As well as climbing many routes in my trainers, I did some of their hardest bolted routes using trad gear in my climbing shoes, just to prove a point. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. How does he assess risk and judge what level he’ll take himself to be successful, and how does he balance this with teaching his own children the lessons he has learnt in some of the world’s most dangerous and extreme places. Like a lot of people, all I knew about Leo before this was the Top Gear climb but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I had just about recovered my self-esteem following my toxic hangover and responded, 'Ha, I'll climb that.This is a very personal, from the heart, memoir of a premier big wall rock climber and members of his expedition team. Honing his skills as he grew, at eighteen Leo became one of the very first to free climb the mighty El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley, California widely regarded as the most impressive rock face on the planet cementing his reputation as a world class climber.

I was handcuffed, piled into the back of his car, driven to Washington Police Station, literally a mile from Berghaus's head office, and locked up in a cell. One Man's Legacy adds much depth to Tom Patey's character and reputation, enriching our understanding of an already legendary figure in. During such explorations he has had to deal with tragedy when close friends and colleagues have been killed or badly injured, and he will discuss how you deal with such loss and carry on. Honing his skills as he grew, Leo would travel abroad becoming the first Brit to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park at 18 years of age, which cemented his reputation as a world class climber. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.We had a farewell party in the Stavanger climbers' pub Cementen on the picturesque docks of their oil-rich city, where I made a complete fool of myself due to my acute alcohol intolerance, blowing my shot of a dream end to the trip by going home with a blonde beauty and instead falling, or being thrown (I'm not sure which), into the harbour.