soloing is extremely scary because if you fall on your back you could just you know like have holes in your in your lungs or injure yourself really badly and so deep water soloing you never go and I think it’s maybe same mentality with speed climbing you never go

Laura Pineau
100% to your abilities, at least that’s how I was doing it. You always go all the way to like 95. And when you feel like you’re close to falling and you’re going to let go, then suddenly you let loose your feet just to be straight up hanging.

Laura Pineau
And then you fall controlled, like controlled in a controlled manner. You never want to fall unexpectedly. I mean, some climbers do, you know, at the top, top elite level where they just do a huge dyno and sometimes fall on their backs and they’re fine depending on how high they are.

Laura Pineau
But with deep water swimming, you want to be super, you know super cautious on how you’re falling into the water and how you’re landing and I think that’s exactly the same with speed climbing I never went 100% speed climbing I was maybe out of breath and my cardio was very high but in terms of climbing movement and how I was in control I was never 100% was always you know at 90% and you know that you know okay if you get too tired or you have cramps or you’re starting to get tired how I was on the triple on the boot for instance which is really overhanging crack, then I just place more gear to be you know a bit more cautious.

Laura Pineau
But you never go 100% or above your limits. You always want to stay a little under just so you keep the safety margins you know in reason and you want to be safe.

Alyssa
Yeah, no, that’s, that’s super interesting. Um, yeah, it’s honestly, it’s pretty similar with ultras at least for half three quarters. You are kind of constantly playing with that effort level being like, okay, if I just like to absolutely send it, if I go to a hundred, I am going to be walking or sitting or dropping from this race. so you really do have to play with that effort level a lot.

Alyssa
But my other kind of question is about background, so where did you go to school in the US and what made you want to come over here for school?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, so I think when I was 17, I went to see someone to help me understand what my work skills were and, you know, what kind of school I should do because I wasn’t sure. I knew I wanted to go into a business school, but I was a bit scared. I wanted to do this with regards to my dad and um in a lot of ways. You know, I had done tennis because of this. So I was like, okay, I want to make sure it’s not for the bad reason that I want to go do that. And I think when I was 17, I realized, oh, you know what? I just…

Laura Pineau
I want to do my studies in English and I want to have international experiences. Either it’s in Europe, in another country or even abroad further. And that’s when this woman really helped me find different schools abroad, like some in Canada, some the one I went to in the US, some in Italy, some I think so one was in the UK as well.

Laura Pineau
And the school I chose was called HALT. And it’s because this school had a dual degree that would be valid in Europe and in the US. So that was kind of important for me to have

Alyssa
Oh, nice. Okay.

Laura Pineau
I mean, I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter in the future when you go into the work world.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
I don’t even think they look at, oh, is it valid in Europe or in the US? But for me, it kind of had an importance. And I was going to study with 100 different nationalities of students. And I think that’s what really attracted me.

Alyssa
Wow.

Laura Pineau
I really wanted global influence and to know that I study with other people from different cultures. And that’s when I really learned that you don’t talk the same way to a Brazilian that you’re going to talk to a Japanese friend, that you’re going to talk to a European friend or French friend. You know we all interact very differently.

Laura Pineau
And that taught me a lot about the world and how to interact with other people in a lot of different ways. And, and then, yeah, after I had this one year work visa, and that’s when I lived in a van for summer. And I was like, Oh, you know what, I really do love van life. So I’m not going to rent an apartment in September. And I’m going to keep living in this life and keep being next to beautiful climbing places. And I really perfected my art for outdoor climbing and I found cracks where I was like, wow, I’m a beginner again. You know, after four years of climbing, being a total beginner again and a full Gumby was just amazing because you rediscovered the sport, you got to learn new movements, new techniques.

Laura Pineau
And I’m someone who’s like, who’s in love with learning new things, new processes, new ways of climbing. who loves learning from other people. Like I learned from Kate how to speed climb. I had almost zero climbing experience. So everything she taught me, I listened to it, I applied it. And then eventually you make your own little sauce at what you prefer doing because everyone has different ways of doing it.

Laura Pineau
But I just love all those new learning experiences.

Alyssa
That’s I mean, that you know we brought up Vitaliy when we were talking before we started recording, and he’s so similar. I mean, he’s just really invested in learning.

Alyssa
He’s so humble and just like always thinks he has more to learn, which we all do. I mean, I said I’ve been in the trail running space for about 10 years now, and I’m like, I’m just getting going.

Laura Pineau
wow

Alyssa
like just learning. Yeah, so I think keeping that curiosity and that passion for new endeavors. And climbing is so exciting because there’s so many pieces to it. There’s so many avenues you can explore.

Alyssa
But what drew you? Was it just like Yosemite is Mecca? I’m going to end up there someday. Or like what drew you to Yosemite eventually?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, so my first Yosemite experience was when I did my first two years I was studying in San Francisco. And so I had a boyfriend back then who was in love with Yosemite and who took me to Yosemite.

Alyssa
okay

Laura Pineau
And that’s when I really did my first multi-pitch. I did my first like trad lead, but that first trad lead did not go as well because back then I was still 19 years old and I was very reckless.

Laura Pineau
Very impatient climber and person in general. And I was like, okay, just show me the gear. Okay, that’s how it’s done. Okay, let’s let’s go climb. I’m ready to lead. And my boyfriend was like, no, I think you should take time and we should go slow. And I was like, no, no, don’t worry. I got it. Let’s go. And then I got really scared of Munginella, which is a 5’8″, one of the easiest climbing in the valley, you know, and it was just, there was so much rope drag. I wasn’t sure of any of the gear that you know, I felt so scared.

Laura Pineau
And since then, I haven’t tried climbing anymore. But I knew the first time I saw a captain that I was going to climb it one day. I didn’t know when or how much it would take.

Alyssa
Mm-hmm.

Laura Pineau
But already back then, I wanted to climb it. It’s just that life kind of went in the way. I got scared on this first track climbing experience, which didn’t leave a good, you know, a good um it definitely didn’t leave a good like positive memory in my mind. So that’s why maybe I didn’t really go back, but I was also really focused on studies and I couldn’t just go every weekend to Yosemite to climb there. And that’s when I was like more training indoors and that was just easier for me.

Laura Pineau
But then when I learned how to track climb again in Utah, I always had in my mind, okay, if I learned how to track climb, I need to go back to Yosemite and I need to climb El Capitan. And Brittany, the one who actually showed me how to track climb and who’s my who was my track climbing mentor,

Laura Pineau
She is also the person who told me, Laura, you can totally go do free rider on our captain. Like you have the level, go do it. And so when I went back, I learned how to track climb, I think in September, 2022. I went for my first real Yosemite season in April, 2023. And when I arrived, I could barely climb.

Laura Pineau
5.9, 5.10, without being so, so scared on my first week. And that’s when I suddenly became so humble. And I was like, okay, like, granny climbing is a whole new world. I had never climbed on it. I’m arriving in Yosemite Valley. It’s really a sandbag, old school.

Laura Pineau
like slippery granite, like slippery granite.

Alyssa
Yep.

Laura Pineau
So I was like, okay, I think it’s going to take me a bit longer than just one season to climb El Capitan. and And so I took this first like two, three weeks to learn how to haul, learn how to jog on a rope because I had switched my objective from free rider to the nose. Because I’m like, okay, there’s a reason why everyone starts with the nose, you know, it’s because it’s maybe the easiest big wall and a great one to learn how to do it.

Laura Pineau
And so I didn’t have a partner to do it. I went around the valley, asked people, and I met this Quebecois guy from Quebec, ah Gab, and he was as psyched as I was. He just had six days left and I had like two weeks left and we’ve never climbed together. But we’re like, you know what? Let’s just give it a shot. We’ll go to the first four pitches. And if we climb well, if we do it, then we’ll keep going the next day. And the first four pitches, we did them in four five hours, which is pretty decent speed.

Laura Pineau
pace we were excited and so we kept going and we had like two amazing days of climbing and he was one of the best climbing partners i’ve ever had he was so patient so nice so sweet and i felt like he was 80 ready for that big wall i was 80 ready and then we kind of combined and shared skills that we had developed over the past few weeks at yosemite and kind of just made it work until we arrived to like peach maybe like 15 16 and

Alyssa
Oh, nice.

Laura Pineau
Two Italians wrapped before us and we’re like, there’s a waterfall coming down a changing corner. We couldn’t keep going. And they had like… Rain jackets, rain pants, they were repelling so fast. and me And me and Gab had only one whole bag. We didn’t have any rain gear. The next day they were announcing a storm. So that’s when we’re like, okay, let’s back off.

Laura Pineau
We should really go down and wrap up because we’re not doing well. And the next day it could have rain, which it did rain. So thank God we went down because we had no rain gear. We would have maybe been fine. But if you’re up there and it’s super windy and you’re wet and you don’t have any rain gear,

Laura Pineau
that could be very dangerous and potentially you know death issues as well. ah So I think it was just the best goal back then to go down.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
And for me, this was the best big wall experience I’ve ever had. like I felt like I was floating on a cloud after ah had just really found what I was meant for. And I was meant for big walls. And that’s what I wanted to do.

Laura Pineau
And even though we didn’t top out, which didn’t matter, just the whole experience was so amazing, slipping up there. You know, looking at a sunrise, looking at the sunset, being on the wall was just such a beautiful moment in life that I was like, okay, this is what I’m going to come back for. And I have much more to learn to then, you know, get to the top of El Capitan.

Alyssa
Oh, love that. It’s such a gift to find the thing you’re meant to do. I mean, I don’t think that that, I think there’s a few people in this world, but not that many who get to experience that where you’re like, oh my gosh, yeah, this is it.

Alyssa
I know it. That’s, yeah, that’s amazing. So I read the climbing article. I will link it in the show notes.

9:09.33
Alyssa
Sorry, there’s an airplane going over. It’s an amazing article.

Laura Pineau
Norris.

Alyssa
And um it said that you had gone and done a lot. or backed off free rider, um had then attempted the nose. And then you went to Squamish and you started a really intense training program.

Alyssa
What was that training program, because Uphill, we talked a lot about the kind of education, the training behind it. So that’s something I really would love to do to dig into with you. um So yeah, what did this training program look like? Was this someone that something that someone was writing for you? Did you come up with it? So yeah, I’d love to hear about kind of, okay, I know I love this, now how am I gonna get better?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, that’s very interesting. I’m not sure exactly what Sam ah wrote about this or friend Sam who wrote this amazing article and we love her for this and she put so much work into it.

Alyssa
oh yeah.

Laura Pineau
But I think it’s because I didn’t have any training program or a trainer. I just knew what skills I needed to be able to be free riders.

Alyssa
Mm-hmm.

Laura Pineau
So I needed to be strong at bouldering. I needed to be able to slab climb on granite, which I was so afraid of. And when you’ve never done it, it can be super scary because it’s just friction.

Laura Pineau
There’s no hands. I needed to be good at off-width climbing, which I had never done before. So I practice off-width. I practice bouldering to keep a really… strong, like to keep strong fingers because there’s a lot of, like there’s a border problem and then you also also have the injury corner, which can be a little crimpy, not that much.

Laura Pineau
And then I just needed to climb a lot of cracks to get exposed to more granny climbing. So that summer, I just, you know, spent time working on those different skills, getting better at them because I identified my weaknesses. Sometimes in climbing, I’m not sure how other climbers do it, but me, it’s like I can spot what I’m bad at. For instance, recently I spotted my new one. I’m not a great chimney climber. And I was like, oh, you know what?

Laura Pineau
I’m not good at chimneys.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Let’s go climb chimneys. Like, let’s go do stick style things, Yosemite, and get better at it. So it’s like, you know, spotting what you’re not great at because when you want to climb in a place like Yosemite, you need to be a great overall climber.

Laura Pineau
You need to be good at bordering moves.

Alyssa
yeah

Laura Pineau
You need to be good at crack climbing, finger cracks, off-width cracks, chimney cracks, slab climbing, you know, face climbing. Like you have a bit of everything, which is why I love Yosemite because from the first moments I knew that, oh, if I climb a lot in Yosemite, I know I can be a really good overall climber and I know I can learn a lot from that place.

Laura Pineau
So I think… You know, I didn’t have a very precise training program, but I just really worked on all those separate skills that make you a better crag climber. And that would help me get ready for free riders.

Alyssa
So when you were, first of all, that is an incredible skill to have to be able to recognize your weaknesses. I actually, well, I think people are okay at recognizing their weaknesses, but then to dig in and actually work on them is the, I think the difficult part.

Alyssa
But when you were say organizing your week,

Laura Pineau
Yes.

Alyssa
Would you be like, hey, this week I’m going to focus, ah like, would you cycle through?

Laura Pineau
yes

Alyssa
Would you be like, hey, I’m kind of just working off of partner availability? Like, how did you decide what you were going to focus on? And was it, um hey, I’m just going to climb really hard?

Alyssa
Or was there, I’m going to focus on volume. I’m going to focus on, you know, finger strength, et cetera. Like, how did you manage that or organize that?

Laura Pineau
I think mostly me, what I’ve always loved doing, especially when I live in a van and I’m somewhere and I climb outdoors mostly, is to do two days on, one day off. And usually I would always prioritize my first day to be maybe like bouldering or a bit like more powerful routes, like harder on the fingers or harder on your body, just so you’re ready.

Alyssa
okay

Laura Pineau
And then have a second day where it’s more focused on volume. It could be multi-pitch. ah It could be going on a sport climbing route, ah like sport climbing crag and do as many routes as I can.

Laura Pineau
I think that’s how I would organize it from what I remember. ah Right now, I’m trying to definitely get a new climbing coach and have a bit more organized training, especially after all the speed climbing I’ve been doing. I think it’s important to get back into it in a really smart way, not too hard too soon, because that’s always, you know, the issue is when you haven’t climbed hard in a long time, you need to really take it slow at the beginning.

Alyssa
Yeah. yeah

Laura Pineau
But back then, you know, I was living in my van, working remotely, climbing two days on, one day off. um And just, you know, depending on partners as well. And one thing I’m like… I really try to always focus on the fact that sometimes I’m really good at seeing in people what they’re good at.

Laura Pineau
For instance, you know, maybe I have my friend Nate. He’s an amazing chimney climber. Okay, let’s go climb chimneys with him because I know by looking at him climbing, I’m going to learn a lot of movements and how he climbs them or Let’s go climb with my friend, Sam, who’s an off-width professional and who loves off-width. So I went off climbing last fall with her and I saw her on that off-width roof climb that we climbed together. I was like, whoa, like she’s a wizard.

Laura Pineau
Like how does she do it? And, you know, learning new skills from her or, oh, let’s go climb with my friend, Jacob Cook. Like he’s an amazing stack climber and maybe I can learn from him on like, how he places his feet, what shoes he uses, you know? So I think if you can really see that in your friends and see what they’re good at that maybe you’re lacking, then it’s a great way to get better at it without having to just, you know, it’s not just always about strength and getting stronger and always being strong. There’s so much about technique and climbing. And I think if you can learn from those other people that are really great at it, I think it’s a great way to get better yourself.

Alyssa
I love that. I mean, gosh, you have a lot of wisdom. Seriously. I mean, that’s, yeah, I mean, that’s huge and so accurate. um So let’s, so you go and you improve on these skills and then do you go back to Yosemite after this?

Laura Pineau
yeah

Laura Pineau
Oh yes. Yeah. I went back the same fall.

Alyssa
Okay.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. So I spent, I think I spent two months in Squamish and I went back in October to Yosemite.

Alyssa
Okay.

Laura Pineau
and just had the best season ever. It was really special. And I think for two weeks I will climb in Yosemite. I did a lot of like 5.11, 5.12 routes just to get better, see how I was feeling.

Laura Pineau
I kept doing some bordering sessions and I was doing a lot of V8s that I had not done before. So I was like, okay, like, yeah, my bordering strength is really good. I feel really good on climbing routes.

Laura Pineau
And then after two weeks, we just, with my ex-boyfriend, Mike, we just packed our bags, packed everything, and then just went for it. And so I would have never sent Freerider without him. Like he’s, he knew so much about wall logistics, how to, you know, how to haul a bag efficiently, how to go up on the ropes, how to,

Laura Pineau
how to just like to also get food in your system. You know, at first he was packing the food and he was like, oh, like what food are you taking? I’m like, I don’t know. Like I’m following you. I don’t know what to take. You know, I don’t know what’s the best. You know, he was like, oh, okay. Like usually everyone packs their own food, but then he was like, oh, okay. Then I guess I’ll be packing for two, you know? So he really helped pack the whole nutrition. He also taught me about like how to drink electrolytes on the wall because electrolytes like he, and I learned a bit more about electrolytes even after him because back then I thought, you know, electrolytes are just good when you’re doing something big, but it’s so untrue. And I’ve been drinking electrolytes almost every day and it’s been a game changer for my hydration in general. So I don’t think it’s just…

Laura Pineau
and I don’t think it’s something extra just for big days. I think even on normal days and normal training days, you just need extra electrolytes. And I’m someone who, after doing a few tests, realized I’m a very salty sweater.

Laura Pineau
And so I need more salt than the average ah person as well.

Alyssa
hmm

Laura Pineau
And so after doing this, I felt a huge difference in my climbing. And so you know having him as a partner for Freerider really allowed me to do it because for so many of the pitches that were white pitches, chinnies,

Laura Pineau
Some of them he did and you know and then I just followed without falling. So was definitely a big partnership experience, which was really so valuable and seven days on the wall, you know which was crazy. And even the whole way that we strategized, we took a rest day on day three after climbing the off-width, the monster off-width, because it takes so much energy out of you that taking a rest day after this was so key for us to be able to keep going and do the boulder problems on day three on day four or five.

Laura Pineau
ah So yeah, big, big mission at El Capitan. And then that was my first time, you know, freeing a route on Capitan and topping El Capitan at the same time because I hadn’t topped it out when I just hit the nose.

Alyssa
Oh, that’s amazing. So yeah, the electrolytes, I think it’s so, i’ve that’s been mike my, maya you know, hill to die on this year is the electrolytes.

Alyssa
because honestly it affects your food and for climbers it affects like your skin quality your salt you know it’s just all of it is so important and to me it’s insane that we like i mean ultra running is in the same boat where it wasn’t until basically this year or last year that people are like oh that matters oh you know just like randomly drink water no it’s so it’s crazy

Laura Pineau
Really? Was it? What is it? Is it early though for ultra running? People weren’t doing this before? Or not everyone maybe?

Alyssa
No, there would, there was no, like, I mean, maybe people would do the volume test, but they wouldn’t do the salt concentration.

Laura Pineau
Really?

Alyssa
And so they wouldn’t really know what you’d have people who were maybe, you know, 500 milligrams per liter and actually they’re 1500. And so people would get such issues with their stomachs because your salt is so off.

Alyssa
yeah so this year i think I mean precision has done i think an incredible job of making sweat testing accessible and there’s other you know universities etc that will do it but I have multiple friends and clients that have gotten it done and it is just eye-opening really oh my gosh like yeah that’s a huge difference in what we thought so yeah I’m glad that you were

Laura Pineau
Yes.

Laura Pineau
And especially, yeah especially when you take it daily, me, I could feel a huge, huge difference.

Alyssa
Same.

Laura Pineau
And now when I don’t have any electrolytes and I need to order new ones and I’m missing them for a week, I’m like, oh my God, how am I going to survive? I need them, you know? And I’ve always, also been someone who puts extra salt on her food and my mom has always joked with me, like, like, stop putting salt on your food.

Alyssa
name

Laura Pineau
It’s salty enough. And I’m like, no, it’s not, you know, like, I’ve always felt like my body needed more. And I thought, oh, maybe I’m just addicted to salt. You know, I don’t know. And then when I talk to, you know, the scratch labs and they explain to me, oh, no, it’s probably because you have a high concentration in salt in this one liter of sweat that you need more.

Laura Pineau
And so that’s why you’ve probably been putting more salt because your body was telling you to do that. which is so interesting. Like your body knows and sometimes you’re just doing things without really understanding why, but you’re like, I know it’s good for me, so I’m going to do that.

Laura Pineau
And I’ve always done it. And so now that I’m taking electrolytes, I’m like, oh, you know, it all comes together and makes sense on many levels.

Alyssa
Yeah, no, hundred percent. I mean, there’s kind of the old school way of when you come up to an aid station and ultra running, they’ll often have M & M & M&Ms or like fruit or, you know, kind of the sweet, and then they’ll have pretzels and chips and the salty.

Laura Pineau
yeah

Alyssa
And so we always like kind of the old school way before we started getting the testing. Whatever you just like to reach for it without thinking is probably what you need. Like, oh, you’re low on sugar. going to reach for the sweet.

Alyssa
If you’re low on salt, you’re going to reach for the salty. And so, yeah, your body does do, I mean, for all the testing and everything, your body does an incredible job of telling you what it needs.

Laura Pineau
and

Alyssa
um I salt everything as well.

Laura Pineau
It does.

Alyssa
Yeah. Like us, our family members who are not quite as, you know, endurance based are always like, Oh, there’s so much salt on this.

Laura Pineau
Nice.

Alyssa
like, I don’t even know it. This is great. Probably put a little more.

Laura Pineau
It’s so funny. No, that’s amazing. So yeah, you definitely do understand.

Alyssa
It’s so good though.

Laura Pineau
understand and And it’s same for big walls, you know, and, and okay, the new thing now that Kate and I discovered a bit more for the triple, because so when we did the triple, we were so focused on nutrition and hydration and how to get like the right nutrition and hydration, especially knowing that we’ll be doing a 24 hour day.

Laura Pineau
So how do we prepare all the stomachs and how do we prepare for the race? So we, we were, climbers but we train as like ultra runners or we climb as ultra runners especially for hydration and nutrition and so we also put high carbs into all of our big wall waters so we every time we’re drinking water bottle we had electrolytes in it and high carbs and me ah that was perfect you know digested well for k2 and then we also discovered me i discovered that i like the gummies more you know high carb gummies her she liked more the high carb bars where me bars i was like oh it’s

Alyssa
Okay, yeah.

Laura Pineau
you know After one, it’s so disgusting and I didn’t feel like eating much more. But with gummies, I could just pound two, three, four little bags and it was really easy. So it’s just like trying to test. like We did a lot of testing on like, okay, like how much high carb do we put in the water? How many scoops of electrolytes? And then how many…

Laura Pineau
bags of gummies are we taking? How many bars? Because we’re counting them down for each wall, we had a certain amount. And on the triple, we maybe added one or two bags just in case to have a bit extra because we wanted to keep eating and more to sustain for that day. But that was really big for us, for our strategy to, you know, do well during 24 hours.

Alyssa
Yeah, I’d love to. Yeah, let’s just dive into that. um First off, though, we’ve thrown around the term, the triple. um

Laura Pineau
Yes.

Alyssa
The triple, do you want do you want to and do you mind giving the like cliff notes or version of it?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, oh of course, definitely. I think the triple is a challenge that was first done by Dean Potter and Timmy O’Neill back in 2001. It was Dean Potter’s idea and he kind of kept it a secret because we interviewed Timmy, so Timmy gave us all the little details about the triple.

Laura Pineau
And since then, 10 other teams of men have done it. And so this challenge consists of climbing Mount Watkins, El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite Valley in California.

Laura Pineau
And this is just a big endurance pit, ah like, you know, big endurance challenge because it consists of 71 pitches and we climb about 2500 meters of elevation gain climbing, but also 2200 meters of elevation gain hiking.

Alyssa
Aww.

Laura Pineau
So it’s a lot of hiking in between each mountain. We supported it. So we also had a we were driven from Watkins to the base of El Capitan and then from ah Capitan to the base of the desk labs to then do Half Dome.

Laura Pineau
And what was crazy about that day is that you know we did it fully supported with like 15, 20 people helping us. So we’re full of ultra trail challenges. You know I had never done something like that. For me, it was very new on many, many levels, even managing 15 to 20 people and making sure everyone is at the right place, right moment.

Laura Pineau
text the backpack that you need to be taken at the right time, knowing that we’re not 100% sure at what time exactly we’re going to arrive. Are we going to be ahead of schedule or behind schedule? It was all for sure. So it was a big learning experience that I can say.

Alyssa
And who made it like 24 hours is the official time for it?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, that’s a great question.

Alyssa
Do you know?

Laura Pineau
I think it’s a Yosemite game that’s been here for a long time where people are like, oh, it’s great if you can do a challenge in a day. It means you’re car to car in a day, and then you go home and then it’s done.

Laura Pineau
So I think challenges in Yosemite historically have been done in a day or it’s always been a challenge for the climbers who have been there before us, like women and men.

Laura Pineau
And I also think that all the men who have done it before us, including Dean Potter and Timmy O’Neill, like I think we beat the record of of team and d and ah Dean and Timmy gets funny because they did in 2350 with something really close to 24 hours, but still did it in a day.

Alyssa
Oh, wow. Okay.

Laura Pineau
So they were really psyched, but that was really, really close. And so as the timer and for the others too, the timer starts when you start climbing on Watkins because it’s a four hour hike almost to get to Watkins.

Alyssa
Oh, wow.

Laura Pineau
So it’s really, so this is your warmup.

Alyssa
Okay.

Laura Pineau
You know, you already get like 700 meters of elevation. You already do 10 kilometers and you do, you know, three and a half, like four hours of hiking to the base of Watkins where we did it as slow as we could to not get tired. So we were going really slow.

Laura Pineau
And just so you know, on every hiking section, we had friends or family members that were carrying all of our gear.

Alyssa
okay

Laura Pineau
We were not carrying anything for the whole day, like T-shirts, shorts, maybe extra food and then nothing else, which felt amazing and was another reason why we were able to do it in under 24 hours.

Laura Pineau
And so the clock starts when you start climbing on Watkins. Then you climb it, you do an hour hiking, an hour driving, 20-minute walking to the base of the nose.

Laura Pineau
You climb the nose. We did seven hours, 25. You hike down. We ran down the nose to gain time because we were so we were on schedule, but it’s…

Alyssa
I was wondering if you ran. yeah

Laura Pineau
for us to do it in 24 hours, we were not this fast climbing that it would need to all go perfectly fine. Like it needed to be a perfect day with no issues, no problems or small ones. so You know, if we had a 20 minute issue somewhere, we’d have done above 24 hours. And I think our first goal was to do it in a push, but deep down,

Laura Pineau
inside us, we’re like, no, we need to do sub 24, like all the other guys beat like before us, we’re like, this is the challenge, those guys did it this way, we need to do it this way too, like there’s no other way. Even though, you know, like story could have been different, but we knew that we needed to have such a perfect organization, we needed to have plan E, A, B, C,

Laura Pineau
and be ready for things going wrong, to just, you know, adapt to it and react fast to it and not lose time, which turned out to be real. When we topped out the nose, I felt like we were going way slower, but we’re still on time with the schedule. And so our friend, Nicky Min, ran down with our gear with us, and he set a really fast pace. And I think me and Kate were both maybe, yeah is it going…

Laura Pineau
you know, is it going to ruin the next few hours? Because we still had eight hours to go. You know, it’s not over eight or nine hours to go. So the day is not over. But we ran down super fast. Everyone in the cars was like, oh, you guys over here already? Like, what’s happening? like it’s been 40 minutes since you topped out. And so then we rushed into the car, drove 20 minutes.

Laura Pineau
And then another time where we cut down time was the desk lap to get at the base of Half Dome. You still have a thousand meters of elevation gain, which is not nothing.

Laura Pineau
And we were kind of expecting to do it in two hours, but we did it in an hour and 40 minutes and we were raging.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Like both me and her felt really good hiking and the boys behind with all of our packs and gear were like, They’re going to kill us.

Alyssa
Dying.

Laura Pineau
Like we’re, we’re, we’re, they were dying and we were killing them. But I told Kate, we need to like, let’s, let’s keep going as fast as we can. Cause like we gaining time for the climbing in case we’re going slow on the climbing, we have this extra 20 minutes.

Laura Pineau
And so we arrived, I think at 9 20 AM, nine hours, like, yeah, 9 20 AM. And I was like, Kate in 20 minutes, we started climbing 9 40, which we did. Which we did and it left us six hours and 20 minutes to do half dome. And the last time we did it, we did it in six hours and five minutes.

Laura Pineau
So we’re like, okay, like it could go well if we can go as fast as we did. And and that’s when, you know, I led the first nine pitches, Simon climbing with her She followed, I could tell she was getting tired I was trying to like pull her up to go faster because I was going much faster but then I was getting stopped by the rope because when you simul climb if the second doesn’t go as fast as the leader you cannot go much faster you need to always kind of go at the same pace so sometimes she was just going a bit slower where I was just pulling meter by meter waiting on a good stance and then once I had 15-20 meters of rope then I would just

Laura Pineau
like running up and doing easy climbing to be a bit safer.

Alyssa
Sarah Klein.

Laura Pineau
And then we switch. And when we switched, that’s the moment where I was like, Oh, I’m really tired. I feel like the night of sleep that we missed is just hitting me. It didn’t hit me before, but at maybe 12 that day, it really hit me hard.

Laura Pineau
And that’s when Kate took over. She did really well, moved really efficiently. And me, I was falling asleep and I was like, Oh man, like I’m falling asleep. Like slapping myself trying to stay awake, that was definitely the down moment for me was this moment and then we both arrived at the base of the chimneys where we simul climbed them and we had I think we had three hours left to get to the top. And I was like, and this is a moment where definitely positive psychology works. And I did this to Kate twice. I did this to her on top of the nose where she was going a bit sore. I could feel it, but I was like, Hey Kate, like I was looking at my watch. I’m like, you’re doing so well. Like you’ve never been like this fast, like keep going. Like, let’s go. We’re doing this. Like you’re doing so well. I knew she was getting slower, but I wasn’t going to say it.

Laura Pineau
So I just encouraged her.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
And I know it gave her a little like, energy boost and then you know did the same again in the chimneys I was like okay girl three hours left i’m like you do this in an hour and a half and then i take us to the top in an hour and a half so i was like oh everything you get i’m like you have four pitches left to climb i’m like everything you have and then she raged She was amazing. She raised the chimneys.

Laura Pineau
She was going so fast that Mia was simulating behind her. This time she was pulling me up because she was on easy sections and Mia was in the chimneys like struggling to go up. Like my calves were my calves, we were getting so tired and on chimneys because it’s so physical.

Laura Pineau
And so we kind of made it. I could tell like, oh, wow, we’re going much, much faster than we’ve ever been on those sections. We go super fast, super fast. And then we meet on this big ledge called Big Sandy.

Laura Pineau
And that’s when I have about maybe how many pitches? I think it’s seven, eight pitches to the top, something close to that, six to eight. And I had two hours left. She did the chimneys in one hour, which was incredible.

Laura Pineau
And

Alyssa
Oh wow, yeah.

Laura Pineau
And that’s that’s that’s the moment where both of us looked at each other and we’re like, oh, we’re doing sub 24. We’re like, we’re doing it. If everything goes right, we’re doing it. This is the only time we were sure. Oh, we had a shot at doing the 24 hour mark and that we knew there was a shot. And so, I went full on hyper focus mode. I went beast mode. I cannot see anything else on the side of me. And I was just like…

Laura Pineau
Aiding the zigzag. I aided fastest I’ve ever aided. and I told Kate, okay, every 20 minutes, tell me the time just so I know like, okay, am I fast enough or too slow? Or do I need to, you know, get faster so or not? And then I did the zigzags, like those next two, three pitches in 40 minutes.

Laura Pineau
And then thank God ledge and then went up and then we met on that final break. Pitch almost. I mean, I was a bit higher and then she arrived towards me and we had maybe 30 minutes left for one pitch, you know, and she was like, oh, we’re doing it.

Laura Pineau
We’re doing it. I was like, okay, Kate, don’t get too excited.

Alyssa
Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Like one more pitch. I was like, let me finish it. Like one more. You know, it was like, it’s not over till it’s over. Like, Don’t get too excited. And then she was like, OK, just belay me, like smiling and laughing. And then, you know, I can’t make this final pitch. I like to run. I fixed her. And I’m like, OK, Caitlin’s fixed.

Laura Pineau
Let’s go. And then Kate goes as fast as she can. And then we both touched the anchor, which was a crazy feeling. It was definitely crazy. And what I didn’t say, too, is that we did face two storms on that day.

Laura Pineau
which was wild.

Alyssa
Oh, wow.

Laura Pineau
So we got rained on on Watkins at 6 p.m. the day before because um the forecast the day before announced two beautiful days, a beautiful weekend, sunny, pretty hot, but pretty sunny, maybe like 80 Fahrenheit, something close to that.

Laura Pineau
And ah we as I was climbing on Watkins, suddenly I hear thunder, and I see lightning, um and I see dark clouds. And I’m like, oh boy, we’re in the middle of it. Now it’s pretty committed. We kind of need to keep moving.

Laura Pineau
And so I keep climbing. And suddenly, Kate gets to me because it’s her turn to climb. And she freaks out a little bit because it starts to drop on us, like a little bit of rain. And she has a really scary pitch to do off the belay.

Laura Pineau
where it’s face climbing. So if the holds are wet, it could be very dangerous and sketchy.

Alyssa
Oh, yeah.

Laura Pineau
And so thanks to the rain, we did our best transition ever. I’ve never seen Kate transition this fast. She barely arrived at the belay, grabbed gear and then started climbing. And I was like, oh, wow, that’s like a Formula One, like Pete stop, you know, like so fast. Like I barely saw her that she was climbing already.

Laura Pineau
And then she passed the scary move and then the rain stopped. But this is definitely a moment where I was like, okay, like, Mother Nature, please, no rain. Like, not today.

Alyssa
yeah

Laura Pineau
Any day, but not today. Like, this is our day. Please, like, go away. Leave us alone. And, you know, it did. Like, the cloud left, and then the blue sky came back. And I told Kate, Kate, like, blue sky is back. We’re totally safe. You’re totally chilling.

Laura Pineau
Let’s keep raging. And she went way faster than she’s ever done on Watkins. I could tell, like, we’re moving way faster. And we did, like, four hours, 15 minutes when our previous record was 4.47. So we had cut down for like, yeah, 32 minutes.

Laura Pineau
So we were really psyched to start the day with you know already some margins and some extra time for what was coming.

Alyssa
Oh, yeah.

Laura Pineau
And then second time, half dome, I’m climbing, I’m taking over at Big Sandy, and then some raindrops come down on me as well. And this is a moment where we could see the clouds a bit in the back getting darker when in the morning at 9am it was beautiful and sunny.

Laura Pineau
And another reason why we thought something was wrong is usually we were, for the movie, we were supposed to have two v videographers hanging down on static ropes. And usually when we arrive on Big Sandy, they should be here already for a while and they weren’t there.

Laura Pineau
And we couldn’t hear any support crew.

Alyssa
know.

Laura Pineau
We couldn’t hear anyone when we should have had like 15, 20 people up there. And we’re like, oh, you know what? Maybe something’s wrong. I thought maybe a ranger did not let them go through the cables because of the rain.

Laura Pineau
or that’s And um I was telling myself, yeah, it must be really bad on the other side. But at some point I was like, okay, rain or no rain, storm, no storm. I’m finishing half dome and we need to top out. It’s not like you can, you cannot just wrap down from the top.

Alyssa
you know

Laura Pineau
So that’s all you can do. So it may have crossed my mind. I was like, the guys are not here. We’re in trouble, like something must be wrong in the back. We don’t ski it. Great. Let’s keep moving. You know, I was just like, nothing’s going to matter. just keep on climbing.

Laura Pineau
And as soon as we arrived on top, I took Kate in my arms. She cried. I was so emotional too. It was amazing. And then… our friend Jack was here. Let us celebrate for maybe 30 seconds because there were only like three, four people and our two videographers were there.

Laura Pineau
And then they were like, okay, girls, the electricity is out of control. like thunder could fall on us at any moment. We got to get down. And so they were like, drop all your metal gear, drop the rope. So we left it stashed under a rock because it was so scary to have it on us. So we dropped everything.

Laura Pineau
And then we kind of, I mean, we were down on the metal cables, which is not great, but that’s all we could do with gloves. So we went down the cable.

Alyssa
ah Yeah. and

Laura Pineau
And then our whole family members and friends were waiting down at the cables and then we hugged everyone. And it was a really special moment and a really beautiful moment. And definitely I’ll cherish that for the rest of my life because after 24 hours, seeing that everyone, you know, got to the top of Half Dome and made it up there just for us was really amazing.

Alyssa
Oh yeah. No, those moments are just irreplaceable. And how, what I always, cause it’s funny. There’s a number of trails and like the PCT and the Appalachian trail, like they all require a walk out.

Alyssa
And I’m always like, how is the walk out when you’re just exhausted? Like, how is it getting down half dome? Okay.

Laura Pineau
It’s not great. It’s not great. I mean, me, I had never done it because usually we were going down the desk slabs, so the face of the half dome, because it’s faster and we would get some gear back and that’s how we would do it on training days.

Laura Pineau
So I had never done the long trail on the safe tourist path.

Alyssa
It’s long.

Laura Pineau
It’s really long, but I think it’s better I didn’t know how long it would be. But I just think we were both falling asleep. I was like, every time I would stop, like my eyes would close. But that’s what’s great about having that whole support crew with us is that you just had to like, you know, follow people and follow them and follow the pace, you know. yeah But I think if it was just me and Kate topping out Half Dome and walking down, I would have probably crashed on the ground and slept there for 10 hours, no doubt. I don’t think I would have made it down if it was just me and Kate.

Laura Pineau
But, you know, we had such an amazing crew and sometimes we’re taking breaks every 30 minutes or an hour to wait for everyone to come together and then and then we’d go down. But let me tell you, after that day, I had the best night of my whole life. I think I slept 14 hours.

Laura Pineau
It was just amazing. Like that never happens to me. And it was great.

Alyssa
That’s awesome because sometimes the adrenaline is still going so much and you like to wake up being like, I’m on the wall or like, oh, I’m on the race course. So I’m glad that that didn’t happen to you.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. How is it for you?

Alyssa
ah

Laura Pineau
Can you sleep well after a race or is it rough?

Alyssa
It’s rough. It’s at least… one to two day nights of not sleeping very well um your body just hurts and yeah your ah your cortisol levels are just really high so it’s just hard to like shut your brain off your brain’s like but me so go ah sure you you sure are you sure even though you’re so tired yeah so it takes it takes a bit but um yeah we’re

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
I think it’s interesting because my body in a way was not hurting this much. And I think it’s just like, yeah, but um I was never in the pain cave.

Alyssa
that’s what i was wondering yeah

Laura Pineau
Like I said, you know, I was um on half dome, I was falling asleep, but I was not in pain. You know, my hands were not feeling a bit of pain in my feet, but never to a point where I was like, okay, I have to really push it.

Laura Pineau
Whereas Kate, I think was in much more pain and really had to be like, okay, pain doesn’t matter. I put it on the side, it doesn’t matter. Let’s keep going. Because we also had different pitches of climbing and climbing in different ways.

Laura Pineau
Sometimes she was pulling, she was pulling like French firing on more gear than I was.

Alyssa
It’s so true, yeah..

Laura Pineau
I was mostly free climbing and sometimes aiding just a little bit where she was pulling more gear. And so when you have your hands closed like this, it can just… it hurts you a bit more, especially over 24 hours, and depending on how many pitches you do that on.

Alyssa
um um

Laura Pineau
But no, the next day I was not hurt this much. like yeah I was a little tired and a little sore, but not this much. I thought it would be way, way worse, which was really interesting and unexpected in a way. I thought it would be worse, and that’s why maybe I slept well, you know, because I saw all that tension from being hyper-focused and in such a no-fall zone mindset,

Laura Pineau
a hyper focus mode where every move needs to be controlled i think my body was just like ah we can finally like let go the pressure and what was funny it’s like me the past like months and a half i didn’t get any periods you know like from i think over training like we’re in such an excessive training that i was like oh i’m not getting my periods anymore and then the day after the triple guess what i’m getting my periods

Alyssa
Oh wow, okay.

Laura Pineau
Which is crazy that the body knows that like, okay, it’s over.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
We can just relax. No need to train. No need to be in this surviving mindset. And so for me, I thought it was just extremely interesting how the body works and how it knows, okay, training mode, you need to be a warrior.

Laura Pineau
You need to be like all the energy you have is for that training and that 24 hour day. And then once you’re done, it’s like, okay, now I can relax. I don’t need to be in this crazy warrior mindset or body mode. I don’t even know what to call it.

Laura Pineau
Which is very interesting, you know?

Alyssa
Yeah, no, it is super interesting. um I mean, I’m glad that it came back so quickly because sometimes it does take the body a little bit to be like, okay, we’re safe.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Alyssa
Like, maybe we could have a kid tomorrow if we felt like it. ah

Laura Pineau
yeah

Alyssa
But I’m curious about what some of that training looked like going into it because it seemed like it was very intense.

Laura Pineau
ah

Alyssa
And was Kate like to go back to kind of the question I had about your own training, like, were you collaborating on the training? Was Kate kind of leading it?

Alyssa
ah Yeah. How did that look in the months going up to the ah climb?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, I think both of us had different strategies regarding our sport climbing levels and where we were at. So, yeah, I had a coach back in France who helped me, JB from Toulon.

Laura Pineau
He was really helpful for me because he helped me understand that what I needed to do is that I had a strength level that was way higher than above what I needed for the triple.

Laura Pineau
But what we made sure is that I would do doubles on 512s, like again and again. So I would do gym sessions on ropes that would last for three, four hours where I would just do like 20, 30 pitches of like 511, 512s just to build an endurance that I could just like go again and again and again. And so what, when I would be on the triple climbing only 510, 511, it’s so much under that I can even do way more because probably both of us,

Laura Pineau
Both of us probably climbed 50 pitches on that day, which is crazy on the triple day. So I think having a crazy amount of endurance was really key for this project.

Laura Pineau
And what we did is that she came to France for two weeks where we trained together outdoors because we also wanted to get to know each other as climbing partners and also just understand each other.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
Like, how do you react when you’re scared? How do you react when you’re tired? How do you react just in life in general? You know, like, like Mike and Tanner had climbed for the past four or five years and our main climbing partners. And most people who did the triple had done big things together or were best friends or had done a lot of climbing. And me and Kate didn’t know each other before last November and had only climbed three four days in Yosemite. So we just wanted to build that friendship and that climbing partnership to be able to do such a huge day and such a scary challenge as well.

Laura Pineau
And so we, yeah, she came to France, we trained, then she went back to the US and I met her in Boulder for five weeks where we climbed a lot at the gym together. We trained, we did a lot of elevation hiking.

Laura Pineau
So I train hiking a lot for that challenge as well.

Alyssa
I was wondering about that. Okay.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, so I was training a lot for uphill hiking.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
So I’ve never hiked or never done that, but I really enjoyed it and it was really amazing. So outside of all this endurance climbing training I was doing, I was not bouldering anymore, just sport climbing indoors, doing double pitches, sometimes outdoors as well.

Laura Pineau
And then I went hiking twice a week. You know, for two, three hours every time just to build endurance with the legs as well. And Kate was doing something very similar. and then we also practice on the naked edge speed record. So Kate had the naked speed record in Boulder and she had talked to me the whole winter. Oh, we got to go climb the naked edge. It’s the best route there.

Laura Pineau
I need to show you it and you’re going to love it. And so me, i always had my mind, okay, Boulder equals naked edge. I got to go climb it. And the first time I climbed it was with another friend, Matt, not with Kate, and he sent it to me. Like, he didn’t place any protections.

Laura Pineau
It was so scary. He linked pitches. Like, I was so scared of it. And I was like, oh, my God. And then I was telling myself, Kate and Becca did this in 37 minutes. I was like, this is what I was like, this is crazy. This is not for me. I was like, no way. And then Kate and I went back together. and I feel like women are such better mentors than men are because they don’t send you back. You know, Kate was like, okay, I’m going to place a bit more gear for you. And I’m going to explain to you how to move, like how to do the moves, you know. So she was way more patient with me.

Laura Pineau
And such a great mentor. And that’s why I was really lucky. And that’s why I learned so much about speed climbing because she was so good at explaining it and also giving me time and space to learn it my own way, and make my own mistakes.

Laura Pineau
Because sometimes just doing the mistakes is what helps you you know, figure it out and then not do it a second time. Whereas if you never do it, when you’re going to do it, going like, oh, like, what am I doing? I’m not sure.

Laura Pineau
Whereas if you do it, you’re like, okay, now I know, do not redo this because of that, that reason. And so sometimes I, I’m someone who needs to make mistakes to really understand why you shouldn’t do that. And so we did it together and I was like, oh, okay, it’s not too bad. It took us four hours the first time. Then we went back, it took us three, then it took us two, then one.

Laura Pineau
And then Kate was like, okay, like we’re really getting faster. Like we could do it. And then, and then we, we, that one day we’re like, okay, let’s try to beat the record. And so our strategy for that naked edge was to always do a warmup lap where we would go for the first time on the route.

Laura Pineau
Just really slow. It would take us an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and 30 minutes just to go slow, figure out the moves, like warming up. And then we would not run down. We would just like to hike down the East ledges really slowly.

Laura Pineau
And then we would take a 30 minute break and then we would really rage. And then this is a moment where you run in your climbing shoes for 200 meters up. You free solo a little bit.

Alyssa
That

Laura Pineau
I know it’s crazy. NTC pros fall on.

Alyssa
hurts!

Laura Pineau
It’s not too bad.

Alyssa
oh

Laura Pineau
I mean, our shoes were okay and comfortable. It’s not like, you know, sport climbing shoes where your feet are really like, it’s not that bad.

Alyssa
Yeah, okay. Yeah, DC pros are better.

Laura Pineau
Like it, it’s doable. Yeah. it’s And it’s not for too long. It’s really a hundred meters up. So it’s not that bad. And then you free solo that section. You try to always be really cautious because that’s definitely dangerous. And then Kate took over and then she would do the whole naked edge in one pitch. I would follow her simul climbing, which for us, for the training of the triple was perfect because that’s what we’re doing on Half Dome.

Laura Pineau
So the naked edge was a perfect warm up for us to then go to Yosemite. And it’s just to get extra cardio, extra fitness, I think was just perfect. And so she gets to the top, calls the rope, I get to the top, put my shoes on, and then we both sprint down. and on that day when we tried the record, we missed the record by 10 seconds.

Laura Pineau
And I was second running down.

Alyssa
okay

Laura Pineau
I was second running down and I could hear everyone was like, go, go, go. I could hear in a way that like, it’s gonna be really close and either we’re gonna beat it by seconds or not, but I could just tell, and I could barely see anything on the path, you know, like my, I had such a tunnel vision where I could barely see where my feet were going and I was in such big hurry and stress.

Laura Pineau
It was crazy. And then we missed it by 10 seconds. You know, I fell on the bridge and then we touched the thing, fell on the bridge. And that’s when, you know, I look at Kate and she’s not smiling. and I’m like, oh, I’m sure we missed it.

Laura Pineau
You know, although otherwise she would be smiling. And she said, yeah, 10 seconds too late. And I’m like, no. so And you know so many things had gone wrong because we were filming that day and Kate almost lost her microphone. So we did lose 10 seconds with that. And me on top, I had one of my laces.

Laura Pineau
I had a speed laces, but it broke down. So I had to fix it. So you it’s like 37 minutes, which is nothing. So you kind of redo all those tiny little mistakes that you’ve made. And you’re like, those 10 seconds were everywhere. And we could have been so much faster if everything went perfectly.

Laura Pineau
And so we went home and we thought like we wanted to go to another crack in the afternoon. But then I mentioned it to Kate, I’m like, oh, what if we mentioned it together? I’m not sure exactly anymore. And we said, what if we go back?

Laura Pineau
You know, like it’s 10 a.m. It was 10 a.m. when we went home at 11. I’m like, what if we go back? You know, let’s maybe try again at 5 p.m. Conditions could be good. And so we rested, ate lunch, took one or two hours, and then went back to the naked edge. And then we’re like, okay, like one more shot. Because we had seen that the forecast was bad in the next three days.

Laura Pineau
And we needed to go to Yosemite afterwards. So this was maybe your last shot. So I was like, okay, well, you know, all we got into this last try. And so we started, I felt way more tired than in the morning, I could tell.

Laura Pineau
But then when I’m looking at my watch and I try to… I look at my watch and we get to the base and Kate starts climbing. We’re 30 seconds ahead of schedule and faster than in the morning. And I’m like, OK, not too bad. Maybe there’s a chance.

Laura Pineau
And so we rage, we rage. And then I had made the decision to not bring approach shoes and to run down in my TC pros. I had tried running down in them and I knew it would work.

Laura Pineau
So I was just like, you know what? I’m not bringing shoes. I’m just going to keep my shoes on. And as soon as I get to the top and time my knot I know that I start running. And this was funny because I did not have to like doing anything with my shoes.

Alyssa
I think that’s a good thing.

Laura Pineau
I started running down first because Kate was still like coiling the rope around her when usually she’s the first down, and she’s the first one running down.

Alyssa
I think that’s a good thing.

Laura Pineau
And so this time I was first. And she had to chase me because whoever was first, the other one is trying to chase her to like go faster because you’re trying to chase each other. And I was going so fast that she was way behind.

Laura Pineau
And when you first, it’s like less stress because you know the timer doesn’t rely on you. It relies on whoever’s behind you. So it’s much more chill. So me, when I was running down the stairs, I was looking up at her.

Laura Pineau
I’m like, oh, she’s pretty far. I can slow down a little bit and jog a little. You know, I don’t need to be like… full on 200% sprint. And so I get to the bridge and then we’re like, let’s go, let’s go, let’s And then stop the timer and we’re just 30 seconds faster, which was really amazing.

Laura Pineau
Like just, yeah, it was just like a really cool bonding moment for me and her and the moment where we’re like, okay, like we can really speed climb together and we trust each other.

Alyssa
Ah, nice.

Laura Pineau
and that really brought us even closer and gave us just a little bit of confidence to then go into the Yosemite training.

Alyssa
I love that.

Laura Pineau
And so to maybe answer your training question, that was a little bit like we derailed a bit to naked edge, but ah the way were

Alyssa
No, no. I love that.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, the way we train in Yosemite, we knew we would not touch you know plastic hold or anything, but we just decided to train on each mountain um you know one by one. So for instance, we would climb the nose first time, maybe it took us 13 hours.

Laura Pineau
Then we did two or three rest days. Usually after the first time, 13 hours, we did three rest days. Then we did it again in like nine hours. Then we did two rest days. Then we did it again in maybe like seven hours, 49. And then we’re like, okay, it’s good enough time for now. Let’s move on to Watkins.

Laura Pineau
And I think Watkins is the one that surprised me how long it took us to go a bit faster because it took us four tries because the second time we tried it, it was super cold up there. So sometimes, definitely sometimes, you know, the elements are against you or you’re trying to adapt or just depending on what’s happening.

Laura Pineau
But every time that’s what we’re doing, one big wall, two, three rest days, one big wall. And we arrived maybe April 12th and we had a bit of rain in April, so we couldn’t just climb every day.

Laura Pineau
and we didn’t want to be stuck up there in the mountains when it was raining. So when it was raining, we maybe like sport climbing at a crack or climbing somewhere else or resting three or four days sometimes when we needed to.

Laura Pineau
And then May is like three weeks nonstop, we’re just climbing big walls for sure. And the weather was just perfect. And so we trained first on the nose, then we did Watkins, then we moved on to Half Dome. And Half Dome, it took us only two tries to get it from nine hours to six hours, which was great because six hours was the goal. And I told Kate, okay, if we can do it in two tries, it’s way better because…

Laura Pineau
As the season went by, like your body is just getting way more hammered and tired. And I could feel like our energy level was going down and we were digging deeper and deeper in ourselves to keep training this way.

Laura Pineau
And this is when I told Kate, okay, Kate, like me, I’m starting to feel way more tired. I can tell I’m not recovering as well and as fast as we were in the earlier weeks. I’m like, we need to do it one more time on each wall.

Laura Pineau
And then hopefully we hit our PR and we hit the time goals that we had for ourselves. And then we should take a rest week and then just go for it. And when we did this final attempt on each mountain, we did, you know, six hours of five on half dome. We’re super psyched. We did 447 and we wanted sub five on Watkins. And then we did seven hours of five on the nose when we wanted to do seven hours.

Laura Pineau
So everything really aligned perfectly. ah We were so excited about this and we just decided to, to take a rest week and then just go for it.

Alyssa
I love that. So what do you have? What have you found? I mean, you kind of mentioned one thing already with um working with a female partner, but how is it a different dynamic of, I mean, both of you have climbed a lot with men and then Kate was you know really hoping to have a female partnership.

Alyssa
How has that been different for both of you?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, I think it’s really interesting because for a movie, we interviewed Libby Sauter, who has the no speed record in four hours, I think four hours. 43 or 47, something like this for a minute.

Laura Pineau
And she said something very interesting that i thought was true for me is sometimes when I climb with stronger male partners, I feel like, okay, if at any moment I’m scared, they can just like take it on and I can rely on them and they can take over, you know, and if I can’t finish, they can just finish it where most of the time I would do my part, but you always have this feeling of like,

Alyssa
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
okay, if you want to give up or if you’re too scared, they can just take over. Whereas someone, like sometimes with a woman partner, you’re like, no, like you got to do your own part. And I think me and Kate were such a strong duo and we had really different skill sets that when combined, we were a perfect team, but we were really fifty fifty you know, like,

Laura Pineau
I could not have done that without her, or I would have never done it in one season. you know Speed climbing takes years to understand how it works, all the logistics. And Kate has had years of experience in Yosemite climbing those big walls really fast, which you know kept me up to speed and taught me everything she knew in a few weeks. And because I have the skill of memorizing really well and understanding really fast, then I was able to just apply it really fast and combine this with my free climbing skills. It worked out really well.

Laura Pineau
And then if she had someone else who would just be climbing, but not climbing really hard, I don’t think they could have done it in 24 hours because free climbing helps you go faster. So I think, you know, combining both of our skillsets, she had so much more climbing experience, French ring where I didn’t have any. So, you know, stepping on a boat took me a second when she was like, Laura, step on the boat. I’m like, what on the boat?

Laura Pineau
And then, you know, and then now I have to remind myself now that I’m back to free climbing. No, Laura, you can’t.

Alyssa
Don’t step on the bolt.

Laura Pineau
You can’t step on the boat. You can’t grab the draw. You know, it takes a second to switch your mindset again when for two months you’ve just been grabbing whatever you can. It’s mostly free climbing, but there’s a few times where you grab quick draws or you put your foot on it.

Alyssa
Oh yeah.

Laura Pineau
So, you know, she knew all the small strategies. She knew we needed the lightest gear for our rack, for our beaners. Ah, which beginners to choose for which moments because sometimes you need a bigger one or a smaller one, you know, like so many little details that just change everything. She knew that, okay, we need little water, little food, like we need to be as light as we can. Otherwise, it could be really complex.

Laura Pineau
And so, you know, all that combined made us a really good team and we’re just like 50-50. And even me, I think I told her before we went for the trip, I was like, hey, maybe we need to make a plan, you know, what if…

Laura Pineau
what if me or you get super tired on Half Dome and the other one needs to take over? And so we had talked about this, but we didn’t make a plan at all. Like we didn’t explain each other’s pitches.

Alyssa
Interesting.

Laura Pineau
Like we didn’t even explain that. So we mentioned it, but then when I arrived after the first nine pitches on Half Dome, I realized I was exhausted. And if Kate had told me at this moment, hey, Laura, I’m too tired. You need to take over.

Laura Pineau
and would have probably done it. But like I was not doing well, you know, like I was extremely tired. So if I had to also carry the whole team, I’m like, I’m not sure we would have definitely not done 24 hours. We would have maybe done more.

Laura Pineau
And I wasn’ t I wasn’t sure at that moment I was capable of doing that. But I think each shot, like both of us had a really strong mental and we’re OK to like, you know, step out in some moments where we saw that we needed help from each other and that’s moments where encouraged her to go faster and I was like you’re doing so well like let’s keep going and she did the same with me at the top you know and thank god let’s she was like Laura like you’re raging like keep going like it’s amazing what you’re doing you know so like supporting each other was really helpful and I don’t think any of us could have maybe well I mean I think no I think we could have stepped up for each other and maybe take over each other but

Alyssa
I don’t know if I can see the picture with the camera.

Laura Pineau
It would have been much slower and me, I was not doing well. So I was just happy we were at 50, 50 and she was able to handle her part and I was able to handle mine.

Alyssa
I mean, that’s kind of what I was actually expecting in a way that’s like if it’s a much more equal partnership versus unfortunately, so often I do think there.

Laura Pineau
yeah

Alyssa
I mean, yeah, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves, not pet peeves, but like it makes me a bit sad when you see a guy, a guided group or you see a partnership. And so often I think the woman takes kind of the secondary role or kind of like the backseat and she’s

Laura Pineau
Mm.

Alyssa
I want to keep encouraging us not to do it. That’s why I’m so excited both of you did it. And it’s like what I kind of hope to do with my own climbing mountaineering, like soloing routes.

Alyssa
um I like snow more.

Laura Pineau
Mm.

Alyssa
But yeah, that’s like we don’t need to be secondary. We don’t need to have that in the back of the like no equal partnership. So I love that you two had that together. And we’re just like, yeah, this is the role that I do. And I’m going to follow through on it.

Alyssa
um completely.

Laura Pineau
Definitely. No, I think that was a really precious partnership. And maybe the most times I’ve climbed with someone, you know, and the hardest thing I’ve ever done with another woman too. And it was just amazing to have this partnership. And now I’m like, oh, I’m really seeking to have other experiences like this with other women, you know, other projects, whatever this might be in the future. But I’m like, it’s a really special partnership and you really create a special bond. And I know that me and Kate will be climbing on other challenges together, maybe doing, who knows, a bit more speed climbing or we’ll be doing other three climbing objectives together. So it’s definitely a bone for life that you create with those kinds of moments.

Alyssa
That’s awesome. Uh, well I have two last questions. If you have time for those, this has been awesome.

Laura Pineau
I do.

Alyssa
Okay, perfect.

Laura Pineau
Please tell me.

Alyssa
So one of the kind of, I mean, you’ve said this, Tanner also said this on the podcast that speed climbing is a, is one of the riskier, I think pieces of climbing or kind of like disciplines of climbing.

Alyssa
um Did you and Kate have a conversation about risk tolerance and managing risk going into the triple and also just in your training?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, definitely. I think we had multiple conversations on how we wanted the triple to go. And I think we wanted to keep the safety margins as big as we could. And we wanted to make sure that we’re both comfortable in the risk we’re taking. And sometimes, you know, I told her, hey you know, I would feel better taking an extra piece of gear for this route or two extra pieces of gear for this route because it’s going to help me free climb more.

Laura Pineau
I’m going to be less scared and I’m taking less risk. And I think Kate was really, you know, understanding of that and was really okay with that. And there’s a few moments on certain routes where she was like, hey, on your first or two first try or two tries, you might need more gear, which is okay, but you’ll see that after we’ll cut it down, which is what happens with speed climbing. You get more comfortable and you need a bit of a ledge, which is like a bit less, which is solely okay. But we were definitely on the same page as safety and we didn’t want to be reckless for no reason. And we were never reckless. And if one of us needed something to be certain ways to feel safer, then we were trying to listen to each other and be like, okay, this is how you need this to be. Let’s do it this way. And I’m happy to help you feel more comfortable.

Laura Pineau
And for instance, me, I know that sometimes climbing on a huge PDL, you know, when you have like 30 feet, 40 feet under you is really scary. So me, what I was trying to do to help Kate at the top block of the nose, for instance, was to jog really fast on the drum mars, because this would mean I would arrive faster on the anchor and I would put her on volley faster and she would be safer.

Laura Pineau
So like there’s just like doing a few things that we were always trying to make sure we’re keeping each other really safe. And we definitely have the same understanding of what our safety margins were and that if we needed to change something for one of us to feel more comfortable, then we would just do it.

Alyssa
Ah, that’s excellent. I mean, gosh, what an amazing gift to find someone who has, because I mean, people have really different risk tolerances. I’m sure you’ve come across it a bunch.

Alyssa
Just, I mean, my level of climbing, which is, Very low compared to you all. It’s it or just I mean, backcountry skiing, you know, all of it that people really do have a huge range.

Laura Pineau
yeah

Alyssa
So that’s incredible that you two are able to seem like you can very easily integrate with that, that decision making.

Laura Pineau
Yeah, I think so. And I think that’s why, you know, it took a few years for Kate to find a partner to do that because it’s, you know, there’s a tradition in a way in Yosemite is like first you do nose in a day, you know, that’s like the first step for speed climbing. And then you do the double, which is climbing El Capitan and half dome in a day.

Laura Pineau
And then the final exam of all that is to do the triple. I never did the double. So this season, it’s so hard for us to not do the doubles because this could really take away from our energy.

Laura Pineau
And most people do an IAD in a season, train for it. And then another season, they did the double. Like I saw, you know, Tanner and Mike do it. And then another season, they do the triple. And those guys did even the quad because the triple was too easy and too fast. So then you take it to a never…

Laura Pineau
you know, another level, which is even more crazy. Like everyone is like, are you doing the quad? I’m like, ah I don’t think so. I’m like, I think we had 23, 36. I’m like, I think I’m good with this one. But, you know, it’s definitely that’s how it goes.

Laura Pineau
And so, and so for me, I didn’t even do the double. So that’s why it was so special to have Kate as my partner who had all this double and Nyad experiences. Like, I think she had done 16 Nyads, you know, 16 nosing a day 18.

Alyssa
Wow. Yeah.

Laura Pineau
so eighteen. So it’s like a crazy experience. And me, when I came into this season, I had done one. You know, so it’s just a baby speed climber with no experience. I think when you combine all her experience and all my free climbing experience, it just made us a great team. And it’s really special to find someone, like you said, who has the same risk tolerance.

Laura Pineau
because ah some women in Yosemite could have speed climb with Kate and she was speed climbing with them, but they were not willing to take that much risk and they were not okay with this.

Alyssa
yeah

Laura Pineau
So, which means they would go way slower. And Kate was not okay going much above 24 hours for the triple because once you hit 30 hours and you’ve been awake for already many hours, then it becomes really dangerous.

Alyssa
Totally.

Laura Pineau
And then suddenly you go into another night, you know, and Kate knew the risk and she was like, I need someone who goes fast just so as another safety measure, because if you’re too slow, you spend way more time on the wall that’s when the risks become like expand even more and it’s way more risky.

Alyssa
totally

Laura Pineau
ah So I think that was another reason why she wanted someone who could go as fast as her and who could take the same amount of risk as well.

Alyssa
Yeah, you know, I mean, speed is safety in so many aspects.

Laura Pineau
Yes.

Alyssa
And I can tell you as someone who has been awake many times over 30 hours, it gets weird.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Alyssa
There’s weird stuff that happens after like 30, 36 hours.

Laura Pineau
Wow. a

Alyssa
Yeah, that second night is, let me tell you, the second night is weird.

Laura Pineau
Wow. Oh, brutal.

Alyssa
The third night is just like, what planet am I on? Yeah, it’s pretty wild.

Laura Pineau
Really? So what’s happening to you?

Alyssa
Oh yeah.

Laura Pineau
Do you like hallucinating? Because like me, I didn’t have any of that on the triple.

Alyssa
Oh yeah.

Laura Pineau
So I’m wondering what’s happening to you on that third night.

Alyssa
Oh yeah. It’s, I mean, I was hallucinating whole towns like people camping.

Laura Pineau
No way.

Alyssa
Oh yeah. And then I, one time, this is during, well, yeah, Moab was the main one. I was running and then all of a sudden I woke up and realized that I had fallen asleep while running, which is really dangerous with climbing. So that’s why

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Alyssa
Yeah, the kind of differentiation of what you’re doing and the technical skill and safety versus me that’s like I can fall asleep on my feet on a dirt road and like I’m okay.

Laura Pineau
Wow.

Alyssa
um But yeah, it’s weird.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. well

Alyssa
It’s really weird. um

Laura Pineau
I want to experience that one day.

Alyssa
Don’t.

Laura Pineau
ah want to maybe not climb. No, I’m not saying climbing, but who knows, maybe, you know, hiking or running and doing, you know, crazy days like this would be crazy just to experience and know what it feels like.

Alyssa
Yeah.

Alyssa
It’s yeah, you know, it’s pretty wild. I mean, I feel like you’re, pro I mean, I always try to convince people to do ultras, but I feel like you’re a primed kind of mental piece to be able to do it.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Laura Pineau
ah

Alyssa
So that would be super fun.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. Nice. That’s amazing.

Alyssa
Yeah. So what, well, I guess two parts, do you have anything, any kind of projects that you’re working on right now or coming up that you can share about or kind of keeping things under wraps?

Laura Pineau
Maybe keeping things a little under wraps but what I can say is I’m definitely going back to hard free climbing that’s the goal it was fun to pull on quick jaws and step on bolts for a little bit but it’s it’s definitely not what I want to do and I want to have a belayer at the anchor but you know I think I’m really into having new projects with other female partners I think it’s so special and I definitely want to

Alyssa
Nice.

Laura Pineau
develop that partnership and you know hopefully support other women’s project or join another women’s project if I’m being offered that but I’m also really interested into this whole endurance world so I’m trying to get a bit more about it because I think that could really help me for big wall free climbing and I could learn a lot so I’m trying to get into that see what I can do and you know my favorite playground in Yosemite so after this summer after July I’ll go in Squamish again train there for a month or two and then be back in Yosemite. So at least that’s the plan as of today.

Laura Pineau
And then we’ll see where life takes me. You never know.

Alyssa
I love it. And then I know we chatted that there is going to be a movie coming out about this. When is that getting released? Where will people be able to watch it?

Laura Pineau
Yeah, they’ll be able to watch it. So definitely in Europe next year, April 2026. But me and Kate will make sure that all of our American friends will be able to see it. We are trying to, you know, have it in a big movie or big climbing festival, at least for the first two months of its release. And then we’ll try to get it into a smaller, and more independent climbing festival.

Laura Pineau
But definitely, you know, I’ll share more once we know it and we’ll have a trailer and definitely i’ll share it with you too. And hopefully you’ll be able to watch it and tell me what you think about it. But we’re very excited about it.

Alyssa
Oh, I can’t wait. I’m so glad that you were able to do that. That will be amazing. Yeah, well, Laura, where can people find you, follow your adventures?

Laura Pineau
I think as of now, probably my Instagram, like Laura Pineau, it’s my first and last name directly. That’s the best way. You know, who knows? Maybe, you know, next year we’ll have a YouTube channel or I’ll do something else. Or I’ll just share stories through movies, which I think I really enjoy doing through the triple. And I should be continuing that way. So I think that’s where we’re heading as of now, telling stories about claims that are not done often. And I think I just want to step outside the mainland and the main path and go do things that not many people want to do because it’s scary or because it’s weird or because why doing it you know so i think that’s the goal of the upcoming years

Alyssa
That’s amazing. And I guess the last bit, I keep saying this is the last question that’s going on, but I have one more that I promise.

Laura Pineau
no worries no worries

Alyssa
What advice would you give to female climbers in particular that are like, I really want to do this, but A, I’m not sure, maybe I’m not sure how or can I? Like, yeah, what advice would you give?

Laura Pineau
I would say first, like take your time. I like it. It doesn’t need to happen, you know, in the next few weeks or months. I would say you know for me in the triple, it took eight months of really hard work and full-on dedication. So big projects take time. But if you can make a plan for yourself, plan it over six months or a year, the training you need to do to achieve your objective, either it’s like…

Laura Pineau
a first big wall or it is maybe a first multi-pitch, you know, I would say so surround yourself with people who have maybe done those challenges before because you will learn faster and better.

Laura Pineau
Find maybe a woman mentor in your climbing community or in a climbing gym that you really admire or you like as a person who maybe will have time to show you how to do that. I think that, you know, mentorship is very important and very valuable. So I think this could help you really achieve your dreams and you know, choose objectives that scare you. It means it’s probably big enough. I think if you think of something and you’re like, oh, you know, that’s easy. I can do that. Then it means, is it big enough? I was scared of the triple, you know, until the day we did it, I wasn’t sure. And that objective scared me a lot, which is why I was like, okay, it’s probably big enough for me. Like now, time to train and then you can achieve it. So that would be my advice.

Alyssa
Oh, that’s fantastic. Yeah, right before Lavaredo, which I just ran, I said to my friend who was crewing me, I was like, okay, this is the moment where I get really scared, and then it’s going to be okay, but like, I’m really scared right now.

Alyssa
And yeah, because you’re trying to do something hard, and that means it’s worthwhile, for sure.

Laura Pineau
Wow.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. Yeah, and look at you, I finished second after Courtney. That’s so sick. That’s like, that’s so amazing. Yeah, congrats on that again, because that was really inspiring. And you girls, like, ultra thrilling. It’s like, I think I’m trying to…

Laura Pineau
you know, um take advice from and learn about that whole outdoor industry in a way of like, you know, how do you prepare yourself? How do you get your nutrition and hydration down? Because for big wall free climbers, I think it’s very similar to what you guys are doing and the amount of effort we’re putting in over a long hour. So really inspired by all of you and just, you know, keep crushing it out there.

Alyssa
Well, thank you. I mean, right back at you, like seeing when your story came out, I just was, I love seeing women take on these challenges. And I do think there’s so much fascinating crossover between, yeah, the big wall world and the endurance world. So yeah, we’ll keep learning from each other and it’ll be awesome.

Alyssa
So Laura, thank you so much for coming on. Um, I can’t wait for the movie to come out to see all of the incredible things that you’re going to do in the future and have already done.

Laura Pineau
Yeah. Thank you so much, Alyssa, for the great time and great talk. And I’m sure we’ll, we’ll, we’ll stay updated and keep each other updated, especially on the movie and, you know, can’t wait to watch what you’re doing next as well.

Alyssa
Thank you.

Laura Pineau
Yeah.

Alyssa
Well, thank you for listening to the Uphill Athlete podcast. If you can rate, review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform that allows us to get more amazing climbers out there in the world and to learn from them.

Alyssa
So it’s not just one, but a community. We are Uphill Athletes.

Steve
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