EP 171: Leo Houlding — A Life of Adventure, Climbing Big Walls With Kids, and Epic Stories From El Cap

The Nugget Climbing Podcast

Leo Houlding is one of the greatest adventure climbers of all time. He’s put up new free routes worldwide from the Amazon Rainforest to the remote regions of Antarctica. We talked about his upcoming trip to Baffin Island, his childhood in the UK, using the fix-and-follow system to climb 2000’ big walls with his kids, epic stories from his El Cap days, what he learned from his worst injury, and much more!

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We are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:

• Leo Franchi, Michael Roy, David Lahaie, Robert Freehill, Jeremiah Johnson, Scott Donahue, Eli Conlee, Skyler Maxwell, Craig Lee, Mark and Julie Calhoun, Yinan Liu, Renzollama, Zach Emery, and Brandt Mickolas

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/leo-houlding

Nuggets:

0:02:54 – Prepping for his trip to Baffin Island

0:07:16 – Enjoying the logistics, and planning the food for a month-long expedition for three people

0:13:50 – Leo’s beta knowledge for expeditions, and going beyond roads

0:16:01 – Leo’s “little issue”, and base jumping off the top of Mount Asgard

0:23:56 – The challenge of attempting to free climb Asgard again

0:27:29 – Leo’s Instagram cover photo

0:29:16 – Writing his book, his mom and dad, and his adventurous spirit as a kid

0:33:39 – Leo’s first big adventure climb, Old Man of Hoy

0:37:24 – How his life has turned out compared to how he imagined it as a kid

0:38:24 – Being born at the right time

0:42:45 – Generations in Yosemite

0:45:18 – “Climb that goddamn mountain.”

0:49:49 – Adventuring with his kids

0:53:59 – Using the fix-and-follow system with the kids to climb big walls

1:00:56 – Climbing in the Wind River Range with Llamas and the kids

1:05:11 – Tips for keeping the morale high for kids

1:13:13 – Compromises with kids, and plans to take them out of school for an around-the-world mission

1:16:41 – “The days are long but the years are short.”

1:17:10 – My travels with my family around South America as a 5-year-old, and seeing the developing world as a kid

1:20:34 – A final tip for parents who want to adventure with kids

1:22:41 – Rest in peace Ammon McNeely ❤

1:23:34 – The Alfa Romeo badge story

1:35:41 – Question from Sam Stroh: What are Leo’s thoughts on going ground up on The Prophet?

1:42:51 – Getting caught in one of the worst storms in Yosemite history, and doing the first free ascent of The Prophet

1:48:41 – Closer to the Edge

1:49:29 – The end of his Yosemite chapter

1:52:03 – Leo’s accident on Cerro Torre

1:56:41 – Leo’s expeditions to Antarctica

2:02:11 – Kite skiing

2:07:11 – Rock climbing at the end of the world

2:08:42 – “I wanted the most hardcore trip ever, and I got it.”

2:09:52 – His trip to the Amazon rainforest, and making The House of the Gods film

2:13:58 – Dropping loads out of an airplane into the rainforest

2:18:21 – Free climbing a new route on Mount Roraima

2:20:31 – More about Leo’s book Closer to the Edge, and the film 2.4 about adventuring with kids

2:23:35 – Why we should travel to the developing world

2:24:41 – Wrap up