Podcasts by Factor Two

Birth Pains of New Nations - Pete Oxley from 2021-08-12T12:54:12

The whims and motivations of climbers really are another world to the person in the street. Understanding them is crossing a threshold, it requires a certain susp...

Hateja - Louise Thomas and Glenda Huxter from 2021-06-24T15:37:35

If you had to select your late 90s dream team for a British, all-female Himalayan big wall trip, you couldn’t go far wrong with this one.

Glenda Huxter was onsighting E7, Kath Pyke had extensive...

Finding the Balance - Katherine Schirrmacher from 2021-03-23T12:19:16

We all get enjoyment from climbing for different reasons. For many of us those reasons change over time, according to our geography, time, money and other pressur...

El Capitan - a film by Fred Padula from 2020-12-10T12:00

In the spring of 1968 San Francisco film maker, Fred Padula, drove into the Yosemite Valley and gazed up at El Capitan. He had been approached by one of his film students, Glen Denny, a talented...

Hard Grit - Rich Heap, Niall Grimes and Seb Grieve from 2020-10-28T16:12:06

When it was released in 1998, Hard Grit gave us an insight into something we didn’t often see - the actual ascents of the hardest, most dangerous lines on grit.

In an era before everyone ...

Hard Grit - Rich Heap, Niall Grimes and Seb Grieve from 2020-10-28T16:12:06

When it was released in 1998, Hard Grit gave us an insight into something we didn’t often see - the actual ascents of the hardest, most dangerous lines on grit.

In an era before everyone ...

A Play for Voices - Helen Mort and Anna Fleming from 2020-09-16T06:00

When you look at the books on a shelf of mountaineering literature one thing is quickly apparent: the vast majority are written by men.

Listen

Brave New World - Tom Livingstone and Twid Turner from 2020-08-06T14:37:58

It’s hard to be truly disconnected these days.

Even in the weirdness of isolation over the past few months many of us have been working from home, constantly bothered by the connections a...

Deep Play - Neil Gresham and Dr Rebecca Williams from 2020-07-07T11:36:24

"I climb better when I'm scared."

I've heard this quite a few times. I even thought it was true about myself for a while in my earlier climbing career, but it surely can't be true?

Deep Play - Neil Gresham and Dr Rebecca Williams from 2020-07-07T11:36:24

"I climb better when I'm scared."

I've heard this quite a few times. I even thought it was true about myself for a while in my earlier climbing career, but it surely can't be true?

Walking the Magic Line - Hazel Findlay and Dr Rebecca Williams from 2020-05-27T14:34:32

Flow is a concept that can divide in climbing. For Dave Thomas it was the joyous experience that removed him from other problems in life. For Mina Leslie-Wujastyk it was a performance tool. Mina...

Walking the Magic Line - Hazel Findlay and Dr Rebecca Williams from 2020-05-27T14:34:32

Flow is a concept that can divide in climbing. For Dave Thomas it was the joyous experience that removed him from other problems in life. For Mina Leslie-Wujastyk it was a performance tool. Mina...

The Moment You Doubt - Ben Bransby from 2020-04-14T11:23:38

Many of the stories in Factor Two feature the same scenario - What next? You always imagine ticking the big goal might be enough, but it rarely is.

For Ben Bransby and Jvan Tresch it seem...

Freebird - Ben Bransby from 2020-04-06T12:00

After hearing from Leo Houlding and Patch Hammond about their legendary Yosemite season in 1998 there was one obvious gap in our story - Ben Bransby.

Before attempting Freerider with Patc...

Living in the Shadows - Franco Cookson from 2020-03-03T05:00

Internet forums wouldn’t be the same without their villains and heroes, would they? Franco Cookson appeared on the UKC forums back in February 2008. He began posting prolifically from the off an...

No More Heroes? - Patch Hammond from 2019-09-11T12:00

Patch Hammond has remained a bit of an enigma in the climbing world. If you flick through the magazines from the late 1990s you’ll see a scruffy youth with an impressive climbing CV – onsighting...

No More Worlds - Leo Houlding from 2019-05-24T15:35:30

Back in 1998 Leo Houlding and Patch Hammond achieved something almost unthinkable – a near onsight ascent of El Capitan.

They were just 18, had no big wall experience and headed to Yosemi...

On and Off - A headpointing story from 2019-01-30T18:38:47

Prompted by Franco Cookson’s article on headpointing recently I thought I’d dig out this interview I recorded in November 2017 with Tim Lowe.

Tim is a climber from Yorkshire with an envia...

Clouds Come and Go from 2019-01-22T12:54:09

In the last two episodes we looked at aspects of flow, whether seeking the euphoria as an escape or chasing it as a performance tool. But there’s an area of climbing where flow won’t be enough. ...

Me and My Shadow - Mina Leslie-Wujastyk from 2018-12-17T10:37:34

Mina Leslie-Wujastyk has already established herself as one of the best sport climbers in the country, with redpoints up to 8c.

For the past few seasons she has been attempting Rainshadow...

More Than a Dream - Dave Thomas from 2018-11-06T20:45:07

The young Dave Thomas was motivated by one thing above all others – soloing. In his own words he’s “Never climbed a hard route”, but anyone looking at his climbing C.V. would beg to differ.

Sally Can Wait from 2018-02-05T05:00

There's something both romantic and illogical about taking the ultimate risk in climbing; leaving the rope behind and going solo. Justifying that is a question which has always fascinated me. Fo...

The Black Dog from 2018-01-01T05:00

Katy Forrester is a former member of the British bouldering and ice climbing teams. She's a fell runner and an accomplished trad and sport climber, with routes up to 7c+ and E8 under her belt. S...

Alone - Off the Wall from 2017-12-11T11:55:07