The Olympics are over, leaving the climbing world in a post-coital daze, smoking a cigarette and wondering whether or not we’re going feel any regret tomorrow morning. It still feels pretty good, at least for now. There have been many “takes” on whether the Games lived up to everyone’s expectations or whether they were just a sad floppy dong. Like everything, it’s complicated. Continuing with an established trend of people giving ever fewer fucks about the Olympics, global viewership plummeted yet again, down an impressive 42% from 2016. If this continues, it seems inevitable that OIympics and all of its lovely GOAT people, will have launch a Patreon or a Substack to keep the fun times going.

Same goes for the Outdoor Retailer show, which is taking place this week. It really feels like covid killed OR—at least that’s what I’ve been hearing from press people who say that they have been having trouble filling up their schedules.

One thing is for sure. Janja is the GOAT of all GOATs. We know that she is the GOAT based on the number of articles written declaring her the GOAT.

If you’ve gotten GOAT bloat, then you may agree that we need to spend more time talking about who is the BLOAT, the biggest loser of all time. Trump is an easy choice. Public officials and other grifters sewing doubts about the vaccine could also be strong contenders. The guys who defaced petroglyphs, or bolted an art project on Yam, or stole the Monolith could at least get a BLOAT of the week award.

UK Climbing looked at Olympic climbers’ social media accounts, and tracked how the Games boosted their follower accounts. Let’s be honest, this is the real reward of winning the Olympics; not the medals. Alberto Ginés Lopez not only won the gold medal, he also got the biggest boost in followers, with a 342% increase. I think this article would have been much funnier if the climbers who didn’t reach the podium lost followers.

Perhaps the most interesting new story in climbing to follow at the moment is Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Chris Sharma (GOAT) and their new reality climbing competition show. The producer in LA just put out a casting call for amateur climbers to apply to be on the show. If only I were 20 years younger, I might consider that.

Speaking of which, tomorrow I turn 40 (BLOAT). I was originally hoping to do a 40-pitch day, following up on my 30-pitch day ten years ago with my dear departed friend Hayden (GOAT), but alas other plans and projects have steered me in another direction. I’ll be up in Bozeman this week with the Brine Mag crew for the last leg of our summer tour. Good food, good friends, and good adventures. You’ll be hearing more about this project in the coming months as the real work begins to put out a zine on our trip.

Here’s some more work that I’ve put out in the past week:

The RunOut #66: The Art of Route Setting with Jackie Hueftle. Jackie is a legend in the climbing world, and a female route-setting pioneer. This is a great conversation with Jackie. Also, my and Chris’ intro bit is also worth tuning into as we debate a point of crag etiquette regarding whether someone should be allowed to lay claim to a route all day and not let anyone else take a turn. This conversation was sparked after a trip to Ten Sleep earlier this year when my crew got shut down by a group of three ladies. Listen and see what you think. It’s been fun to hear different opinions come in about what the right etiquette is in this situation.

RunOut Bonus: FA or FU? A bonus episode for our Rope Guns (Patrons). Chris and I discuss the utility of first ascent ethics. This conversation was sparked by one of my recent posts on Evening Sends, and I thought it was a pretty fun and interesting debate.

I covered the results of the Olympics for Outside Magazine. Men’s report and Women’s. Speaking of work for Outside, you can also check out my interview with Cedar Wright and Alex Honnold, which also appears in the issue that is out on the newsstands right now.

Featured photo: Janja Garnbret, the GOAT, winning the Olympics. Photo by Jon Glassberg / Louder Than 11