Alex Honnold was the subject of Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, and he’s stayed fairly visible ever since.

There aren’t many climbers with mainstream name recognition, but Honnold certainly qualifies. Pairing that with his ability to break down the sport it’s obvious why he’s part of NBC’s Olympics coverage this year, as competitive climbing makes its debut as an Olympic sport in Tokyo.

Ahead of that start, Honnold announced a new season of ClimbingGold, his podcast exploring, well, climbing. It’s timely on multiple levels, as the season promises to explore the long road climbing took to become an Olympic sport.

From a release:

Climbing Gold was first launched earlier this year by Honnold and co-host Fitz Cahall (Dirtbag Diaries). Produced by Leici Hendrix, Becca Cahall and Elizabeth Nakano, Climbing Gold takes listeners on a tour through climbing, from the early days of the lunatic fringe to today’s new generation of athletes.

“I’m thrilled to launch the second season of Climbing Gold, especially during one of the most exciting times in the sport’s history. With climbing’s debut in the Olympic games, we’ve reached a milestone in demonstrating the physical toughness and athleticism that the sport requires. I’m excited to share with my listeners climbing’s journey to the Olympics, showcase the incredible athletes competing at this year’s games, and highlight what’s next on the horizon,” said Alex Honnold.

The 10-episode second season will debut on July 28, with the first four episodes released over the course of the Olympic games. The following episodes will focus on the future of climbing following its Olympic spotlight. 

Honnold’s NBCU work starts next week, with climbing events beginning across three disciplines (speed, bouldering, and lead.)

Unrelated, here’s Honnold breaking down climbing scenes in movies for thirty minutes, which is a pretty enjoyable way to kill some time.

The first episode of Climbing Gold season 2 is out now.

[image via Climbing Gold]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.