Recently, renowned British adventurer Leo
Houlding and his team successfully scaled the cliff face of Huashan's West Peak barehanded, becoming the world’s first climbing team to achieve this feat. Upon returning from Huashan, Leo Houlding gave an exclusive interview to The Bund Pictorial, sharing his double life. He told The Bund Pictorial: “People always seem to focus more on the glamorous side, but rarely pay attention to the equally thrilling descent. Perhaps only someone who has experienced crazy adventures like me can truly appreciate the peace of a quiet life.” Adventure Tales
“Last week in Huashan, I actually saw a guy flying off the West Peak.” Someone posted on a blog, along with photographic proof. On the near-vertical granite cliff, a blue figure was clearly visible, clinging to naturally formed fissures in the rock. Though tethered by just a single rope, it didn’t hinder his nimble movements on the sheer face. Adventure Tales
“That’s amazing!” the onlookers exclaimed.
The climber was Briton Leo Houlding. This July, his Berghaus team spent 13 hours battling the elements before successfully scaling the cliff face of Huashan’s West Peak barehanded, becoming the world’s first climbing team to achieve this. The record drew attention from local government officials, who held a special press conference for Leo. At the event, the blonde-haired Leo was awarded a red sash designating him a “Huashan Hero.” Overjoyed as he accepted the sword symbolizing heroism, he struck a dramatic martial arts pose, creating a lively and entertaining scene.
“It was such a fun experience. Since ancient times, this famous Chinese mountain has been closely tied to emperors, kung fu heroes, Taoist myths, and ancient Chinese civilization. To be called a hero on a mountain full of legendary figures makes me incredibly proud,” Leo later told The Bund Pictorial. Management at Huashan plans to carve his name into the rocks of the West Peak, which made him feel “like part of Huashan.” Adventure Tales
In the UK, 29-year-old Leo Houlding is already a household name in the climbing world. He started climbing at age 10, won the British Youth Indoor Climbing Championship at 15, and became the youngest brand ambassador for Berghaus, the world’s top outdoor brand honored by the Queen. In 1998, at 18, Leo free-climbed the southeast peak of Mount Joseph via the famous El Nino route without aids. This feat made him famous and earned him the title “Climbing Prodigy” in the UK. In the following years, he worked with the BBC and other TV stations as a professional climber to produce a series of documentaries about pushing the limits of human endurance. On screen, he appeared atop Everest or hanging upside down from the rugged cliffs of Cape Verde. GQ magazine once commented that he had one of the closest-to-death jobs around, but his talent brought new brilliance to a sport long considered extremely dangerous.
The more dangerous, the more fulfilling
The interview with Leo was originally scheduled for July after his Huashan trip, but had to be postponed to October. No special reason — “Leo went to the Arctic again!” said his publicist. Summer is peak climbing season. After returning from Huashan, Leo decided not to waste the last bit of late summer and embarked on another grand adventure. Adventure Tales
This time, Leo and his team aimed to conquer Asgard Mountain on Canada’s Baffin Island in the Arctic. The entire mountain consists essentially of a pair of roughly cylindrical granite towers. With its flat summit and steep walls, it has long been one of the world’s “Top Ten Dream Cliffs” that climbers aspire to conquer. Its north peak stands 2,015 meters high, making it currently one of the hardest cliffs to climb. Leo chose the northwest ridge of Asgard Mountain this time. “This is the most impressive and remote cliff face in the world — the nearest approach route is over 100 kilometers,” he told us. Seven people joined Leo in challenging the northwest ridge of Asgard, including another world-class climber and close friend, Sean Riley. Leo believes his team is strong, but even so, he considers this climb “the most challenging adventure yet.”
Leo devised a uniquely creative route for the Asgard trip. They flew to the mountain, then parachuted about 800 kilograms of food and equipment onto the glacier below. Three team members then jumped directly from the plane onto the mountain and spent 14 days climbing 12 hours a day to finally reach 1,400-meter-high Fitzroy Peak. Adventure Tales
Leo described their Asgard challenge in his blog: “The name Asgard comes from Norse mythology’s heavenly palace. On this mountain, we truly felt how small humans are, like toys being toyed with by fate. On the huge northwest wall, snow built up about four centimeters thick in places. Blizzards whipped the climbing ropes around. Just as we began to worry about the weather, a snowy owl flew across the sky, giving us some comfort — but then 10 centimeters of snow came down.”
The northwest ridge of Asgard is composed of regular granite and steep ice walls, making the ascent extremely tough. Leo and his teammates risked avalanches and Arctic blizzards. At one point, Leo fell nearly 20 meters near the summit but was lucky to escape with only minor injuries. He showed photos of his palms and forearms covered in cuts. “This adventure exhausted us all physically and mentally. My hands were in pieces — I could barely even zip up my sleeping bag.” Adventure Tales
This is all just another day for Leo. Adventure Tales
In 2002, while climbing Cerro Torre in Argentina, he also fell 20 meters, resulting in a compound fracture of his right ankle. With no medical support, he had to crawl out of the valley on his hands and knees with an assistant, taking three days and nights.
Leo told The Bund Pictorial: “Normally, climbing isn’t about danger. For 95% of climbers, 95% of the time it’s very safe. You can choose to enjoy climbing without any risks. Or you can choose extremely dangerous peaks.” But he’s naturally drawn to adventure. “I love facing fear. I enjoy the quick thinking in the face of danger and the satisfaction of overcoming challenges.”
“Climbing takes you to places others can’t go and lets you see views few can appreciate,” Leo said. Hanging off cliff faces, he’s witnessed breathtaking sights more than once. Describing the view from the northwest ridge of Asgard, he said: “The aurora borealis seemed to swirl around me, impossibly beautiful temperature inversion clouds were within reach, and the setting sun slowly dipped beside me. When these epic scenes unfolded before me, I knew it was all worth it.”
Conquest isn’t everything
Leo is one of only three professional climbers in the UK. Besides climbing, he engages in BASE jumping, skydiving, birdman flights, surfing, sledding, and snowboarding — but climbing remains his favorite. He has a mission to promote climbing worldwide. “Climbing dates back to the 1860s, making it one of the oldest extreme sports. But sadly, it’s still far less recognized than surfing or skiing,” Adventure Tales
Leo doesn’t shy away from climbing’s dangerous image. For most people, the idea of climbing is limited to indoor gyms. Leo admits that to him, gym climbing is amateur stuff. “For me, climbing must be in nature. The sport is not just about pushing physical limits, but also about exploring the unknown. Putting yourself in a no-way-back situation where you can only trust yourself and your partner. You have to stay alert, relying on skill, experience, and courage to challenge yourself. Suddenly, everything becomes very pure.” Adventure Tales
Leo credits his adventurous spirit to his family. “My mother and sister are very supportive of my career. My father was into mountain climbing when he was young and still climbs today.” Adventure Tales
Growing up in England’s Lake District, surrounded by over 200 peaks, Leo was introduced to hiking by his father at a young age. Once, they saw people climbing an incredibly steep cliff using ropes. Young Leo was stunned — it was his first encounter with climbing. “The incredible skill, strength, and courage those climbers displayed left a deep impression on me,” he recalled. He came home that day buzzing with excitement. “That’s what I want to do.” He was 10.
Over the next few days, he begged his father’s friend until he finally got his first climbing lesson. They climbed a 10-meter vertical cliff called Hoff Rock. The fear he felt during that first climb is still vivid. Adventure Tales
Free climbing relies solely on ropes for safety. The actual climbing is done using hands and feet, with ropes serving only as a safeguard against falls. Like many beginners, Leo had to overcome distrust of the equipment. “Trusting the rope is crucial so you can focus on the climb,” he explained. Adventure Tales
That first climb gave Leo not just fear, but also the thrill of overcoming it. He fell in love with the sport and vowed to climb the world’s most incredible and treacherous peaks. “I’m obsessed with conquering the biggest, hardest, and most dangerous cliffs in the world,” he admitted. Each time he climbs such cliffs, he feels a deep reverence for nature and a desire to conquer it.
“Climbing Cerro Torre in Argentina was probably the toughest experience. It’s an enormous wall — perhaps only nature’s magic could create something so magnificent. There’s mushroom-shaped snow on the summit that collapses year-round. The final 1,500 meters are completely covered in ice. I really didn’t know if I’d make it back safely,” he cited as an example. Adventure Tales
“Conquering challenges” is Leo’s favorite phrase. From age 10 to now, 19 years of climbing — for him, conquest isn’t everything. “As I’ve grown older and gained more climbing experience, I’ve come to admire the Zen mindset. More often, I see it not just as a physical test, but also a spiritual journey.”
In 2007, Leo undertook a special adventure. That year, he joined famed American mountaineer Conrad Anker to climb Mount Everest, commemorating the legendary British climber and Everest pioneer George Mallory. In 1924, Mallory led a British expedition to Everest’s North Ridge for the third time. When a reporter at camp asked why he was back, the impatient Mallory snapped the immortal line “Because it’s there” before walking off. Days later, Mallory and teammate Irvine vanished forever in a blizzard. Adventure Tales
On May 1, 1999, American climber Anker found a marble-like frozen corpse 600 meters from Everest’s summit while following the traditional route near Camp VI. Anker and his team identified the remains through clothing fragments and personal items as George Mallory, missing for 75 years. Among the items were sunglasses, a pocket knife, an altimeter, letters, a handkerchief, and a box of matches — but no photo of his wife, which Mallory had promised to leave at the summit as proof of his climb. Adventure Tales
Mallory’s success in reaching the summit became a mystery in the mountaineering world. Had he perished after successfully topping the peak, the history of humanity’s conquest of Mount Everest would have been advanced by a full 29
years.
But for Leo, whether Mallory reached the summit no longer matters. In the face of extremely harsh conditions, the challenges those pioneers posed to nature and their fearless spirit continue to inspire successors like Leo. Though high-altitude mountaineering is vastly different from the rock climbing he excels in, Leo resolutely took up Ange’s legacy. Adventure Tales
While waiting for the second phase of the Everest climb, Leo attempted a free solo climb of a 30-meter cliff at an altitude of 8,620 meters, very close to the summit. He still vividly recalls one particularly grueling stretch of about five meters: “At minus 20 degrees Celsius without supplemental oxygen, that height was a huge challenge.” Normally, people would choose to bypass it, but he opted to push through. He believed that only by doing so could he come as close as possible to—and even surpass—the limits Mallory faced back in 1924. Adventure Tales
“For them, climbing Mount Everest was thousands of times harder than it is today. Modern equipment and knowledge have greatly improved safety. Yet climbing today is in some ways more difficult, with different risks involved. Hundreds now summit Everest and other peaks, most following the easiest routes with all kinds of gear to get to the top. For me, when I climb, I use as little gear as possible, take on tough routes, and scale the steepest faces. I care more about the climbing itself than about conquering any particular mountain,” says Leo.
Crazy adventures, double life
At 29 years old, Leo not only possesses extraordinary rock-climbing skills, but also sports blonde hair and blue eyes, making him quite handsome. Fans are especially enamored with the flexible and muscular physique he displays on cliffs. In 2003, GQ magazine praised in astonishment that his star-quality image had the potential to ignite the world’s passion for rock climbing. Adventure Tales
Leo became famous early on. At 18, he and his friend Patch Hammond tackled their first massive rock face during their climbing careers, ascending the southeast peak of El Capitan in the U.S. via the famous El Nino route. He became the first Briton to accomplish this feat. That rock face is considered one of the hardest in the world to climb, but the young and headstrong Leo didn’t seem to realize it at the time. Adventure Tales
“The climb had 32 pitches (each pitch is about the length of a rope, totaling roughly 910 meters), whereas in the UK most climbs are just a single pitch. Eight pitches is already considered a very high mountain!” Leo recalled. It took them five days to scale that rock face, swinging across the granite like monkeys, living in hanging tents built on the cliff face, experiencing the wonder of vertical living, and enduring a 24-hour storm. Back home, he suddenly found that his successful summit had become big news in the global climbing community. From then on, the media called him a “child prodigy,” and the British saw him as the new British hero of alpine challenges, following in the footsteps of Sir Chris Bonington.
Aside from continually pushing the limits of high-altitude adventure, Leo’s other passion is using modern media to showcase the allure of rock climbing and various extreme sports to the public. He currently runs a small PR firm and collaborates with TV stations such as the BBC to produce documentaries on extreme challenges.
Recently, having just returned from Asgard Mountain to the modern city, Leo has been busy producing a documentary titled “Mission Asgard.” Shooting such documentaries during climbs is incredibly challenging—the cameraman must stay above the climber, and every shot must avoid showing excess ropes or other cameras. This means each section of the climb often has to be done more than twice, usually reaching four or even five times.
For Leo, the filming process is immensely enjoyable—he even sees it as a new kind of climbing challenge. To capture high-quality climbing footage, he must maintain aesthetic beauty even in the midst of arduous climbing. “For a long time, compared to our counterparts in France, Italy, and even the U.S., British climbers have been known for their ballet-like grace in climbing techniques. This is one of the fascinating appeals of the sport. There are almost no rules—everyone can create their own path and style. For me, it’s either do the best or don’t do it at all.”
So far, all of Leo’s efforts have paid off. The various documentaries produced by his team have reignited people’s love for the ancient extreme sport of rock climbing. He himself is now considered part of the “celebrity” circle, frequently appearing at movie premiere parties or being invited to give lectures around the world. Last year, he was invited to 10 Downing Street to give a speech on the value of mountaineering experience. All of this feels like a world apart from the lonely, frigid nights he spent in the wilds of Asgard Mountain.
“I’d say I’m quite adaptable,” Leo says. “I love the tranquility of the wilderness and the authenticity of the mountains, but making films—with helicopters, big crews, and big budgets—is fun too. Seeing yourself on the big screen, that feeling is pretty cool. Experiences like these are just as memorable as climbing.” Adventure Tales
Leo uses the high-altitude climbing he loves to describe his life. “When people hear about my work, they’re always curious to know what happens during the climb and how it feels to reach the summit—but everyone overlooks the descent. In truth, reaching the top is only half the victory. Compared to going up, the descent is far more dangerous. People tend to focus on the more glamorous aspects, like when we challenge our limits or at movie premieres, but rarely on the equally perilous journey back down. Perhaps only someone who’s experienced crazy adventures like me can truly appreciate the peace of a quiet life.”