Welcome to the Further. Faster. Podcast in association with Montane. The host Daniel Neilson speaks to ultra-athletes, mountaineers, climbers and explorers to talk about how they do what they do and why they do it. This episode&apos;s guest is a climber, an exceptional climber, but one who has been described as &apos;controversial&apos; and &apos;notorious&apos;. Notorious for the new routes he&apos;s achieved, and notorious for the risks he takes – sometimes leading to unimaginably huge falls. Perhaps it was this notoriety that led filmmaker Al Lee to focus his lens on Franco Cookson for his forthcoming film "Fall Theory." In a thoroughly entertaining interview, they discuss why he takes such great risks, the mindset it takes to make a fall, and why the North York Moors is the centre of the universe. It&apos;s a fun one... Listen in!

Further.Faster. Podcast

S02 E06 - Fall Theory with Franco Cookson

Hello and welcome to Further Faster, in association with Montane. I’m Daniel Neilson and it’s my job to talk to ultra athletes, explorers, climbers and mountaineers who are at the top of their game, to find out why they do what they do and how they do what they do.  So, we could call this episode a Dragon’s Back Race special. A little ode to a big race - a race big enough to be described as the toughest mountain race in the world.  The 2021 edition of the race - setting off in November - covers 380km of the most beautiful Welsh landscape in 6 days, a height gain of 17,400 metres.   And in some ways, the next 40 minutes with Lowri Morgan and Chris Baynham-Hughes is that – these are two people passionate about the Dragon’s Back Race, but really what this three-way chat became was an insight into the power of races like this to foster friendships, to push boundaries that in turn benefit all elements of life, and why participating in events like this is a privilege, an adventure and, most importantly, a joy. 

S02 E05 - Montane Dragon's Back

Hello and welcome to Further Faster in association with Montane. For season 2, we&apos;ve been loosely theming our podcasts and this one has a clear thread. Yes, our two guests are both involved with bouldering what we really wanted to speak about was community, how it&apos;s built up and what other disciplines can learn from bouldering.  Annie Martin is part of one of the UK&apos;s most popular bouldering YouTube channels Bouldering Dabrats&apos;, a filmmaker, and jointly runs Beta Magazine, online climbing and outdoors magazine aimed at women. Through the magazine and YouTube channel, she&apos;s one of the figures who addresses the scene from a completely different angle. We delve into where bouldering sits in the climbing scene as a whole, and the large and supportive community that has developed around the  Bouldering Dabrats channel.But their inspiration was Bouldering Bobat, a YouTube channel with more than 25 million views. We have a refreshingly honest conversation with founder member Omar Bobat about the foundations of the channel, the larger community and how he found himself, perhaps unwittingly, at the vanguard of a new generation of climbers and boulderers.  And be warned: No matter if your a runner, climber, mountaineer, you will be considering your own YouTube channel by the end... listen in. 

S02 E04 - Building Communities

Hello and welcome to Further Faster, in association with Montane. In each episode, host Daniel Neilson talks to two guests who push the boundaries. They could be explorers, mountaineers, or in the case of this episode, ultra runners or endurance athletes.This episode is about fear, or, rather, overcoming fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, or simply, oh-my-god-what&apos;s-that-coming-out-of-the-dark-right-at-me type of fear. How do you mitigate fear? How to you overcome fear? How do you harness fear? We speak to Debbie Martin Consani, a runner and friend of the podcast. She is a brilliant runner. In her first Spine Race, one of the most gruelling races on the planet, she came second. We talk about training, preparing from the unknown, and why you should do something every year very much out of your comfort zone. But first Daniel spoke to Jordan Wylie, a former soldier, a hunter in the TV programme Hunted and maritime security expert. He&apos;s rowed solo across the Horn of Africa, ran through Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia and, most recently, paddleboarded more than 2000km around the coast of Britain. But in a candid interview, Jordan is probably facing his biggest challenge of all: dealing with mental health issues during the pandemic. And if you&apos;re affected by any of these issues, remember there&apos;s always help available. Listen in to Jordan and Debbie&apos;s inspiring stories of bravery and adversity and ultimately, success. 

S02 E03 - Fear

Welcome to Further, Faster in association with Montane. Today Daniel Neilson is talking distance and time. Long distances and a long time in the wilderness.  With two hugely experienced guests, we’re discussing how you prepare for long expeditions, how you transition into them and, seemingly more difficult, transitioning back into a busy world. Joining us is Montane athlete Jenny Tough who is one expedition away from completing her challenge to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range in every continent. We speak to her from her home in British Colombia having just navigated the Rockies. We also speak to Robert Mads Anderson, one of the world’s leading high altitude climbers. He&apos;s led new routes on Everest’s Kangshung face and climbed the seven summits solo. His latest book, Expeditions to Everest, tells of his nine trips to the world’s highest mountain, leading groups, and how different personalities react on the mountain. Listen in. 

S02 E02 - Distance + Time

Welcome to Series 2 of Further. Faster. in association with Montane. Yep, we&apos;re back to our monthly schedule after a break and host Daniel Neilson is starting off with two fascinating guests: First, we speak to Hamish Frost, a photographer who specializes in taking pictures in rubbish Scottish mountain weather... that&apos;s to say, the best mountain weather! We learn about he became a professional outdoor photographer and his inspirations. Continuing the theme of professional development, our main interview is with the remarkable Becky Coles. Becky is an expedition leader with a PhD in Glacial Geomorphology. We follow her route from keen walker to climbing some of the most remote peaks in the world, in places including Afghanistan and Central Asia. Wrap up warm... this episode contains wind, snow, adventure and mishap.  

S02 E01 - Professional Development

Hello and welcome to Further, Faster in association with Montane. My name is Daniel Neilson and in these podcasts, I speak to athletes, explorers, mountaineers and climbers and ask why they do what they do, why they put themselves through such strain. In this special episode, I spoke to John Kelly. You may have heard of him recently, as he&apos;s just won the Montane Spine Race, a non-stop 268-slog across the country, and generally regarded as one of the hardest endurance races in the world. And then you learn that John also finished the infamous Barkley Marathon – watch the Netflix documentary if you haven&apos;t heard of it. He is only the 15th person in its history to do so. So how does he do it? And why? If there&apos;s something we&apos;ve learnt over the last couple of years making Further Faster, is that everyone has a very different approach. Listen in. 

Further. Faster. Podcast Ep 19 - John Kelly

Hello, and welcome to Further, Faster in association with Montane. My name is Daniel Neilson and in these podcasts, I speak to athletes, climbers and explorers in an attempt to understand why they do what they do, what makes them so tenacious and successful. My guest this month perhaps understands this better than most. After all, he&apos;s dedicated his life to documenting remarkable journeys; whether that&apos;s first ascents on Baffin Island or following my recent guest Jesse Dufton lead up the Old Man of Hoy, a remarkable feat for someone almost entirely blind. Al Lee&apos;s resulting film Climbing Blind has so far won the  Grand Prize at the Kendal Mountain Festival and the Best Climbing Film at the Torello Mountain Film Festival. Inevitably there are plenty more gongs on its way. Why? Well, Al makes his films with such humanity, such a strong narrative hook, and avoids all the cliches. Let him tell you how he does it. 

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.18 (Behind the Lense of Expedition Film Making with Al Lee)

Welcome to Further Faster in association with Montane. My name is Daniel Neilson and in this series of podcasts I speak to ultra athletes, climbers, explorers and mountaineers to understand how they do what they do and why they do what they do. In this month&apos;s podcast, I speak to someone who perhaps has delved deeper than most into these questions. If you&apos;re a climber you&apos;ll know Jerry Moffatt, he&apos;s one of the best, of all time. We speak primarily about the theories behind Mastermind, a manual of sorts for better climbing. Not the physical, not the route choice, but the psychological. It&apos;s at once alarming and affirming, insightful and exciting. I&apos;m not a climber, but I left this conversation learning so much about what we can do to achieve our goals. This is a conversation about life, not climbing. Listen in. 

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.17 (Jerry Moffatt - The Mastermind of Climbing)

Hello and welcome to Further, Faster with Daniel Neilson and in association with Montane. In Further, Faster we have an in-depth conversation with explorers, mountaineers and athletes to understand exactly why, and how, they do what they do. What is it that pushes them to the limit of human endurance and why do they feel the need to do it.This time we’re speaking to Jesse Dufton. So who is Jesse? Well, he’s a climber. A good one. His dad first took him climbing at the 2. At the age of 11, he led his first route. His climbing life continued through his uni years, and then recently he led a climb on the Old Man of Hoy. So far, so impressive, but what you may not know about Jesse is that he is almost completely blind.  His story, told in the film Climbing Blind, is touring now. Catch it at the Kendal Mountain Festival or on the BritRock tour. But first, listen in to his remarkable story. 

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.16 (Climbing Blind with Jesse Dufton)

Hello and welcome to Further, Faster in association with Montane. In Further, Faster Daniel Neilson meets explorers, mountaineers and athletes to understand exactly why, and how, they do what they do. What is it that pushes them to the limit of human endurance and why do they feel the need to do it.  Daniel posed this question to Galen Reynolds, an ultra runner from Canada, now living in the UK. A few years ago, Galen felt the need to get fit; he could barely run 5km. But this running thing soon turned into a passion. He has since ran some of the most iconic ultras in the world, including the UTMB and Montane Tor des Géants coming second on the podium in 2018. In 2019, he won the Berghaus Dragon’s Back Race, one of the world’s toughest multi-stage races. It’s a remarkable story… listen in .

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep. 15 (Ultra Marathons with Galen Reynolds)

Hello and welcome to Further, Faster in association with Montane. We started this podcast to delve into why mountaineers, explorers and endurance athletes do what they do. Why they push themselves, why they feel the need to put another foot forward or crank out another turn of the pedal. In this episode, we spoke to Jenny Graham, a Scottish endurance athlete. The resulting interview fulfilled everything we set out to do. In this searingly honest conversation, we learn about her record-breaking round the world cycle, how she got into riding and running very, very long distances, and how she balances it with her work and family life. We also discuss why, through her work with The Adventure Syndicate that she co-directs, inspiring children is one of her most important aims. Jenny is a superb interviewee, we&apos;re sure you&apos;ll enjoy it. Listen in.

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.14 (Cycling Round the World with Jenny Graham)

Welcome to Further, Faster, in association with Montane and hosted by Daniel Neilson. In this episode, we speak to Jon Gupta. He is a mountaineer. A very, very good mountaineer, one who specialises in very very big mountains. But he&apos;s also an expedition guide, notably working with a previous interviewee Steve Plain for his 7 Summits project. He&apos;s a penchant for more remote, lesser-known mountains. But over the last couple of years, he&apos;s also run the Bob Graham round, and the the 430-Yukon Arctic Ultra.. on his second attempt.  We chat as Jon was on his way to Chamonix, in his van, to climb, just for himself. At the age of 32, Jon is also going through something that nearly everyone listening to this will recognise - the search for balance. In this podcast, we delve into the choices he makes. The choices of risk and the choices of training, the choices of summits and the choices of life balance. It&apos;s a fascinating listen, disarmingly honest, plus he&apos;s a lovely fella. Listen in.    

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.13 (Climbing the Biggest Mountains in the World with Jon Gupta)

In this episode, we meet a remarkable character. He has completed some of the most difficult races in the world, including only recently the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, the 430-mile course, and the Montane Spine Race. So far, so impressive, until you learn that he often ‘doubles’ the race. Having completed the Spine Race he simply had a break, turned around and did it all again. Incredible!Yet speaking to Javed Bhatti, his attitude isn’t as crazy as it first seems. There’s a logic to the ‘doubling’, there’s a logic to his preparation, there’s an exploration of the body and mind, and from that and there are deep learnings for him and for us. He’s a buoyant chap, an entertaining and insightful conversationalist, and full of information and inspiration. The rules of the game are ever so slightly different for Javed, and from that, we can all learn.  There is so much more we could have chatted about, and in time we probably will, but in the meantime, pop on your running shoes or kick back and listen to the enlightening story of Javed Bhatti. Listen in.

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.12 (Completing the World's Coldest Ultra Race with Javed Bhatti)

Dr Melanie Windridge describes herself as a speaker and writer… with a taste for adventure. She&apos;s also a plasma physicist working in fusion energy. She&apos;s also a healthy obsession with the Northern Lights, leading to her to write the groundbreaking book, Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights. Melanie also has a blog called Science at Extremes which led from her successful Everest expedition where she took a distinctly scientific look at climbing the mountain. In this wide-reaching conversation, we spend time discussing the importance of science on expeditions to high altitude and in turn, what we can learn from exploring these zones. Dr. Melanie Windridge is a fascinating, inspiring and eloquent interviewee. Listen in. 

Further. Faster. Podcast - Ep.11 (Science at Extremes with Dr Melanie Windridge)

Welcome to the Further. Faster. Podcast, in association with Montane, the FREE podcast that asks ultra athletes, mountaineers and adventurers the why and the how of what they do. Each month we'll speak to different athletes, race organisers and experts from across the world to explore their motivations and what drives them to attempt such intimidating activities in the most extreme environments.

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Further.Faster. Podcast

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