Episode 10: Alex Saunders: Climbing, Friendship, and Mental Health

In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend and longtime climbing partner, Alex Saunders. Over the years, Alex and I haveshared ropes and storms, long runouts and longer conversations. We’ve stood together on ledges halfway up the world, and we’ve stood beside each other as best men at our weddings. Our lives have been braided together by miles ofgranite and sandstone and years of trust.We talk about big walls like The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley and the Northwest Regular on Half Dome, including our climb on Half Dome after the 2014 rockfall, when we became the first team to cross the new blank section with a lasso toss and help piece the route back together.But the real story isn’t simply about climbing. It’s about what the mountains revealed, and what friendship had to carry.At Pay Love Forward, we believe that telling the story within the story is a mechanism for healing. This conversation includes descriptions of trauma, addiction, and witnessing death.  These were moments that shaped us and who we havebecome.  When we tell them truthfully, they help us recognizeone another’s humanity, and they turn isolation into community.This episode is about a friendship that refuses to let go and about the mountains that keep calling us back.