{"id":201679,"date":"2026-03-24T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=201679"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:56:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:56:05","slug":"big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski","title":{"rendered":"Big Wall Climbing and Ultrarunning with Thomas Bukowski"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"cb-itemprop\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/b008a2b5-92fb-409f-ad89-ee7a8f152221?dark=false\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wild-ideas-worth-living.simplecast.com\/episodes\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski\/transcript\">Transcript<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Thomas Bukowski took a risk that felt personal and professional by applying to The North Face athlete development program and pitching himself as a climber worth betting on. As a queer athlete from Hong Kong who found climbing later than most, he has long carried the feeling of being an outsider, then watched that narrative shift when he earned a place on The North Face climbing team. Since then, he has chased fear into major climbs in Argentina, Alaska, and Pakistan, and in 2024 he pushed into trail running by running the 211 mile John Muir Trail in four days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Connect with Thomas:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/diary.neodude.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Website<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/neodude\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Order Thomas&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tuolumne.guide\/?utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio&amp;fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnxBp8CYkkh04fWaeMk5_vIhwYxZJ6EumX3Tqi7od-LGMNGb0UadaMEmyaSGA_aem_QQLflfINNQvVzruQkWI0Xg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tuolumne Guide Book<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/outsidedays.outsideonline.com\/cardholderbenefits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Outside Days Early Bird Pricing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Explore the REI and Intrepid Travel collections<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to our sponsors:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Capital One and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/membership\/mastercard?trackingId=podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the REI Co-op\u00ae Mastercard\u00ae<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/b\/teva\/c\/all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Teva<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transcript In 2022, Thomas Bukowski took a risk that felt personal and professional by applying to The North Face athlete development program and pitching himself as a climber worth betting on. As a queer athlete from Hong Kong who found climbing later than most, he has long carried the feeling of being an outsider, then [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32542,"featured_media":201680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1726,1727],"tags":[734,727,541,662,1452],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-201679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","category-wild-ideas-worth-living","tag-climbing","tag-latest-posts","tag-podcast","tag-ultra-running","tag-wild-ideas-worth-living"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Big Wall Climbing and Ultrarunning with Thomas Bukowski","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Unknown-5-e1774284564369.jpeg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Unknown-5-e1774284564369.jpeg?fit=4987%2C2860"},"articleSection":"Wild Ideas Worth Living","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jenny Barber"}],"creator":["Jenny Barber"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["climbing","latest posts","podcasts","ultra running","wild ideas worth living"],"dateCreated":"2026-03-24T10:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-03-24T10:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-03-24T19:56:05Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Big Wall Climbing and Ultrarunning with Thomas Bukowski\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/podcasts\\\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/podcasts\\\/big-wall-climbing-and-ultrarunning-with-thomas-bukowski\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Unknown-5-e1774284564369.jpeg?resize=150%2C150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Unknown-5-e1774284564369.jpeg?fit=4987%2C2860\"},\"articleSection\":\"Wild Ideas Worth Living\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Jenny Barber\"}],\"creator\":[\"Jenny Barber\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Uncommon Path \\u2013 An REI Co-op Publication\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"climbing\",\"latest posts\",\"podcasts\",\"ultra running\",\"wild ideas worth living\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2026-03-24T10:00:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-24T10:00:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-24T19:56:05Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/rei.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Unknown-5-e1774284564369.jpeg?fit=4987%2C2860","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201681,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201679\/revisions\/201681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201679"},{"taxonomy":"internal-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-tag?post=201679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}