Lynn Hill Chris Sharma Conversation about Technique YouTube

Lynn interviews Chris about his ideas and approach with regard to climbing technique.

[@sonso45]

He's like most climbers, the magic just works. A lot of intuition and muscle memory go into making you a good climber. As he said, "it's not like we're finding a cure for cancer" we are out having fun.

[@j.w.matney8390]

Sharma is doing a good job of explaining his processes, both mental and physical. He's articulate but, soft spoken. Strange that people assume he's high just because he isn't being loud and bragging.

[@orlyrabbit]

+John Matney They're assuming he's high because it's well known he likes to smoke weed, not that there's anything wrong with that, if anything it probably helps his recovery and climbing creativity

[@salzy1864]

People don't understand Sharma's type. He's someone who's immersed in being, not thinking. When he's thinking, he's thinking about being. Someone who understands this can see it whenever he's on camera. It can be super uncomfortable for someone who is of the heart to be around someone who is very attached to the mind, because they sense a deep disconnect. It's an alternate mode of intelligence which often produces the worlds most successful people. People who are very intelligent often end up working for those types of people.

[@philipzahnd8430]

As someone who was often accused of being high years before touching weed, I resonate with this.

[@anthonyfrattin1692]

If all you get from this interview is that he's high or tired you're really missing out. A brilliant athlete opens his thoughts to us in a ten minute insightful interview. When you have a philosophical unscripted single take interview this is what you get if you are lucky. This is not a high budget edited perfectly filmed interview on ESPN that you're used to it's just two brilliant climbers creating a raw, uncut insightful Q and A to help aspiring climbers. Great interview. It has helped me a lot. Thanks for doing it guys!

[@listrahtes]

I ve seen some interviews with him and imo he is stoned in this video which is kind of disrespectful to Lynn. Its his choice and he was on a lot more stuff in other videos but its not really a bad thing to call him on that as it clearly reduced his intellectual abilty.

[@1honeybun]

tru, people focusing on the wrong things

[@luthermclain2959]

Thanks Lynn. I met you briefly once back in the early 90's at the BFF. You showed up at the little climbing wall the ACC had put up in the Sally Borden Centre, with a Japanese film crew in tow. I was supposed to belay you, but then your interview went on a little longer than expected, and in that time, a ten year old girl walked up to the wall and wanted to climb it. I paused just for a second, as I was supposed to belay you, but then I thought, it'd be pretty cool if she got to climb next to Lynn Hill. She was stoked. I hope she is still climbing. I still am, after thirty years. And people like you are the reason I"m still at it.

[@LynnHillClimbing]

Thanks Luther! I hope are still enjoying your adventures on the rock out there!

[@jcprenner6083]

Thanks, Lynn Hill and Chris Sharma a for sharing your insight

[@freshseeker]

Come on people you thing Lynn would post this video if he was stoned and out of it during the interview? Hes just a laid back dude and always has been. He also might have been a little nervous being interviewed by one of the most prolific climbers of all time. Its hard to articulate how you climb 5.15. I think people are just jealous.

[@lightningsmokerXx]

I think he's just not a big talker. And maybe a little uncomfortable with the camera on him + they are sitting sorta close at sorta of an odd angle. I think she did a good job asking questions. However....speaking of Lynn Hill ..can you believe she is 50+. He is 20 years younger than her to the year. And i bet when he was growing up she was one of those people he followed and as one of the few women in climbing prob thought wow she's hot. And as he's sitting beside her there...prob having the same thought. Not trying to be crass about it. But i call it how i see it. Nice looking woman.

[@lightningsmokerXx]

exactly (no wolf tickets)

[@mazzelien5123]

Sorta, but its like he wants to end this interview and toke up.

[@TheMisterKoala]

I don't see why she would refrain from posting the interview if he were high; why do you presume to know what she would do?

[@skip1860]

Lmfao 😂 if you don't think he's high, then you're either just as high or just dumb

[@marcopervo]

He's always been a powerful and intuitive climber who campused 5.14A's with strong fingers and arms, but the amazing technique he's developed allows him to beyond 5.14D. His precise movement, body tension, and footwork are evident on the 5.15's climbed recently in Spain. He's every bit the tactician as other top modern climbers, it's just that he's less aware of it. It all seems natural to him.

[@walterlotte4215]

...ok he's a legend but where and when did he campus a 5.14a, let alone multiple ones as you suggest..? Got a source?

[@andisab]

"It's a fine line between excitation and being too relaxed." Indeed it is, Lynn. :) Namaste!

[@mattrhodin7005]

I feel like Chris was just responding in a real way. He speaking the way he normally speaks and was giving the answers that came to mind at the time. I thought he did fine. I definitely took some things away from this interview.

[@betabandits2099]

Thanks for posting, definitely gives a climber lots of questions to ask oneself while doing self assessment.

[@amaturearcadia]

Chris is the man, keeping it raw. I like to hear his psychological perspective on climbing at high levels

[@g.l.8319]

Great video. I loved Chris and Lynn’s advice at the end about having fun and staying in it for the long run, and I think this applies to a lot more than climbing

[@LynnHillClimbing]

Totally agree!

[@friedbergje]

It is a gift to hear the best talk about what they do. Whether it is Hill and Sharma or other great artist of many different mediums discuss their practices we all need to step back and say 'thank you' to them for sharing. THANK YOU!

[@paulmitchell5349]

''Finding that balance point.'' exactly. So few top climbers put that into words. That is the essence of climbing, along with looking at the rock properly.

[@fourstarsintheskye]

Best interview of Chris Sharma out there.

[@sergiiglobal]

you guys are good. I enjoyed listening to you and this was helpful.

[@bobbycoles]

When you were talking about reducing stress during performance and still being confident it reminded me of the yerkes dodson law. Being too stressed or not stressed enough results in underperformance

[@Snowpeanow]

Awesome interview!

[@salzy1864]

I love his style. Trying to convey the state of Being in words. Often times the best can't do it. They got the vibe and just naturally go with it.

[@climbscience4813]

Don't know what all these comments are about. To me, Chris just looks like he's thinking about what he's saying before he says it. He really seems focussed on how to express the stuff he's doing intuitively. That's quite a hard thing considering that he probably doesn't think about those things a lot, but rather just does them. Also, who cares if he's stoned or not? Maybe he just climed some hard stuff and is exhausted. His answers still make a lot of sense, even though they come out a bit slower than usually.

[@phuckmylife2151]

Naaah. He's either high as fuck or haven't slept for 48 hours. Compare this to some of his other interviews and you'll see it.

[@quogir1]

PhuckMyLife you are right, no sleep

[@chipper442]

I saw Lynn on the Letterman Show back in the day, still as impressive as ever

[@SalsaAdam]

Fascinating. She is more articulate and analytic. He is very synthetic (intrinsic, natural). But they both have dealt with the other side. Climbing is not a words experience. It MUST be felt and it must be thought. Check out 10:25 - 11:25. Chris has much to say though its not a recipe or a textbook. they complement each other like musicians in a band.

[@amaturearcadia]

SalsaAdam great synapses, i agree

[@renciapolous]

Lovely, thanks!

[@kless001]

I'd be so nervous to be interviewed by Lynn Hill. Legend!

[@grimlund]

Lynn Hill must be the coolest gal in the world.

[@peppuig8530]

talking about technique would have been better if Sharma had been the interviewer and Lynn Hill the guest. ;)

[@ELFanatic]

yeah honestly

[@magikalyoutubeman17]

Thanks Lynn!

[@kincheng]

Lynn Hill is too humble she got the interview backwards haha

[@GnomicMaster]

Hardly. 5.15d+ is beyond Lynn. Now add Alex to the conversation and everyone becomes humbled.

[@kincheng]

+Jeffrey Middlebrook there's more to climbing than just a grade number

[@GnomicMaster]

Exactly, which is why Dharma Sharma and Alex God Almighty are who they are.

[@88feji]

+Jeffrey Middlebrook I don't get your disrespect for Lynn Hill .. Lyn Hill freed The Nose which was the unreachable holy grail for more than a decade even for the best male climbers then.. She climbed The Nose twice and it was not climbed again for half a decade until the next guy (who took hundreds of days of attempts before succeeding). She was the best of her own generation .. whats more she's a woman which makes her achievements even more impressive considering she has to breach the male dominance in the sport .. You cannot compare different generations because dietary aids improves, shoe technology improves, training methods improves, more and more knowledge of climbing techniques gets accumulated as time goes on etc etc. Skills gets passed down by older greats to the benefit of younger ones which makes the starting point for younger generations easier. Its like you cannot say scientists nowadays are smarter than scientists a hundred years ago, its a stupid thing to say .. the knowledge base and starting points are different .. Obviously the newer generations are going to be better equipped to attempt harder climbs due to all those things but to say that the new generations are better than the older generation is just ignoring all the new knowledge and aids accumulated by the older generations .. I don't know if you understood the saying : "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." I just wish you think a little more critically before you start being biased ..

[@GnomicMaster]

Chill, child, I'm not disrespecting Lynn, just saying that in my not-so-humble opinion free-soloists are the only true climbers, the rest of the legions of we mere mortals are pretenders to the throne. Now I cut Sharma slack because he's been pushing it towards maybe the first 5.16, and I'm sure if Sharma wanted to put it all on the line he'd be one amazing free-soloist. Back around 1969/70 (late-Cretaceous period in climbing) there was a cartoon in either Summit or maybe Ascent that showed a super hero climber wearing a cape and "RR" on the chest (Royal Robbins, no doubt) and two climbers watching the super hero on a blank over-hanging wall reaching back into his bag, and the caption said "Oh my god, he's reaching for the grease!" Very funny. Even funnier, the last time I talked to RR in 2012 he said he never saw the cartoon. Have you ever read John Long's essay from the early-1970s titled "The Only Blasphemy"? He wrote it after almost dying while following Bachar on an "El Capitan Day" of free-soloing route after route at JT. The conclusion of the article is that to deliberately jeopardize one's existence is the "only blasphemy", and of course fate caught up with Bachar in 2009. And yet Long said not too long ago that in his opinion Alex is the best climber in the world.

[@micorreoes4]

es un bombon esta mujer!

[@bonerheadj]

I think the reason why Sharma comes off as not a great speaker about climbing is because he doesn't need to think about it like Hill may. Thats not to say Hill isn't a complete boss because she is, but Sharma is not a normal human, or human at all.

[@morgantheron1]

i think this is very true

[@andrieslaya]

+Jay Gatton him and Ondra both are alien ;)

[@brianhackit7900]

Yea, no offense but I don't think you really understand how legend Lyn Hill is. You want alien? I think Free Soloing the nose if El Capitan makes you more than alien.

[@patrickthorpe8860]

@@brianhackit7900 Psst. Nobody free soloed the Nose. She free climbed the Nose.

[@Yosef9438]

@@brianhackit7900 You sound like you actually don't know anything about climbing. Nice try, though.

[@FerrisKilpatrick]

Chris says "you know" 93 times. NINETY-THREE TIMES!

[@amaturearcadia]

Ferris Kilpatrick i know, i say it a lot to. Great way to relate that you're understanding, is, that the person to whom you are speaking is clearly understanding what you are stying to convey

[@ianbrannan9608]

u takin the nom census? u from the department of nom sayins or something?

[@GnomicMaster]

That's a mental illness of the Millennials. It's "like" do you like know what like I'm talking about, like huh? Dharma Sharma is from Santa Cruz, so like you know like what I mean, like you know? Hey, pass the bong over to me, like you know. Jesus H. Dolphin Christ, get an intelligent vocabulary, dude!!

[@paulhutton3366]

Assess the fall protection before setting off, climb like you're on a tread wall -- connect the moves as calmly as possible, clip the pro and forget about it, your best is good enough. And make sure your belayer is on board. You won't climb well if you're not ready to fall.

[@fixeeg]

Chris is from a family of buddhists who spend a lot of time meditating and practicing calmness. He comes off as uninterested sometimes, but he's just a very mellow guy. If you want someone more articulate, listen to Tommy Caldwell or Alex Honnold talk about their climbing.

[@hanneswastl6272]

let him smoke, if he wants to. I really dont care about it, he is sill an amazing, inspiring climber. anyway better weed than heroin.

[@caitlin.hardee]

Legends

[@seanmcclain5800]

No, Chris, I don't know. Please elaborate. I think Lynn made him nervous.

[@josiahb5229]

I thought Chris did pretty good at explaining some of those difficult questions.

[@hellogoodbye637]

I LOVE LYN HILL SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH. I REALLY HOPE I MEET HER SOMEDAY

[@fatskinnyfatboy]

14:30 and the ket starts to give things new momentum

[@MasterDavidAaronWarrington]

Notice the development around Chris Sharma's third eye (pineal gland) and Lynn Hill's muscle tendon attachments. These are advanced human beings. Imagine if they had a child together.

[@marlonmendez5176]

Sharma always sounds so at peace with himself (or maybe just stoned lol). Even when he says "Yea I'm psyched!". :D

[@dakiblabla]

Sharma doing his best to hide a massive crush here...

[@salzy1864]

Another thing which actually most people can understand, is when you have enormous amounts of energy surging through your body, it is extremely difficult to vent that energy in a way that does not come out as erratic. Someone like Sharma has huge storehouses of energy, which is very hard to contain. The incredible Hulk is an allegory which generally applies here.

[@compellingpeople]

What's the name of the climb? Olianes?

[@fatskinnyfatboy]

At 13 minutes the weed kicks in again hard I reckon

[@ultrajayme]

fatskinnyfatboy lamo..."um...like...uh..." Lynn-"don't worry about it..." chris-"like (laughs) when I use my foot!"

[@picasadeluxe]

Try to explain someone how you played a difficult sonata from Bach on the piano ? What you anwer ? You used your 10 fingers, that´s it . Climb every day and you will succeed one day if you are a talent, otherwise not !, that´s so easy to understand :))

[@gashy9023]

enormously funny Punch-and-Judy shtick

[@picasadeluxe]

How would you discribe someone how you played a difficult Bach Sonata, ...with your 10 fingers..., that´s it ! If you climb every day and you are a talent, you will succeed one day, otherwise not, that´s so easy to understand :)

[@ELFanatic]

Poor lynn. Can we get a Lynn - Honnold interview?

[@illduitmyself]

seems like a cool guy be hes frying himself with all that weed

[@domingo7652]

he is a master of stoned

[@grimlund]

Lynn is 20 years older the Chris but looks like she could have been his sister.

[@profearoum]

lots of awkward silence hahaha

[@elidotson461]

firdaus bin abd muttalib 10 years ago i hope that this could start a tipping point where the younger malaysians could have fun by doing the right thing. no fuss, no commitment, just record whatever you see that deserves the attention of every human being ( must be guided with what i mentioned above, with testimonies and evidences) and let see how big the snow ball rolls down hill. ;P HAVE FUN !

[@elidotson461]

firdaus bin abd muttalib 10 years ago i hope that this could start a tipping point where the younger malaysians could have fun by doing the right thing. no fuss, no commitment, just record whatever you see that deserves the attention of every human being ( must be guided with what i mentioned above, with testimonies and evidences) and let see how big the snow ball rolls down hill. ;P HAVE FUN !

[@Icklejason]

He can be much more articulate. Definitely a bad day. It's a bit naughty to get stoned before an important interview especially as he has referred to himself as an ambassador of the sport in the past which he obviously is.

[@jakeweber7467]

he seems super baked lol

[@sternosterno9211]

He's pretty stoned (as usual XD)

[@charliebeaches4907]

I just want to know what's your diet, por favor. nobody ever talks about that!! and that's the real issue.

[@kristianbejb]

this sharma guy must be a millionaire. cant find any other reason to be on focus, all the time.

[@rygarbensen3953]

No. It's because he is the best climber in the world.

[@samanthaj393]

Such an awkward interview lol

[@999a0s]

+Samantha J not at all. that's in your head.

[@ianh6353]

maybe he was stoned

[@Xanosect1]

Chris comes across so poorly in this interview next to Lynn. I haven't seen enough interviews of him to know if this was just a bad day, but he is really poorly spoken and lynn's trying to lead him to say anything insightful and his response is always "you know".

[@brettrichardson4285]

He is known as a great climber not a great speaker, Beside the fact that he is answering questions not just asking them.

[@jasonstevens7740]

Maybe your expectations are too high. You are expecting his speaking to be on the same level as his climbing. He's no different than any other prodigy. Jimi Hendrix ALWAYS gave poor interviews. It isn't their wheel house, so chill the fuck out.

[@heretic.climbing]

"I think we should wrap it up here"....that should have happened at 5:00. hahahaah

[@noahroach4931]

Is he a savant or something

[@euadi4948]

hm, "you know"...."and you know", "and I mean you know".."is just like...you know.." and so and so...he is a good climber but better to let someone else to talk. Sometime also is useful to read some books not only to climb and climb...

[@isaiahmorales3419]

kinda awkward as fuck interview… :P

[@EverythingZen14]

I didn't think so. I actually really relate to Sharma in the way he thinks about and responds to the questions. Sometimes, even most of the time, the answer is not at all unexpected or surprising or in depth - it just is. People often expect a grand response, but reality is seldom that. Sharma just seems super chill, to me - I think he's just being the same on camera as we would be off camera. It's sort of refreshing, for me.

[@crux321]

just a couple of introverted climbing obsessed geniuses

[@amaturearcadia]

Kinda dont think i could have a good conversation with you then