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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1571 - Emily Harrington

Rock climber and adventurer Emily Harrington is a five-time US National Champion in Sport Climbing. She has scaled some of the world's most formidable mountains, including Everest, Ama Dablam, and Cho Oyu, and is the first woman to free climb El Capitan via Golden Gate in under 24 hours. @DangerStikTV

Joe RoganhostEmily Harringtonguest
Nov 26, 20202h 11mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Emily Harrington on fear, training, and redefining big-wall climbing

  1. Emily Harrington joins Joe Rogan to unpack her historic free climb of El Capitan’s Golden Gate route in under 24 hours, making her the first woman to complete that specific route in a day.
  2. She explains the technical differences between free climbing and free soloing, the logistics of multi-day big-wall ascents, and the physical and mental training required, including recovery from a serious fall and concussion the year before.
  3. The conversation dives into risk management, fear, imposter syndrome, body image and eating disorders in climbing, and how COVID unexpectedly helped her focus her training.
  4. They also explore Everest guiding, environmental concerns, social media blowback over misreported headlines, and how climbing serves as her lifelong vehicle for exploring emotion and personal growth.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Free climbing is about control, not adrenaline.

Harrington emphasizes that in serious climbing, feeling an adrenaline rush usually means something has gone wrong; the goal is calculated movement, planning, and mental composure, with the rope only as a backup if you fall.

Training for big walls requires a blend of strength, stamina, and logistics.

Her preparation combined gym-based power and endurance work, long trail runs, big days in the mountains, and detailed logistics (season, partner, weather), plus 21 hours’ worth of mental focus and energy management.

Serious falls can be deconstructed and used to improve safety.

After a 50-foot fall that resulted from placing too little protection, she analyzed what went wrong, accepted that it was within her control, and returned with a more conservative gear strategy and gradual mental reconditioning.

Data isn’t always helpful; intuition can be a key performance tool.

Harrington deliberately moved away from hyper-data-driven tracking (scales, heart-rate metrics, etc.) because it fed anxiety and old eating-disorder patterns; she now leans more on how she feels day-to-day to guide training intensity.

Body weight can be a dangerous obsession in strength-to-weight sports.

She explains that while being light does help in climbing, chasing the scale can lead to injuries and eating disorders; she now avoids weighing herself and focuses on healthy eating and performance rather than a number.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

If you're feeling adrenaline when you're climbing, it essentially means you messed up.

— Emily Harrington

Climbing is my vehicle for experiencing the whole spectrum of emotions—fear, achievement, ego, confidence.

— Emily Harrington

I walked out of the hospital that day, which is incredible. I got away with one.

— Emily Harrington

Sometimes there’s too much data and not enough just being.

— Emily Harrington

It’s one of those things where someone does something extraordinary and it becomes clickbait.

— Joe Rogan

Free climbing El Capitan’s Golden Gate route in under 24 hoursDifferences between free climbing, free soloing, and big-wall logisticsTraining, recovery, and mental resilience after serious accidentsBody image, weight, and eating disorders in performance climbingEverest guiding, commercialization, and ethics (including bodies on the mountain)Social media, misreporting of achievements, and handling public scrutinyClimbing as a lifelong passion, career, and personal emotional “vehicle”

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