Closer to the Edge: Climbing to the Ends of the Earth

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Closer to the Edge' is Leo's 'warts-and-all' insight into the extreme life of one of Britain's best climbers who is active today and still planning epic adventures. Biography: Leo Houlding is a world-class mountaineer, adventurer, television presenter and popular public speaker. In the meantime, I'll try to channel all the stoke and enthusiasm this book radiates into my own adventures.

We loaded a roof box on the Alfa full with beers and a case of fine single malt whisky as gifts for our hosts, which Andy had assured us was valuable currency in the extortionately taxed, oil-rich, socialist state of Norway. Closer to the Edge is the story of a remarkable climber and free spirit who has been at the top of his game for over thirty years, with still more mountains to explore. Honing his skills as he grew, Leo would travel abroad becoming the first Brit to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in the United States at eighteen years of age, which cemented his reputation as a world class climber. He was also a sales rep for DMM and as Tim Emmett had been demoted to a slower car following his collection of speeding tickets, we travelled in the beloved Alfa.

Honing his skills as he grew, at eighteen Leo became one of the very first to free climb the mighty El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley, California widely regarded as the most impressive rock face on the planet cementing his reputation as a world class climber.

He has since gone on to not only summit the world's toughest peaks, but to cross continents to explore the most extreme places our planet has to offer.Amazing story of adventure, but which also inspires to find one's own adventure, whatever that may be (climbing or otherwise). Read a snippet of Leo Houlding's first book, Closer to the Edge, and find out where you can hear more from Leo himself. p>Read about how we’ll protect and use your data in our Privacy Notice. I stepped out of the car, walked the short way to the base of the sculpture and without pause shimmied my way up the iron fins that formed the body, onto the wing, then surmounted the overhanging head to stand on top. I had just about recovered my self-esteem following my toxic hangover and responded, 'Ha, I'll climb that.

He has since gone on to summit the world's toughest peaks and explore the most extreme places on our planet. We were heartily welcomed into the close-knit Stavanger climbing community and I was introduced to characters who proved influential in later years, including Sindre Bo, Rolf Bae and Robert Caspersen. One Man's Legacy adds much depth to Tom Patey's character and reputation, enriching our understanding of an already legendary figure in.We had a farewell party in the Stavanger climbers' pub Cementen on the picturesque docks of their oil-rich city, where I made a complete fool of myself due to my acute alcohol intolerance, blowing my shot of a dream end to the trip by going home with a blonde beauty and instead falling, or being thrown (I'm not sure which), into the harbour. This is a very personal, from the heart, memoir of a premier big wall rock climber and members of his expedition team.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The ethical debate as to where it was appropriate to place bolts for sport climbing or withhold them to maintain adventure values was a hot topic in Rogaland at the time. He has since gone on to summit the world’s toughest peaks and explore the most extreme places on our planet.p>The data controller is Headline Publishing Group Limited. Like a lot of people, all I knew about Leo before this was the Top Gear climb but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. he said, attempting to make an ink impression from my granite-ravaged fingertips that left nothing more than a featureless smudge on the page. During such explorations he has had to deal with tragedy when close friends and colleagues have been killed or badly injured, and he will discuss how you deal with such loss and carry on. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.