ENGLAND
SPORT
Leo Houlding Climber, Adventurer and Motivational Speaker World-famous climber and adventurer, at the cutting-edge of extreme sports.
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Along with friend Patch Hammond, he became the first Briton to free climb El Nino on El Capitan, USA, which he did virtually onsight.
Leo grew up in the Lake District, home of modern mountaineering, and ever since the age of ten he has been on an adrenaline-fuelled adventure to push himself and his sport to the limits, and has staggered the world with his exploits.
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Completed the first free ascent of Fitzroys Casarotto Pillar in alpine style, caught in a vicious storm the ascent and descent took 56 hours non-stop.
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With Sean Leary made the first team free ascent of El Capitan and Half Dome in one day. More than a mile of hard climbing that takes most teams more than a week.
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Summitted Everest while filming The Wildest Dream. A movie depicting the last climb of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine who famously disappeared close to the summit in 1924. In movies theatres worldwide August 2010.
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Became British Indoor Bouldering Champion in 1996 and 1998.
Cumbria, England
Leo has climbed some of the hardest routes in the world, and pioneered para-alpinism – climbing up a route and then BASE-jumping from the top. Here are just a few of Leo’s achievements: •
In 2010 Leo Houlding successfully completed his long-term project by making the first ascent of The Prophet on El Capitan, Yosemite.
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In 2009 he climbed Mount Asgard on Baffin Island. The team climbed the North West Face, which is in the shade 23 hours a day, battling ice storms, severe frosts and rock falls.
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Climbed the sacred Mount Huashan in China – the first person to do so.
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Made an alpine-style ascent of Fitzroy’s 1,400m North Pillar in Patagonia, which included a 17-hour abseil (this experience was the start of Leo’s interest in para-alpinism).
These are just a taster of Leo’s accomplishments; he’s also had his own TV show and famously raced Jeremy Clarkson up the Verdon Gorge for BBC’s Top Gear programme – Jeremy drove and Leo climbed. Leo won.
Contact: Leo Houlding Telephone: 01539 825060 Email: gstephenson@cumbriatourism.org Website: www.leohoulding.com 184
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