Rob LeBreton on Snowbird And Australian Sport Climbing in The 1980s
Rob LeBreton on Snowbird and its meaning to climbing.
Rob LeBreton wears a lot of hats. First, he’s a long time friend of the show, but he’s also a dad, husband, gym owner, former president of Sport Climbing Australia, and absolute climbing legend - the first Australian to establish climbs of 31 and 32 (13d and 14a) in Australia.
After the Snowbird episode came out, Rob sent me a video of the finals that he had recorded onto VHS back in 1988, which resulted in several things. First, I got excited to see the famous Edlinger moment at the top of the wall. Second, I posted it on YouTube and have been blown away by how many people are excited to see it — the link is below — and third, it made me realize how much someone across the world can be impacted by a story and the media created around that story. So I asked Rob to come on the show so I could better understand where Australian climbing was in ‘88 and what seeing this television broadcast meant to him.
