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Sports Podcast AwardsFactor Two - ENTRYFactor Two is a climbing podcast with impact, brought to you by Wil Treasure and UKClimbing.com
It brings you the best climbing stories straight from the people at their heart – and the best climbing stories are always about a little bit more than just climbing.
2022-01-0609 min
Factor TwoBirth Pains of New Nations - Pete OxleyThe 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 suspension of disbelief to start to see the world of risk, adventure, suffering and more in a different light. Those thresholds exist within climbing too. One of them is understanding the obsessive new-router. I think we can all appreciate the buzz of discovering something no-one else has done. We could probably imagine cleaning something, maybe even drilling some bolts, although I bet few of us have actually done it. Even fewer...
2021-08-1252 min
Factor TwoHateja - Louise Thomas and Glenda HuxterIf 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 experience on rock and alpine routes, and Louise Thomas brought even more big wall and expedition experience to the team. Their 1997 objective was a first ascent on Beatrice, by chance the first Himalayan Peak named after a woman: British mountaineer Beatrice Tomasson. The south-east face of Beatrice towers over the Charakusa glacier in the K7 region of the Karakoram. The base of...
2021-06-2444 min
Factor TwoFinding the Balance - Katherine SchirrmacherWe 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 pressures in our lives. I've read Katherine Schirrmacher's blog for years, and she's unusually good at expressing all of those little things that can affect your motivation or self belief. Like many of us, she was excited for the adventure of trad climbing in her early days, but she became an all-rounder; sport climbing, bouldering and competing as part of the British team. Being good at climbing can be...
2021-03-2341 min
Factor TwoEl Capitan - a film by Fred PadulaIn 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 climber and photographer, to advise on making a film about climbing The Nose. Denny had been part of the team that made the third ascent of the route. He'd also made the first ascent of the Dihedral Wall and was well connected in big wall circles. The concept was to create a film that would be as awe-inspiring as climbing The Nose.
2020-12-1054 min
Factor TwoHard Grit - Rich Heap, Niall Grimes and Seb GrieveWhen 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 had a smartphone, before digital photography was even mainstream, many of the photos we saw in the magazines were staged. The hardest lines captured on video were often toproped reconstructions. Hard Grit changed that, by virtue of a few lucky coincidences and a lot of hard work. Director Rich Heap had helped Johnny Dawes with some of the editing on his...
2020-10-2838 min
Factor TwoA Play for Voices - Helen Mort and Anna FlemingWhen you look at the books on a shelf of mountaineering literature one thing is quickly apparent: the vast majority are written by men. The same is true with the episodes I've produced for Factor Two. The simple fact is that there have historically been more men engaged in the kind of adventures that we choose to tell those high profile stories about. The kind of stories I've sought out have often fitted a similar mould. I came into this episode with a simplistic question. Would those stories be different if the protagonists were women?
2020-09-1642 min
Factor TwoBrave New World - Tom Livingstone and Twid TurnerIt'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 around us. Sometimes it's just a little too much. I've missed the isolation of the mountains, but even they aren't as isolated as they used to be. In most places in the UK you're not far from a phone signal. If you're calling for help that's great, but if you're trying to escape it's not so good. There's the expectation of contact now...
2020-08-0653 min
Factor TwoDeep Play - Neil Gresham and Dr Rebecca Williams"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? After speaking with Hazel Findlay about maintaining the bubble of a flow state in the last episode, there was one part of her account which reminded me of something else. Something different. Hazel's story was about maintaining concentration and avoiding falling back into a distracted mind while climbing at her limit. Magic Line has spaced and difficult to...
2020-07-0741 min
Factor TwoWalking the Magic Line - Hazel Findlay and Dr Rebecca WilliamsFlow 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 told me that a lot of her understanding of flow had come from conversations with Hazel Findlay and it had helped her to develop a different mindset both on and off the rock. Off the back of these interviews I wanted to know more, both to understand flow as a scientific concept and as a more ethereal tool for self fulfillment. That journey...
2020-05-2732 min
Factor TwoThe Moment You Doubt - Ben BransbyMany 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 seemed obvious what was next. Patagonia has long been the most difficult and revered home to big walls in the world. Notorious weather systems, complex peaks, difficult routes and tricky conditions create a mix where simply completing anything in a season is an achievement. In their first season in 2003 they managed just that. On route, accompanied by Adam Long. In...
2020-04-1439 min
Factor TwoFreebird - Ben BransbyAfter 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 Patch, Ben had made an ascent of the Salathe Wall with Mark Reeves. It was his first taste of big wall climbing and gave him the confidence that he could get himself out of trouble if needed. The climbing world might have been astonished at his and Patch's efforts on Freerider - remember at this time that there were only 2 free routes on El Capitan - but for...
2020-04-0632 min
Factor TwoLiving in the Shadows - Franco CooksonInternet 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 and rarely stopped to consider the responses from others. In those early days, he was the classic antagonist, cocksure and loudmouthed, but also somewhat detached from the climbing scene at large. He was also only 16 at the time, but in many ways his obsession with the North Yorks Moors and new routing means that he is operating in his own scene. Franco's early climbing career played out...
2020-03-0330 min
Factor TwoNo More Heroes?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 E6 and E7 in North Wales and climbing with the likes of Tim Emmett, Neil Gresham and Leo Houlding. In the last episode we heard from Leo about their ascent of El Niño on El Capitan – Leo's first big wall. Patch and Leo had travelled to Yosemite together, but while Leo was socialising at Camp Four and becoming part of the Yosemite scene...
2019-09-1143 min
Factor TwoNo More Worlds - Leo HouldingBack 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 Yosemite without any great ambitions for the big faces. They had intended to try to headpoint some bold, hard new lines, but quickly discovered that the sort of lines they were after didn't exist in Yosemite. When they arrived there were just two free routes on the mai wall of the Captain. The Salathé Wall, freed by Paul Piana and Todd Skinner in 1988, and The Nose, fre...
2019-05-2425 min
Is it worth it? The Film Review PodcastWeek 31 - Captain Marvel, Free Solo, Cold Pursuit, The Aftermath, Triple Frontier, Serenity, Fighting with my Family, What They Had, What Men Want, BorderGuests Katy Smillie Friend of the podcast and all round brilliant person! Katy Smillie is fundraising for The Pahar Trust Nepal Matt Meggitt A friend of the podcast and a climbing enthusiast uk.virginmoneygiving.com Wil Treasure Journalist, teacher and rock climber. I produce the Factor Two podcast for https://t.co/YoEtVoguOc. Wil Treasure (@treasurewild) | Twitter Podcasting | Wil TreasureWith interviews from Wil Treasure...
2019-03-222h 36
Factor TwoOn and Off - A headpointing storyPrompted 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 enviable ticklist of routes, including the Yorkshire Triple Crown of The Groove, Urgent Action and Supercool. Over the years he's been a keen sport climber, but Tim also likes to stick his neck out on trad routes. Back in 1992 he took a huge fall on The Cad, on North Stack Wall at Gogarth. A little hungover and not warmed up, he lunged for a break and didn't...
2019-01-3011 min
Factor TwoClouds Come and GoIn 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. The objectives are too long, too complex and too unpredictable. At altitude everything becomes harder, your muscles ache under the lack of oxygen and, as Rick Allen has found more than once, your mind can wander. Rick is one of the world's most accomplished high altitude mountaineers. He's climbed several 8000m peaks, including a new route on the north...
2019-01-2239 min
Factor TwoMe and My ShadowMina 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, Steve McClure's iconic 9a at Malham. It's more than a step above her previous ascents, and initially something that it hadn't even occurred to her to try. It seemed too unfeasible. When pushing the limit at some point you will find it. We often say this with risk taking, but the same is true when pushing your physical boundaries. Over time Mina has become...
2018-12-1732 min
Factor TwoMore Than a Dream - Dave ThomasThe 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. In 1989 he soloed the classic E6 Lord of the Flies at Dinas Cromlech. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing. He'd been putting the miles in on the Rubicon traverse in the weeks leading up to the day. In his mind he had set a date with destiny. He'd decided he wanted to do it, so he would. The logic here mi...
2018-11-0633 min
Factor TwoSally Can WaitThere'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. For many people it's such an absolute risk that the answer is easy, but I've always thought it was more grey than that. I've asked all of the climbers I've interviewed for this series the same question, about why we do it and how we justify the risks we take. It turns out that we're all motivated by similar things. One day that motivation came back to...
2018-02-0529 min
Factor TwoThe Black DogKaty 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. She also has a black dog. Katy is open in talking about her experience of depression and how she tackled her metaphorical black dog with a real one - a 5 month old labrador called Jade. In this episode Katy talks about her experience of dealing with depression. As a naturally competitive person she became frustrated at being unable to perform to the level she...
2018-01-0131 min
Factor TwoAlone - Off the WallIn part one of this story we saw how Duncan Critchley's quick judgment of his partner for The Nose resulted in a piece of big wall history. Despite his good judgment, he was left with the regret that they never climbed together again. In part two Duncan's judgment isn't so good, but it leaves him with few regrets and some firm friendships. What do you do when you've just set the speed record on The Nose? For Duncan the answer was to set out alone. First with a free solo ascent of the Steck-Salathé route on Yosemite's Sentinel, a route th...
2017-12-1128 min
Factor TwoNine and a Half HoursThe Nose on El Capitan is perhaps the most iconic rock climb on the planet. Its been big news even outside of the climbing world since its first ascent by a team led by Warren Harding in 1958. The crowds in El Cap meadow became so unmanageable that the park rangers asked Harding to halt his work on the route until the autumn when the tourists had left. Today a major first ascent or speed record is news even in the mainstream media. Back in 1984 mild-mannered British climber "Sir" Duncan Critchley set out for Yosemite with a picture book dream and m...
2017-12-0428 min
Factor TwoBecoming the Master Every generation of climbers looks to improve on the performances of the last. The saga of the Great Wall on Clogwyn Du'r Arddu provides one of the best examples of this in British climbing.The climbers looked to improve the style and the difficulty of the lines: Joe Brown abandoned his efforts with a peg at his high point. Pete Crew surpassed it using pebbles for aid in the thin cracks of the top pitch. A young John Allen freed the line in 1974. In the early 80s the eyes of...
2017-11-0621 min
Factor TwoTrailerFactor Two is a climbing podcast with impact, brought to you by Wil Treasure and UKClimbing.com. It brings you the best climbing stories straight from the people at their heart - and the best climbing stories are always about a little bit more than just climbing. Find Factor Two on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/factortwopod/ Twitter - @treasurewild
2017-10-1502 min