Hey everyone. Elizabeth Nakano, senior producer, back with another bonus episode.

In season one, we introduced Armando Menacal, the guy who helped save climbing in America.

If you haven't listened yet, look for episode 8. It's called Give and Take.

During his interview, Armando shared this story that we loved, but we couldn't fit it into the episode, so we're bringing it to you now.

It's about how he helped change the climbing scene in another country.

I was born in Miami. Parents are from Cuba. My family goes back there a long time.

When I was a little boy, my mother would take me summers to Havana to stay with the family.

But then, you know, as I got active and friends in junior high and high school, I went less and less. And so the last time was, you know,

when I was a teenager. Armando went on to establish a law career, found the access fund, and helped

save many beloved climbing

sites from being closed forever. Then, in 1998, he decided to reconnect with his Cuban heritage.

He flew from his home in Wyoming to the island for a visit. It had been 40 years since he

had last set foot in the country. My lonely planet guidebook described this

valley of Vignales as a Yosemite-like valley in Cuba. And I found that hard to believe.

But having climbed in the valley for 25 years, I said, well, I can't pass that up. I got to go work at it. So I went there and there was all these limestone walls there.

Vignales Valley is near the western end of Cuba. It's a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage

site, and it has these steep limestone crags that reach heights of close to a thousand feet.

With the help of some local farmers and their machetes, Armando chopped through the undergrowth to get a better look at some

of them. The wheels in his head were spinning. And so I came back two or three months later

with a group of friends from Colorado.

George Braxick, the founder of Rocket Ice Magazine, Craig Lubin, very instrumental in helping me learn about sport climbing and how you put up routes and how you involve the local

climbing community.

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