lystn

Spring is here and it’s the perfect time to get outdoors. There are, of course, lots of fun things to do outside this time of year, but one sport is attracting locals specifically to rock faces everywhere. Today’s episode focuses on that activity, and especially on safety. We’re talking about rock climbing, which may sound intimidating, but when done right is actually very safe. In this episode we talk climbing basics, staying safe from one particular critter that could really ruin your climbing trip, and we meet a local climber with an unusual—and heartbreaking—reason for getting into the sport. Central California is a great place to live if you’re into rock climbing, so we decided to learn how. Kerry’s a regular climber, but Ezra’s not a big fan—so, naturally, we sent him to take a lesson. He took our intern, Laura Tsutsui , to Metalmark , Fresno’s local climbing gym. It was her first time ever climbing, and she’s not crazy about heights—so this sounded like a fun experiment. We met