Make some room, friends: There’s a new storyteller coming to the mic. Two of mountaineering’s most adventurous climbers, Adrian Ballinger and Sam Kieckhefer, have launched a new podcast about “navigating the highest altitudes from a guide’s perspective.”
The Duffel Shuffle debuts on Tuesday, April 2, and promises plenty of alpine sport insight, from tips about dealing with extreme terrain to current news in skiing and climbing.
The first season includes some of the best mountain athletes around, with the inaugural episode featuring climbing rock star Emily Harrington. Subsequent episodes will air every 2 weeks. Other guests lined up already include Cody Townsend, Michelle Parker, Alex Honnold, Cory Richards, Carla Perez, and Esteban “Topo” Mena.
“Before I went into that world of high-altitude climbing, I didn’t really understand what suffering was, or how to suffer, or the idea that you had to perform under unideal circumstances, which is basically all high-altitude climbing,” Harrington says in a preview episode released in March.
Ballinger Podcast: Duffel Shuffle
Even without the star-studded cast of athletes, Ballinger and Kieckhefer bring decades of collected experience to the show. As veteran mountaineers and guides, they said they want to give listeners insider knowledge about mountain sports straight from the discipline’s most accomplished professionals.
Ballinger, the founder of Alpenglow Expeditions, brings an impressive climbing resume, with ascents of Everest and K2 sans supplemental oxygen, as well as numerous first ski descents and summits of 8,000m peaks.
Kieckhefer, on the other hand, discovered backcountry skiing in 2010 and quickly gained experience. He transitioned to guiding in 2019, and now continues to pursue his certification as an AMGA Ski Guide while leading trips in both hemispheres.
Tune in to the first episode of The Duffel Shuffle on April 2 on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, and Spotify. And in case you missed it, check out Ballinger’s appearance on The GearJunkie Podcast.
