Ep. 1196: Climbing & Leukemia with Jason Kolaczkowski
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Climbing and how it offers a holistic experience that feeds the soul, mind, and body.
Join us as Jason Kolaczkowski, a passionate climber and author, talks about his journey through various types of climbing, the impact of his cancer diagnosis, and how the outdoors has shaped his life and family. Jason shares his experiences with different climbing modalities, the emotional and psychological growth he has gained from climbing, and how he navigated the challenges of being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion emphasizes the importance of risk management, resilience, and the healing power of nature, encouraging listeners to embrace outdoor adventures for personal growth.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There are times in life when you just have to wait and see. Like waiting to see if your team |
| 0:04.8 | will finally win the title. Waiting nine long months to see if it's a boy or a girl. |
| 0:12.3 | Or waiting to see if the sun will shine on your long-awaited holiday. Luckily, with an Evo-ICL |
| 0:18.8 | procedure at Uptegra, you don't have to wait to see. |
| 0:22.3 | Experience life as it's meant to be seen. |
| 0:24.8 | Book your free virtual consultation at octagra.com forward slash ICL. |
| 0:36.2 | You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast. |
| 0:38.5 | We talk with adventurers from around the globe to bring you the inspiration and motivation |
| 0:42.8 | you need to get started in the outdoors or to keep you moving if you're already there. |
| 0:47.3 | Now here's your host, Kurt Lindvill. |
| 0:49.5 | Hi friends, today I have Jason Koichkoski. |
| 0:53.5 | That's it. Ah! You're there. Okay. Restart. Friends, today I have Jason Koetskowski with us, and I am doing my best to say the name. It's a real fun one for me. So just straight out of the shoot, Jason, will you say it correctly for us? You were pretty darn close, I think. Coach Kopsky. So there are a lot of extra consonants in that name. For my Americanized ear, it's kind of hard. But Jason, welcome to the program. I'm glad you're here today. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Jason is a climber, and when I say climber, lots of modalities. He does ice climbing. He does |
| 1:29.4 | trad climbing. It does sport climbing. It does alpaneering. He is the kind of guy who likes to climb, |
| 1:37.1 | no matter what kind of climbing it is. And we're going to talk about how climbing has helped to |
| 1:42.8 | shape his life, his family's life. |
| 1:45.0 | But in addition to this, Jason was diagnosed with leukemia at a young age, a strangely young age. |
| 1:53.6 | And that experience also weaves into the tail. |
| 1:56.4 | How do you live your best life when you're going through some things with your family, with your sports, |
| 2:02.2 | with everything that's going on. And Jason's even written a book about it called Notions of Grace, |
| 2:08.0 | a memoir of climbing, cancer, and family. And so I'm sure we'll touch on that, but primarily |
| 2:13.6 | today we're going to talk about climbing, climbing of all sorts. |
| 2:22.7 | I'm excited to talk about it. Talk to a climber about climbing, and they're typically not going to want to shut up. |
... |
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