I’ve always believed that obsession can be one of the most powerful tools in hard climbing. Visualising daily, thinking deeply about a project, and keeping it alive in your mind can create clarity, direction and belief.

But this week, a conversation with my friend John made me question whether obsession is always useful.

John told me that with his own project, Sufferance, he reached a point where he had to mentally distance himself from it completely. He stopped visualising, stepped away, and almost forgot the route existed for a month.

As soon as he suggested I might need to do the same with Free at Last, something clicked.

In this episode, I talk through the difference between commitment and attachment, why caring deeply can sometimes turn into pressure, and why stepping away from a project isn’t the same as giving up. Sometimes the thing that helped you progress can become the thing that keeps you stuck.

Maybe the answer isn’t always to stay more obsessed. Maybe sometimes, you climb better when you let something go for a while.

In this solo episode, I reflect on the last few weeks of A Climber’s Mind - including why there’s been a short break from the podcast, what I took from my recent conversation with Conrad Caddy, and how my North Wales trip made me think more deeply about determination, grades, pressure and priorities.

The episode starts with an honest update on why the podcast had to take a back seat for a couple of weeks. Between a climbing trip and some personal life stresses, I needed to make space for the things that had to come first - which, in many ways, connects directly to the themes of this episode.

I then look back on my conversation with Conrad Caddy, who climbed 8B within around three years of climbing. That conversation made me reflect on my own early years, because I also reached 8B within roughly my first three years. More than the grade itself, what interested me was the mindset underneath it: determination, obsession, pressure, identity, and what actually drives someone to keep showing up for something difficult.

From there, I explore the question: why do some people seem to have huge determination, while others don’t? I don’t think determination is just discipline or talent. I think it’s built from meaning, belief, feedback, identity, emotional tolerance and life circumstances. It can come from love, curiosity and purpose - but it can also come from insecurity, comparison and the need to prove yourself.

I also talk about my relationship with grades, which has been both motivating and volatile. Grades can be a brilliant tool for measuring progress, choosing challenges and focusing ambition - but they can become dangerous when they turn into measures of self-worth. My current view is that grades are useful servants, but terrible masters.

The episode also includes reflections from my recent trip to North Wales, where I climbed Prisoners of the Sun at Rhoscolyn. That experience made me think about hard trad climbing, clear decision-making, and how the best headspace on serious routes is often quiet rather than dramatic. For me, the lesson was about separating commitment from attachment: still caring deeply, but trying not to lose myself every time the outcome is uncertain.

Finally, I look ahead to a potential upcoming conversation with Steve McClure. If confirmed, I’m incredibly excited to speak to Steve about projecting, Rainman, Rainshadow, long-term motivation, and what draws someone to invest so much into one piece of rock over so many years.

This episode is really about one central question:

What makes us keep choosing hard things?

Determination is powerful, but it needs direction. Grades are useful, but they need perspective. Ambition is valuable, but it has to sit inside a life that can actually support it.

In this episode, I’m joined by Conrad Caddy to explore the deeper story behind his rapid progression in climbing, including his recent ascent of Superman 8B after only around three years in the sport.

Rather than reducing the conversation to talent, strength or genetics, we dig into what that kind of progression actually feels like from the inside: obsession, pressure, identity, movement learning, failure, social media, and the emotional cost of improving quickly.

We also talk about how Conrad approaches hard moves, micro-beta, frustration, consistency, and what climbers can learn from his process without simply trying to copy the outcome.