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Hallvard Kolltveit describes himself as ‘the surf photographer that doesn’t know how to swim properly’.

It’s a good line, and one that sums up Hallvard’s witty and self-deprecating take on his own unconventional route through action sport and outdoor media.

If you’re unfamiliar with his work, he's one of the first really popular post-Burkard cold water surf photographers to blow up on Instagram, and I’ve been following his career with interest ever since.

We actually first met back in April 2019, in Lofoten, during a Patagonia Snow Impact camp. We stayed in touch, and have since worked on a couple of gigs together, and crossed paths in unusual places.

In this chat, recorded in May 2024, we discussed the nature of risk-taking, in both physical and creative pursuits, and how discomfort can be a powerful catalyst for growth.

Literally, in Hallvard’s case, as he explained how his recent foray into ultra-endurance events have influenced his perspective on life and art.

We also discussed the balance between commercial success and artistic integrity, the importance of collaboration, and the endless quest for new perspectives in a rapidly changing media landscape.

Classic Looking Sideways fodder, in other words. Have a listen, and let me know what you think.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Nick Russell is one of those rare snowboarders who combines grace and intellect in equal measure, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the high alpine with a distinctly cerebral approach.

I've been following Nick's career since I first interviewed him for Curator Magazine, and it's been a joy to watch his subsequent evolution into one of our most innovative and pioneering riders.

And this past winter has been especially significant for Nick. He ticked off the first snowboard descent of Papsura, a 6000-meter behemoth in the Indian Himalaya. He followed that with another crack at Mount Saint Elias in Alaska - a peak that 'Fifty' aficionados will recognise as one of the last great unsolved problems of that particular series.

It was an intense winter, and by the time we sat down to record this conversation, at the end of July 2024, I found Nick in recovery mode and in an open, reflective mood.

The result is a hugely insightful and thoughtful conversation that covers the two expeditions, themes such as the law of diminishing risk-versus-reward returns that comes with the high alpine territory, as well as a diverting thread around climate change and the accusations of hypocrisy that are so often levelled at people in NIck’s position.

I’m a big fan of NIck’s approach to snowboarding, and I enjoyed this chat very much. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

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To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

It's a return visit for friend-of-the-show Thomas Campbell this week, who is, as I said last year, ‘one of surfing and skateboarding’s most important influences thanks to classic films such as The Seedling, and a singular aesthetic and approach that has an outsized influence on what it means to be creative in our world’.

I think it’s fair to say myself and Thomas got on pretty well first time around, and we’ve stayed in touch over the months.

This redux episode came about after I asked him if he’d be up for taking part on one of my Open Threads, in which guests (such as the great Jeremy Jones, here) answer questions from listeners and readers.

Thomas was up for it, but asked if we could just do it as another conversation. Which I thought was a great idea, and is exactly what we did.

The result was yet another brilliantly entertaining, discursive chat about life, art, surfing, music, creativity and the rest of the good stuff. As it was originally supposed to be a written piece, you can find the transcription for the entire episode here as well.

Huge thanks to everybody who contributed questions for this one. I’d love to know what everybody thinks of this new format - let me know by either leaving a comment on my Insta or Substack 🤙

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

My ‘lifer’ episodes are always loved by listeners. And with this week’s guest Liam Griffin, we are in proper vintage territory. For me, Liam is THE classic example of somebody who has carved out a unique career for themselves, inspired by their love of shredding, and a desire to take risks and follow their own path.

First, some background: LG is a proper stalwart of the US snowboarding industry who I first met back in the early 2000s, when he was overseeing all of Burton’s various events (including the Open series). Two things immediately struck me: his professionalism, and his geek-level love of all things snowboarding.

We became friends and stayed in touch, and in the intervening years I’ve watched on as his career has gone from strength to strength, particularly after he left Burton to set up his own event agency SuperGoodThingMaker, and began working closely with Travis Rice on his various event concepts.

If that isn’t the quintessential lifer resume then I don’t know what is. And behind the scenes Liam has quietly had a supremely important role in steering snowboarding’s development over the past two decades; efforts which have just come to fruition with Natural Selection, the event series he has put together with Travis.

Think of this one as a complement to the Travis episode, and a look at the other side of the story. How do you put something like NS together? What challenges did they face? And just how did Liam get to the point where he could help T-Rice put together the most influential event series in snowboarding?

The perfect territory, then, for a roving chinwag in the finest Looking Sideways tradition.

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Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

I’m used to chatting guests with massive goals or awe-inspiring achievements under their belts. Think of Ross Edgeley’s Great British Swim, or Christina Koch’s record-breaking spaceflight.

And this week’s guest Andrew Alexander King is right up there. Andrew is a surfer, climber and mountaineer who is at the beginning of an audacious attempt to become the first African-American to climb the seven highest mountains and volcanoes on each continent. 14 peaks in all, each with their own dangers and unique challenges.

As a life goal, it is frighteningly ambitious. And that’s before you factor in his Between Worlds Project, through which he hopes to subvert the “lottery ticket of birth” that currently sets your cultural path, and dictates who gets to see these environments as viable playgrounds; a subject that is currently the subject of much transatlantic discussion and controversy.

Like I said, it is ambitious stuff, and about as far-removed from the “because it’s there’ orthodoxy that has shaped the narrative of exploration for the past two hundred years as it is possible to get. Andrew’s infectious personality and compelling backstory only add to the intrigue.

Naturally, I was keen to speak to him for the show, and find out more about his quixotic quest, so in March 2021 we caught up over Zoom to discuss the whole thing. It’s a good one this. Enjoy.


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Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

This week’s guest is Ryan Gellert who last year replaced Rose Marcario as Patagonia’s CEO, taking charge at a critical point in the company’s history. Ryan took the role following his successful six-year stint overseeing Patagonia in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, during which he helped the brand attain its leadership position in the European outdoor and environmental communities, and oversaw projects such as Save The Blue Heart of Europe and Patagonia Action Works.

Of course, as in all episodes of Type 2, we delved into Ryan’s back story and explored his own personal history of activism. But I was particularly interested in finding out more about his new position, and what he hopes to achieve during his time in the role, as we all reflect upon 12 months that have changed the world.

After all, the position of Patagonia CEO fulfils a certain totemic role in the outdoor and environment worlds, and how Ryan approaches his tenure will obviously say a lot about Patagonia the company.

How is he going to use this position and power? What does he stand for? And, by extension, what does Patagonia in 2021 stand for? These are the topics I was interested in discussing and which, I’m happy to say, Ryan was equally happy to explore.

The result is a completely fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with someone in one of the most influential roles in our industry. I’m also extremely grateful to Ryan for sharing his own at times very personal story. My thanks to Ryan and his team for their help in setting this episode up. Hope you enjoy it.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Bone fide legend alert!

Yep, my guest this week is a proper icon, somebody who has achieved so much in their own discipline that they’ve crossed over into the mainstream realm as the personification of their chosen sport.

Take a look at Rachel Atherton’s record and you’ll see why. Five world champion titles. 6 UCI World Cup titles. 39 World Cup events. The ‘double double’ in 2015 and 2016 - which was, also, the only perfect season ever.

It is an absolutely extraordinary record of achievement by an athlete who has achieved genuine greatness. And yet, as I discovered during our conversation, it has also come at quite a physical and mental cost, as the lengthy list of injuries and setbacks that have complemented her victories attest.

Now, as Rachel prepares to become a mum, we sat down to discuss her career so far and her plans for the future. I’ve met and chatted to Rachel a few times over the years and I’m always so impressed by her complete emotional honesty and levels of self-awareness. This is just a brilliantly revealing conversation with somebody at the absolute top of their field, full of peerless insights into the nature of success, competitiveness, and how to cope with failure.

I really enjoyed this one, and I have to thank Rachel for opening up fully and bringing the full range of her experience, insights and extremely impressive levels of self awareness to the conversation. Hope you enjoy it.

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Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Welcome to the second of two episode 150 instalments. To mark this milestone, I decided to stay true to the ethos of the Looking Sideways podcast and speak to two of my oldest and closest friends; two people who’ve been integral to the Looking Sideways universe since it launched - Ed Leigh and Owen Tozer. This, episode 150b, is the second instalment with Owen Tozer.

Long term listeners will know Owen - he’s one of my oldest and closest friends who has been a key part of the Looking Sideways story since its inception a decade ago. He’s also my co-author on Looking Sideways Vol.1, the first Looking Sideways book we recently finished and which will be available soon.

Not that this comes close to covering the full extent of Owen’s omnivorous creative talent and range. As I’ve said many, many times before, Owen is the real deal - a supremely talented photographer, art director, designer, film-maker, artist and musician. Sure, like any creative he sometimes doesn’t know when to stop arguing with the producer but that’s alright. His standards are higher than everybody else’s.

I’m extremely fortunate he continues to lend his considerable talents to Looking Sideways, and the completion of our book and episode 150 seemed a fitting occasion to finally get him on the show.

Join us, as we cover Owen’s life and career, his work on new project Goodrays, Looking Sideways Volume 1, the creativity v. commerce conundrum, and loads more classic LS topics.

I’m so grateful for my friendship and creative partnership with Owen, and this was a hugely enjoyable catch up with one of my favourite people - hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Welcome to the first of two episode 150 instalments. To mark this milestone, I decided to stay true to the ethos of the Looking Sideways podcast and speak to two of my oldest and closest friends; two people who’ve been integral to the Looking Sideways universe since it launched - Ed Leigh and Owen Tozer.

This, episode 150a, is the first instalment with Ed Leigh. Ed, as you may know, is a broadcaster, journalist and presenter best known for helming legendary BBC show Ski Sunday, and for being the voice of the BBC's snowboarding coverage at the Olympics. He’s also been a stalwart of the European industry for over twenty years now.

Ed is also one of my oldest and closest friends, as well as somebody I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. He was my guest for the very first episode of the podcast back in January 2017. I also brought him back for episode 50 a few years ago, and he’s generally been a huge supporter of and advocate for the show since day one. So it seemed fitting to bring him back for a third appearance, which we recorded at the end of February 2021.

On this occasion we had a lot to chat about - the serious knee injury he suffered in January that looks set to keep him out for action for the rest of the year, his experiences presenting the latest series of Ski Sunday during a pandemic, the vociferous online reaction to a recent Ski Sunday piece on diversity presented by our mutual pal Phil Young, his time in NZ quarantine which is where he was when we chatted, his thoughts on Natural Selection and much, much more.

As ever with Ed, this was a supremely relaxed, lengthy chat, full of digressions and tall tales from one of the European’s industry’s most beloved communicators. I really cherish my friendship with Ed, and I’m so proud of what he’s achieved over the years. This was, as ever, an absolute blast. Enjoy!

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com
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My ‘lifer’ episodes are always among the most popular instalments, and this conversation with podcaster and journalist Shelby Stanger is a classic of the genre. It’s also particularly fascinating for me because, as I realised during our conversation, our careers are actually really, really similar - from the circumstances that got us into the industry, to our progress through it, and to the way we ended up laughing our own podcasts at around the same time. Given how niche our careers are, I found it to be an intriguing coincidence.

As fellow members of the unofficial action sports podcaster union, Shelby and I have been internet pals for a couple of years now. It’s a small world this industry, so you tend to end up knowing each other. And from the beginning, when she went out of her way to give me some extremely useful and savvy advice, I could tell she was a total legend.

So in February 2021, we sat down to unravel the story of Shelby’s life and career. And what a tale it is. As you’ll expect if you’ve listened to Shelby’s show’s Wild Ideas Worth Living and Vitamin Joy, this is a top yarn from an expert, empathetic storyteller. These are my favourite episodes of the show, where I can tell we’re on safe hands, and the overall vibe is relaxed and expansive. My thanks to Shelby to coming on the show, and for such a warm, insightful conversation. Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com
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Like all good ideas, the Natural Selection Tour seems obvious in hindsight. The world’s best riders on a specially built course designed to showcase snowboarding at its most progressive and stylish? Conveyed using next-level production and designed to nudge snowboarding away from the evolutionary cup de sac we’ve been heading down for years? Why on earth has nobody thought of this before?

The answer is that similar ideas have been mooted in the past. But it took somebody with the clout, vision and sheer dogged energy of Travis Rice to make it a reality. It’s been an endeavour, as Travis explains during our conversation, “50 years in the making”, and with the dust settling we sat down for a catch up about a truly historical moment for competitive snowboarding.

As regular listeners will know, I’ve also had a tiny involvement in Natural Selection as a member of the five person Selection Committee alongside Travis, event COO Liam Griffin and industry legends Barrett Christy and Pat Bridges. As part of that arrangement, Travis agreed to come on the show to discuss the entire show once Jackson was in the bag. The result is an expansive, illuminating chat that takes in the entire lengthy backstory to Natural Selection, what it means for snowboarding, and how Travis felt about losing to eventual winner Mark McMorris in THAT quarter final match up. This is a peerless insight into the entire NS story from the man who made it happen. Don’t miss it.

Big thanks to Travis for this one, as well as my friends Liam, Lora and Brantley for their help in making this happen.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com
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Special meta Curator/Circe Wallace special!

I’ve spent a good chunk of the last couple of months donning the journalist hat and occupying the editor's chair for the latest volume of Curator, the independent print snowboarding publication I’ve been privileged to work on for the last couple of years.

As well as editing the whole thing, I also wrote a couple of stories for this volume, including an interview with my old friend Circe Wallace, who regular listeners will remember I had on the show a couple of years ago as part of the California mission. Myself and Circe got on real well during that first LS conversation; so much so that we ended up staying in touch and becoming pals.

So when it came to chatting to Circe for the aforementioned Curator piece, I thought I might as well record the whole thing as an episode of the podcast, as well as use it as material for the story I ended up writing. This episode you're about to listen to is the result.

We recorded this one a few days before Christmas 2020, and as a result myself and Circe were in a particularly reflective mood, as you’ll hear. The result is this really warm, insightful and enjoyable conversations with one of our world’s most interesting and successful personalities. There’s plenty of 90s snowboard nostalgia for the geeks (hey, I include myself in that), as well as plenty of insight into the drive and vision that have made Circe one of the great motors of progress in action sports over the last twenty years.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

My guest this week is big wave surfer Andrea Moller. To give you an idea of what a legend Andrea is, let me run you through the week she had before we spoke for this episode of the podcast. As you may know, January 2021 saw Hawaii hit by a huge swell event that saw every spot swell and truly light up. As a Maui local and one of the world’s preeminent big wave surfers, Andrea was in the thick of it.

Friday saw her chaperone 13 year-old ripper Sissie Simpson Kane as she tackled huge Jaws. Saturday she was part of the team overseeing water safety. Sunday she was out scoring some bombs herself. The rest of the week? Back at her day job as a paramedic on Maui.

Like I say, she’s a total legend, and in this conversation I found it really fascinating hearing how the local community prepares for a situation like this. Water safety, as Andrea explained, is at the heart of it. As part of the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group, Andrea is an integral part of an organisation that is trying to organise and redefine the concept of water safety - and not just for big wave surfers.

As we’ve been learning during each episode of Type 2, activism takes many forms. It can be panoramic in scope, or it can be about focussing on certain issues and affecting change for the greater good. In this way, as Andrea explains, the Big Wave Risk Assessment group is leading the way among the surf community - a passionate, engaged and experienced community sharing their knowledge and experience to tackle an increasingly pressing issue head on, and benefiting the wider community while they’re at it.

And, of course, we also delved into Andrea’s own incredible career as a pioneer of big wave surfing. It’s a great episode this one - hope you enjoy it.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Photographer Skin Phillips, this week’s guest, has had one of the most extraordinary careers in British skateboarding. Completely self-taught, and driven by a thirst for knowledge and a desire to experience life behind the borders of his hometown of Swansea, Skin came up in the late 80s and early 90s.

Initially published in RaD and mentored by the great Tim Leighton-Boyce, he soon followed in footsteps of Bod Boyle, Steve Douglas and Don Brown by heading to the States, where he embarked upon a truly remarkable career in the US industry. He was a staff photographer at Transworld, and eventually ended up running the entire thing during that institution’s undoubted heyday. Later, he took a role as team manager at adidas Skateboarding.

An amazing CV -but this brief overview really doesn’t do justice to Skin’s outsized influence on global skate culture during this period. He shot with absolutely everybody - and I mean everybody - and has the tales and respect that go with such an outsized CV, as a quick look at the comments of any his recent Instagram posts will demonstrate.

So far, so legendary, and if you checked out Skin’s Nine Club chat from the other year, you’re probably familiar with that part of his story. What hasn’t been so well documented is the way things changed quickly for Skin after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Finding himself unable to stay in the States, he returned home to Swansea where he’s spent the intervening years coping with the new realities of his life.

I went to see Skin in Swansea early in January 2024. We cover the history, sure. But we also cover plenty of themes that aren’t discussed too frequently in the skate, surf and snow industries: how quickly his career in the industry unravelled, and how he’s coped with such an abrupt change of circumstances, with all the mental challenges this has entailed.

This is a tale about the challenges of dealing with a diagnosis that changes your life overnight, when there’s no safety net in place, and you’re left to work it out.

It’s also about the last thirty years of the UK, and the political manoeuvring that has wrought such havoc during that time, as epitomised by Skin’s South Wales home turf. And it’s about British working class culture, and how things such as skateboarding, football, music and art are the light in the darkness.

It’s an important one, this. Big thanks to Skin for this poignant and powerful conversation (and to listener Marc Evans for the help setting it up).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com
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This week’s episode is a long overdue conversation with the great Selema. I’ve been trying to get Selema on the show for a couple of years now, and we finally made it happen at the beginning of January 2021.

If you don’t know Selema, he’s one of the most switched-on and inspirational people in action sports. He’s a presenter, broadcaster, announcers, podcaster, musician, surfer, snowboarder - the list goes on.

He’s also just a brilliant mind, which is on full display in the free-flowing and hugely enjoyable conversation. As you might expect, given Selema’s range of interests, we covered a lot of ground in this episode, including his own background, the current state of politics in the States and what it says about action sports culture, and how he felt when he was suddenly thrust into the limelight as a spokesperson on issues of race and diversity last summer.

Articulate, insightful, generous, humane, energised, empowered - this is just a brilliant conversation with one of our culture’s essential voices. Don’t miss it.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Mikey February is one of those rare individuals for whom the facts, as interesting as they are, only tell part of the story. Take the early part of his surfing career, which saw him follow that classic competitive QS-to-WSL path. Except that Mikey was, of course, the first none-white African to make the tour, a milestone that carried a lot of symbolism and significance.

He did a year on the tour before bowing out to pursue a freesurf career - another established surf career-arc move, but one which Mikey accomplished much more quickly than many of his peers and forebears. Taken alone, this rapid career progression would have been enough to make Mikey a figure of note. Throw in his inimitable style, and the way he is using his platform to explore some interesting geographical and cultural territory, and you have one of the most intriguing and occasionally polarising figures in the surfing world.

Observe this surf, skate and snow game for long enough and you’ll realise that certain individuals transcend their surroundings to become standalone icons in their own right. Symbols, if you like, upon which a lot of different issues can be projected and discussed.

That’s certainly the case with Mikey and, in researching this conversation, I’ve often wondered how he feels about that. We caught up over Zoom in early December 2020 to discuss all the above and much more.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Lifer episode alert! Yes, it’s another one of those perennially popular episodes of the show where I chat to somebody who has managed to find a way to turn their passion for riding into a viable career. In this case, it’s the great John Bassett, also universally known as John Dragon, one of my closest and oldest friends from my years snowboarding and - yes - a lifer par excellence.

In John’s case, this has revolved around the Dragon Lodge, the legendary chalet in Tignes that has been one of the cultural epicentres of European snowboarding for a couple of decades now. This is thanks entirely to the inclusive, infectious environment that John and partner Will Hughes have created and through which they share their own passion for snowboarding as widely and inclusively as possible.

As I discovered, this has been entirely intentional on John’s part, and has been about creating an environment in which the type of culture that has influenced him could flourish in turn. The result is that the Lodge has been at the heart of any number of hugely influential European snowboarding mini-scenes, including the launch of Looking Sideways itself, as we discussed during the show.

And now the future of the Lodge is in doubt thanks to the pitiless combination of Brexit and Covid. The fate of a place like the Lodge is emblematic of the challenges faced by the wider winter sports industry, and throws up interesting questions about the type of scene we’ll have once the dust settles, and the type of opportunities we want to encourage as a society.

Could somebody from John’s background open a place like the Lodge today? The answer to that is probably no which is, to put it mildly, a crying shame given what places like this contribute to the fabric and culture of our little world.

So it was that in early December 2020 I grabbed a few cans of Guinness and headed up to John’s to sit around the firepit and discuss these questions and plenty more. I hope you take as much from this episode as I’ve taken from my friendship with John over the years.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Festive Zoom Special! Yep, for the third year I was joined by my old friends Tim and Gendle for a frivolous mince pie, booze and quiz-filled special.

If you’re new to the show or unfamiliar with the boys and their work, allow me to introduce them: two of the biggest influences and most-loved presences in European snowboarding, whether as film-makers, presenters or snowboarders.

If you’ve listened to my previous two festive specials, you’ll know the format is even more ramshackle and homespun than usual. So it was that on a frosty December evening I headed to the shed with a load of beers and some questions for our 2020 quiz, and got slowly festively drunk while chatting to two of my oldest and closest friends over a video link at the end of the weirdest year ever. Phew.

Enjoy the episode - and have a great Christmas! Thanks to everybody who has listened to an episode for the support.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

My guest this week is the great Len Necefer. Well, Dr Len Necefer to be precise. Len is a professor at the University in Arizona, CEO of Native Outdoors, a board member at the Honnold Foundation and American Alpine club .

It’s a breadth of experience that has given him a very intriguing and insightful approach to activism - and an intersectional take on the issues we currently face. Len is of mixed Navajo and European heritage and his work is primarily focussed, as the bio for Native Outdoors puts it, on empowering native and indigenous communities for a sustainable world.

Thought his work and various outlets, Len is helping both communities bridge the differences that exist between the indigenous take on the outdoors, and the classic white western approach. Which, after all, can come with attendant colonial connotations.

From speaking to Len I think that word bridge is important; he’s a consensus builder, somebody who is concerned with inclusivity and opening doors, rather than enforcing entrenched positions.

For Len, humour is a tool and dogmatism, whatever your political leaning, is to be avoided. I mean just look at his singular Instagram account, through which he uses some frankly exemplary meme skills to explore issues around climate, identity and diversity in today’s outdoor world.

The result is an illuminating, wide-ranging chat - enjoy.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com
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I’ve been trying to arrange a chat with Pattie Gonia, aka Wyn Wiley, for a while now and we finally made it happen. As their Instagram bio puts it, Pattie is a ‘queer environmentalist bringing drag outdoors’ and is yer genuine Instagram phenomenon, going from 0 to 300k followers very rapidly indeed and snagging coverage from everyone from Outside to The Guardian along the way.

It isn’t difficult to understand why. The outdoor and action sports industry can be an extremely conventional and heteronormative environment and a talented communicator like Pattie was always going to stand out, especially given how effortlessly she enables discussion on what can be challenging and complex topics. This conversation, in which we discussed everything from the history of drag to the divide between our public and hidden selves, is a brilliant example of that.

I personally enjoyed this conversation, which unfolded and leapt off into unexpected directions, enormously. I’m hugely grateful to Wyn Pattie for the generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness with which they approached this episode. Hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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This week’s guest Mark Munson is one of UK skateboarding’s true greats. It’s that simple. In his 30-odd years of board riding, he’s been there, seen it, done it and helped set standards that define the scene to this day thanks to an uncompromising dedication to skateboarding and a personality that defines the phrase ‘force of nature’. ⁣

As I discovered during our chat, he’s also taken the lessons learned from a life of skating and translated them into a career of brilliant creativity, influence and diversity. He was also, of course, a key mentor to the much-loved and missed Ben Raemers, one of the greatest Brit skaters to ever do it.

I’ve been looking forward to having Mark on the show for a while now. He’s smart, funny and could talk the hind legs off a donkey. He’s also got a hard-earned perspective on everything beautiful and occasionally tragic about our little corner of the world. Which pretty much makes him the dream guest in my book. There is so much good stuff to take on board in this one, and some brilliant insights from a man who attacks life in the best way possible.⁣ Don’t miss this one.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Think ‘viral video’ and a couple of examples from the last decade stand out. Danny Macaskill’s ‘Inspired Bicycles’, certainly.

Ben Moon’s ‘Denali’, too. Like a lot of people - over 20 million at the last count - this beautiful, moving tribute to his dog was the first time I became aware of Ben and his work as a photographer, filmer and writer. As is the case with any creative work that achieves huge success, the film hit hard on a deeply emotional level; successfully conveying the uniqueness of our bond with dogs, as well as the purity of Ben’s relationship with Denali himself.

The success of ‘Denali’ made it inevitable that the story would evolve into unexpected directions, and Ben soon followed the initial short film with an extremely honest and emotionally affecting book about his life and relationship with Denali.

I really like the Denali story, and I especially enjoyed our conversation, because it is a great reminder to regard the act of creativity as a series of concentric circles, within which new meanings can accrue and accumulate from one single starting point.

Now, with the news that a film adaption of the story is on the way, I sat down with Ben to discuss the whole story.

Like a lot of my favourite Looking Sideways conversations, this was a lovely chat that took its own sweet time and went off in some lovely tangential directions. Of course we talked about Denali - the dog and the short film - but we also chatted about Ben’s career as a creative in the adventure world, the nature of style, the emotional challenge of creating honestly, and other favourite Looking Sideways themes.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

This week’s guest is Lucy Siegle, a writer, journalist, broadcaster and film-maker who has been one of the UK’s foremost voices on issues of nature and climate for almost two decades now. Today, she co-hosts the So Hot Right Now podcast, is a trustee for Surfers Against Sewage, Chair of the Real Circularity Coalition and is still a hugely prolific journalist and broadcaster on the subject.

As you might imagine from that resume, this breadth of experience has given Lucy a unique perspective on some favourite Type 2 themes.

We caught up in early November 2020 and had a really fascinating conversation that took in the psychology of change when it comes to climate action, the best way of communicating your values in an increasingly polarised world, why the 2020 US Presidential election is the century’s pivotal climate-related event, and why the fast fashion industry is emblematic of the wider challenges we face.

And, of course, we discussed Lucy’s own inspiring path, which in many ways mirrors the paradigm of the wider climate conversation.

There’s a lot to take in here, in a wide-ranging chat that sees Lucy laser in on detail and zoom out to provide priceless, panoramic context on the current state of play. There Is also some timeless advice on personal activism from one of the wisest heads in the game.

Big thanks to Lucy for coming on the show - hope you enjoy the episode.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Ah, Christmas. A time of friends, family and tradition - which in Looking Sideways world means the much loved Festive Special with my close pals and stalwart podcast supporters Tim and Gendle!

Yep, we’re back once again with our very own addition to the Christmas canon -even if, this year, we managed not to get blind drunk while recording this one. Apart from that, it was the usual story - our highlights of the year, our hopes for 2024, the usual quiz (spoiler alert: I lost yet again), and a freewheeling catch for our annual Yuletide review.

As ever, wherever you’re listening to this, grab a festive drink and a mince pie, don the Santa hat, and join us as we wax festive for a couple of hours. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy another brilliant Looking Sideways year, so huge thanks for listening and supporting what I do. I’ll be back refreshed, rested and ready to go once again in 2024 - in the meantime, have a brilliant break 🎄

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Since I started the podcast back in February 2017, a few classic themes have become familiar to listeners. Creativity. Independence. Perseverance. Individuality.

Community, too - although not always in a wholly positive way. After all, community was always supposed to be at the heart of this thing. And yet, for every positive story about action sports as community - usually relayed by white, male guests - there’s been an equal number of tales of rejection, hardship or outright hostility from that same supposedly progressive and open-minded community.

This context is what makes the work of Valeria Kechichian so important and impressive. For the past decade, Valeria has been one of the driving forces behind the Longboard Girls’ Crew, which has quietly become one of the biggest communities in action sports. Now she’s taken that experience into her latest role running new non-profit Longboard Women, which will use longboarding, arts and educational programs to create change in disadvantaged communities around the world.

As you might imagine from that brief description, Valeria is a hugely inspiring force of nature, and her own tale is a fascinating combination of personal and universal themes, and a lesson on how your own transformative experiences can create change live and inspire others.

Above all, Valeria’s story, and the wider tale of the longboard community she has helped establish, is a welcome reminder that there is more than one way to experience the freedom, liberation and - yes - community that lies at the heart of our culture. And how, if you can’t find what you’re looking for in the existing community, you can create your own - on our own terms.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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Sight loss is one of those primal fears we in common. It’s something everybody has pondered at some point, the type of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ scenarios we tend to shy away from because we don’t really want to know what our potential reaction might reveal about our own character.

It’s why Dan Mancina’s story is so powerful and inspirational. Dan is a skateboarder who is, as he puts it, ‘blind and changing how people see’. He was born with a hereditary degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa which began to affect his vision in his early twenties, and eventually led to total sight loss.

Obviously, this was a huge physical and emotional blow to Dan. This story of what happened next, as Dan learned to overcome his blindness and reclaim his identity as a skateboarder, is rightly celebrated as one of the most joyous and humbling in skateboarding.

So one level, this is a story about how Dan overcame his physical condition, and learned to live with his sight loss. But it’s also a story of personal identity, and the strength it takes to not let yourself be defined by the physical changes that come from diagnosis of illness and disease.

In this way, it takes its place alongside my recent episode with Tim Baker, which covered similar ground with equally emotional honesty.

I’m really grateful to Dan for trusting me with this one, and for being so honest about how his life as a blind skater. Hope you find the episode as inspirational as I did.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

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What does ‘influence’ mean today? Somebody on Instagram with thousands of followers? A professional athlete using their platform to promote their own beliefs and interests, however erroneous? Or does it refer to somebody who, by their consistent actions, has quietly helped to create new opportunities for their community?

At the moment, the latter is probably the least fashionable. But for my money, it is the truest definition of all.

Take this week’s guest Hannah Bailey, who over the last decade has created a brilliant career for herself. Like many people in the industry, she has learned to wear many hats over the years; photographer, writer and communications specialist among them. But what really sets Hannah apart is the substance and creativity that are the hallmark of her work, and the purposeful way she has used her growing - yes - influence to create new spaces for her peers and contemporaries.

Hannah and I have been friends for years, and I’ve always been a huge admirer of the way her work has helped bring about a sea change in the way that women’s skateboarding and women in action sports generally are perceived. What I didn’t realise until this conversation was how intentional the whole thing has been, and the scope of her ambitions when it comes to representing the cultures she loves in the truest way possible.

And I think that’s the value of these ‘lifer’ episodes of the podcast, and of this conversation with Hannah in particular. Hannah’s story shows that by following your own vision of the inclusivity of action sports, you can eschew the usual career paths, make your own way, and help change the status quo while you’re at it.

The lesson?’ Influencer’ doesn’t have to be a dirty word. You just have to look beyond the surface, and find the people doing the work to make a better environment for everybody.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

How does it feel to go into space? What does it make you feel about the future of our planet, and your own place in the universe? What are the moral implications of space travel? And just how do you take a picture of Pipeline from the International Space Station as it flies overhead at 17,000 mph?

All topics that I discussed with this week’s guest Christina Koch, a surfer and - yes - astronaut who just spent 328 days in space in the International Space Station, setting a new record for the longest spaceflight completed by a woman in the process. She also, as we discussed, spent her downtime photographing the planet’s best surf locations, posting them on her hugely popular Instagram feed and outing herself as a serial surf geek in the process.

Christina’s story is as inspirational and fascinating as any I’ve featured on the Looking Sideways podcast. It’s a lesson in focus and determination, and a tale of a life embellished with profound experiences that have seen her spend seasons at the South Pole and literally live among the stars.

This breadth of experience has also given Christina a unique perspective on the biggest philosophical questions of all, whether it’s our place in the universe, the huge challenges we face on earth right now or the best way of handling individual experiences of stress and adversity.

These are subjects which, as you’ll know if you’re a regular listener, are right up my boulevard. I’ve been trying to get Christina on the podcast for a few months now, and the resulting exchange is already one of my favourite ever Looking Sideways conversations. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

This week’s guest is Mario Molina, and what a chat this one is. Mario is a climber, snowboarder, mountain biker and guide who grew up in the highlands of Guatemala and today lives in Colorado.

As I discovered, he is also somebody who has dedicated his life to the fight for climate action, firstly as deputy director at the Alliance for Climate Education, and then latterly as International Director at The Climate Reality Project, where he worked with Al Gore and helped oversee that organisation’s post-Paris Agreement strategy.

Today, he is executive director of Protect Our Winters, helping to drive POW and sister organisation the POW Action Fund’s strategy during the busiest and most critical period in the organisation’s history.

With the 2020 election looking, POW are using a highly targeted and calculated plan to try and mobilise a potential 50 million ‘outdoor state’ voters, and drive the narrative to depoliticise the climate conversation and move it away from a binary left/right argument.

These are massive ambitions that stem from POW’s ultimate aim, which is to achieve systemic change in transportation and energy at the highest possible level. And it meant myself and Mario had plenty to talk about as we caught up over Zoom in August 2020.

Naturally, I was also keen to tap into Mario’s depth of experience to see what we can learn from his own unique perspective on the challenges we face when it comes to climate action, particularly in the post-Covid world.

The result is a rich, fascinating and insightful conversation with somebody with a unique take on our current situation. I found Mario to be a really generous conversationalist, and greatly enjoyed our conversation. Hope you do too.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers.
Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Auspicious occasion alert! Yep, I conducted my first face-to-face interview since way back in March. Even more excitingly, it was a guest who also happens to be a really close friend of mine - the great Ben Mondy.

Mondy is a surf writer, journalist and lifer par excellence of the Australian surf industry genus. He was a staffer at Tracks for years, and over the course of his career has written about surfing for absolutely everybody with caustic wit, high intelligence and a keenly developed bullshit radar that makes him essential reading and has got him into plenty of trouble over the years.

Today, he works primarily with the WSL and Wavelength - and is still getting into trouble, as we discussed during our chat.

These days, Benno lives down the road from me in Tunbridge Wells, and is so surf starved that he’s even started turning up at the Hot Pipes for a sneaky session with me when the tides, sludge and wind aligns.

So it was one fateful August day that the forecast looked good, the sun came out and we found ourselves sitting in a car overlooking the Hot Pipes recording this episode. As you might expect given that a) it was the first in person one for months and b) it was with one of my oldest mates, spirits were high. Hope you enjoy the episode.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Our attitude to mortality is one of the great paradoxes of modern life. It’s the thing we have in common and the thing we all ignore, putting off the inevitable reckoning until we’re usually forced to face it under the worst possible circumstances - grief, loss, sickness.

It’s a conundrum we will all grapple with at some point, and one that surfer, writer and journalist Tim Baker has spent the last five years becoming intimately familiar with following his 2015 stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

During that time, he has written movingly, insightfully and honestly about his experiences, and the approach that has enabled him to cope physically and mentally with the biggest, most fundamental challenge of his life.

In today’s show, we cover this territory and a whole lot more. We discuss the specifics of Tim’s approach to oncological care, a combination of traditional and alternative techniques he arrived at through much open-minded experimentation. We talk about the ethics of palliative and medical care, and our own shifting relationship to death and mortality. And we discuss Tim’s belief that by facing the great hidden experience of our lives, we can achieve an unexpected happiness and inner peace.

I’m so grateful to Tim for this conversation, which I personally found to be a profound and moving experience. I hope you can take something similar from it.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

This week’s guest is Alex Yoder, a snowboarder who is known for one of the best turns in the business and the series of thoughtful films he’s made in recent years about snowboarding in Turkey and Scotland.

It was third time lucky for me and Alex - we had abortive attempts to record this episode in Portland and Niseko before finally jumping on Zoom to take care of it in time-honoured 2020 fashion. The timing was actually great, because Alex has just launched a new venture called Overview Coffee, an ethical take on coffee distribution.

Overview sources its coffee from farms that prioritise environmental stewardship and is founded upon the principles of regenerative organic agriculture. For it’s proponents, regenerative organic agriculture offers an ethical vision for agriculture based upon a long-term approach to soil health, and a commitment to community and environmental sustainability; all of which which will become increasingly crucial if we’re to solve the many environmental issues we’re currently facing.

That’s the thinking behind Overview, which for Alex is a kind of soft-power, pragmatic take on environmental activism - designed to educate people and encourage them to help create change with the consumer choices they make each week, which in the society we live in is still how most of actually get to exercise any influence or power.

As you’ll expect if you’re a regular listener to Type 2, we also discussed Alex’s own story, including his passion for telling stories that sit outside the usual snowboard mainstream. The result is a thoughtful, wide-ranging conversation that provides plenty of food for thought on different forms of activism, and how we have more opportunities to create change than we might think.

My thanks to Alex for a great chat - hope you enjoy this one.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers.

Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

These days, using action sports as a tool for social mobility and mentorship is a fairly well known practise. In 2005, when this week’s guest Steve Larosiliere founded his organisation Stoked, it was new territory.

Stoked was founded as a result of Steve’s own experience of mentorship and his ambition ‘to use action sports to teach 21st century skills to urban youth.’

15 years later, Stoked has helped thousands of disadvantaged kids across the States, while Steve’s experiences in running the organisation have given him a unique take on social entrepreneurship and the power of action sports as a transformative tool.

I’ve been following Steve for a while and we caught up in early August 2020 to discuss his life and career. The result is a quickfire chat that covers the above and also takes in issues of race, identity and nationality, using the wider global conversation as context and backdrop.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

The search for our authentic self is a lifelong process. And not always a successful one. It takes a huge amount of self honesty, and a willingness to embrace consistent and at times not always comfortable evolution.

It’s something we all have to face, whether consciously or not.

But imagine undergoing this entire process as a world-renowned skateboarder - while also trying to juggle both wider societal pressures, and those of a patriarchal industry who have tied your own career success to their own restrictive definitions of gender.

This is exactly the position Leo Baker faced at the height of their success. And it is why there is so much more to Leo’s story than their admittedly generation-defining feats as a skater.

Today, as they explained during our conversation, Leo is in a very different place, proud to be living authentically as the most high-profile nonbinary trans skater in the world.

And yet, as Leo explained during our conversation, gaining the understanding and self-confidence required to finally present as their authentic self has been a long and involved process.

It has involved learning to deal with the collateral damage and mental health issues that have accrued along the way, and ultimately committing to a measured and long term approach to self-care.

Leo’s story is one of the most important in modern skateboarding, and I’m grateful they’ve trusted me to tell it in their own way, and in their own words.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

The roadshow continues! Following my recent Roundtable live, recorded at the Kendal Mountain Festival, I’m back with yet another special panel discussion, this one recorded live at the London Surf Film Festival in November 2023.

I was lucky enough to be official media partner for this year’s festival, part of which was hosting this special workshop with four brilliant film-makers and creatives: Rebecca Coley, director of the brilliant Point of Change, which scooped Best British Film; Maddie Meddings, director of Yama, which won Best International Short; Chris Nelson, writer and producer of The Big Sea; and Owen Tozer, my creative right hand man and director of the beautiful, unsettling Blood Type Plastic.

A word of warning: there’s a LOT of background noise in this one. But I hope you can bear with me, because there’s some proper gold in here from these four - film-making, storytelling, creativity, and all the other good stuff that makes the Looking Sideways world go round.

They’re all at different points in their careers, each with very distinct style and approaches, which is what I think gave this chat such depth and resonance.

MASSIVE thanks to Chris and Demi at the London Surf Film for getting me involved, to the panellists for being such good sports, and to the audience for being so engaged and up for it.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

We live in an age of limitless content and endless progression. A period where a thumb-swipe can summon any film part in history, and where readily-available tools mean anybody can be a story-teller or documentarian.

And yet what’s striking, in this age of digital plenty, is how rare - even now! - it is for an action sports film to have something to say something other than ‘Woo-hoo! Let’s shred!’ Films that dare to use comedy and pathos to say something universal about snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing? Almost unheard of.

It’s why Jerome Tanon’s 2016 film Eternal Beauty of Snowboarding is so great. Here was a film that managed to have its cake and eat it. That sent up the ridiculousness of the very scene it celebrated with affection and poignancy, while also being very funny at the same time. Here was a singular new voice with funny, important things to say about our weird little world.

Jerome followed Eternal Beauty with Zaberdast, a beautiful documentary about a high-stakes freeriding trip to the Himalayas, and has just launched his latest project Heroes, a book about modern women’s snowboarding. In typical Jerome style, Heroes is an ambitious and independent undertaking that looks set to redefine the perception of women’s snowboarding for a new generation.

We caught up in July 2020 to discuss Jerome’s life and career, as well as creativity in action sports in general. It’s a good one. Hope you enjoy the episode.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

To call Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopaedia of Surfing a labour of love would be to do the entire project a grave injustice. As the name suggests, EoS is Matt’s ongoing, crowdfunded attempt to document the history of surfing and surf culture through the site of the same name.

It’s an industry ‘lifer’ project par excellence. And a beautiful, Johnsonian venture that, in essence, will never be completed. But then, Matt’s entire career has been about voyaging deeper than anybody else into surf history; whether as a journalist, the author of weighty surf histories such as his History of Surfing, or now through the Encyclopaedia.

With this project, surfing has found the perfect cultural and historical custodian. And Matt has found the perfect vehicle through which he can continue to explore his life’s passion. It’s the living embodiment of the 1000 True Fans theory of art and creativity, and in its Borgesian infinity there is something surreal yet completely creatively pure about the entire undertaking.

I’ve been looking forward to speaking to Matt for years, and this encounter didn’t disappoint. Like a river slowly making its way across a floodplain, our conversation meandered in its own slow, purposeful way and I enjoyed it very much.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

This week’s guest is Dan Crockett, a writer, journalist and activist from the UK who is currently Development Director of the Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to resorting the ocean to health.

Blue Marine Foundation do so by supporting various different projects, among them the recent virtual Rewilding the Sea conference, which brought together different interested parties in an attempt to further the conversation around the topic of marine rewilding and restoration.

Their work is a great way into the subject of rewilding, the concept of restoring large scale ecosystems and reintroducing natural processes and missing species to a landscape in an attempt to allow nature to take care of itself, something we discussed in detail during our conversation.

Dan is also heavily involved in the drive to introduce marine national parks to the UK coastline; an attempt, as he explained, to reset our own relationship with the marine environment that is such an important part of our life.

And, of course, as regular listeners of Type 2 will know, we also explored Dan’s own story, including how he ended up working on such innovative and passion-driven projects, as well as the thread that links his work - the intimacy of the human relationship with the sea, and our changing attitude to the marine environment.

It’s a really lovely, reflective chat this, with a nuanced thinker and a generous conversationalist. I enjoyed it very much - thanks to Dan for sharing his insights with us.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers.

Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

It’s easy to forget, but all stories are editorial choices. And those choices have a big influence on the way we collectively perceive our shared culture and history.

It’s why the standard narratives around our shared history tend to default to the same names and anecdotes. And it’s why She Surf, the new overview of modern female surfing and surf history by Lauren Hill, is such a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Throughout her career as a surfer, writer and podcaster, Lauren has used her experiences and wider interests to tackle big, important themes in a graceful and accessible way.

She Surf - a considered, inclusive, beautifully put together piece of work - is the culmination of that lifelong quest, providing the most comprehensive and alternative view of modern and historical female surf culture yet.

The book was also the launchpad into a wide-ranging, omnivorous conversation that took in the importance of play, the toxic effects of female objectification on both men and women, the legacy of the male gaze in surf culture, and many more topics that don’t get an airing too often. And, of course, we also took a long look at Lauren’s own life and career.

Very much enjoyed this one. Thanks for coming on the show Lauren!

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Full disclosure: this week’s guest is a close friend of mine. Lauren MacCallum is a writer, broadcaster and activist who has the type of plates-in-the-air career that is very common in the action sports and outdoor industry.

We’ve been friend for years, and she’s someone I can always rely on to provide some much-needed perspective. In this way, this chat is just an extension of the type of freewheeling, no-stone-unturned conversation I always have with this absolute force of nature.

Lauren is a brilliant conversationalist, with a considered, compassionate take on activism born from her own experience and years of hard work and research.

For Lauren, community is key. It is at the root of her beliefs and the thread that links all her work, whether as General Manager for Protect Our Winters UK or through her work as a writer and broadcaster.

Above all, Lauren’s personal experiences and insights make her the type of progressive, none-judgemental leader we need at this time, particularly as the last months have revealed such a vacuum of leadership at the heart of our industry.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Let’s be honest - the Looking Sideways podcast is a pretty white and none-diverse space, reflecting as it does the action sports and outdoor community as a whole. I think this is why my first episode with Phil Young, broadcast back in November 2019, struck such a chord with listeners and very quickly went on to become one of my most popular episodes ever.

The fact is it is still rare for BAME people to be given a voice or a platform in our industry. So to hear Phil outline his experiences as a person of colour in our insular little world was eye-opening for many listeners, as the feedback I received demonstrated.

Since that interview, myself and Phil have kept talking and kept sharing views and experiences on this topic. And now, obviously, recent events mean the issue is now front and centre like never before. So I gave Phil a shout to see if he was up for coming back on the show and continuing our conversation. I was interested in getting his take on the events of the last few weeks, and understanding his hopes for the future.

Like any conversation around this topic, it can be challenging to find the right words, and I certainly struggled at points during our chat. I left all that in though, because I think it’s important to openly and honestly discuss these things and embrace the challenges that come with it. After all, this isn’t about me or my fragility. This is about learning how to become a better ally.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Andy Howell has always been one of skateboarding’s sages. He’s an artist and intellectual thinker who discerns patterns, seeks out connections and is unafraid to grapple with the biggest themes of all. Story-telling. Humanity. Technology. Life. Rebirth. You know - the good stuff.

You can see it in his career, and the sheer number of ways he’s found to express himself creatively over the years. There is, of course, his storied career as one of the most progressive influences in skateboarding, whether as a pro, or through his involvement with game-changing brands like New Deal, Zero Sophisto, Underworld Element or 411.

It is equally evident in his career as an artist and patron of international repute, a strand to his story that includes game-changing collaborations with luminaries such as Shepherd Fairey and Jeff Kinsey. And it runs through his later incarnation as a the founder of visionary tech start-ups, his role as an investor, and his typically progressive involvement with the 30th anniversary of New Deal Skateboards.

And now Andy is on the brink of a new frontier, as he processes the incident that changed his life at the end of 2019 - the fire that destroyed his family home and, with it, the collection of artwork he has been collecting and curating for over 30 years.

It’s a blow that has changed Andy’s life completely, and an experience he is still learning how to process. With all that in mind, I’m grateful for Andy for even agreeing to come on the show in the first place,

I’m so glad he did though, because as you’ll expect if you’ve followed Andy’s career, this chat with one of skateboarding’s most original thinkers evolved into something really fascinating and unexpected.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

I welcomed a legend onto the show this week - surfer and activist Dave Rastovich, one of the world’s most respected, stylish and talented surfers.

On the water, Dave’s always been an innovator and leader, whether because of the career path he chose, the equipment he championed, or his pioneering activism. Indeed, Dave came to epitomise the very idea of surfer as activist, thanks to films like The Cove, and his involvement with various different campaigns.

Today, Dave lives with his young family on a patch of land near Byron Bay in Australia, and it still a committed, articulate activist who continues to lend his heft to various local and national campaigns.

As you might expect from somebody with such a high profile, his story is well told, so in this conversation I was interested in understanding where Dave is now, both in terms of his experience as an activist, and in light of the very real social and ecological collateral damage that they’ve been experiencing in Australia over the last couple of years.

How has it changed his approach? What has he learned? And what lessons can we take from his experiences? As expected, the resulting conversation was great and I very much enjoyed this wide-ranging and passionate chat with one of surfing’s modern greats.

Just a note on the sound - we recorded this one over Skype, so there is a little background noise. My thanks to Dave for being such a great sport.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers.

Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

This week’s guest is yet another absolute legend of their chosen field - the great Torah Bright

Torah’s been at the top of her game for the last 20 years. Sure, the headline news is that 2010 gold at the Vancouver Games. But that’s just one highlight in a career that has come to symbolise everything that is creative and expressive about snowboarding. And it’s this, if you ask me, that makes her one of the true greats⁣

Because to achieve greatness in the competitive arena, as Torah did, is one thing. To do some in a way that also pushes the sport forward and communicates the sheer joy of snowboarding, is another. ⁣

And now, as she prepares to become a Mum for the first time, Torah’s about to move into a new phase, and it seemed a really fitting time to sit down and cast an eye over her career so far, while also finding out her plans for the future. ⁣

Torah Bright’s two decades at the top have given her a unique perspective on her own life and achievements. She’s also a generous spirit, and during our conversation was happy to explore some pretty personal themes, including her relationship with her brother Benny, and her changing relationship with her faith.

I’m really grateful to Torah opening up fully and bringing the full range of her experience, insight and impressive levels of self awareness to our conversation.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint
Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Jeff Johnson is probably best known for his film 180 South, a film which saw him travel to Patagonia with Yvon Chouniard and Doug Tompkins in homage to the original 1960s odyssey that is such a defining part of Patagonia story. It’s on YouTube, and I highly recommend checking it out.

But there’s much more to Jeff’s career than this admittedly epic highpoint. He’s a surfer, skater, climber, film-maker, photographer and journalist who’s had another one of those questing, roving careers I like to feature on the podcast. As you’re going to hear, Jeff’s tale is yet another example of how a bit of front and a lot of passion can lead you to some extraordinary and interesting places, as the stories of how he got his breaks at the Surfer’s Journal and, later, Patagonia illustrate.

Me and Jeff first started chatting around a year ago, so when lockdown kicked in I gave him a shout to arrange this conversation. Have to say, from our correspondence I had a feeling me and Jeff would hit it off and I’m glad to say we did. I throughly enjoyed this conversation, which we recorded in mid-May 2020 - please check out the website for full Show Notes and references to everything we discuss.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Welcome to an extra-special episode of Roundtable, free for all subscribers, and a collaboration with my pal and podcasting peer Matt Pycroft of the brilliant Adventure Podcast, recorded live in front of an audience at the 2023 Kendal Mountain Festival.

This conversation came about when Kendal founder and friend of the show Steve Scott asked myself and Matt to pull together a panel for a discussion on the topic of The Power of Storytelling - New Perspectives. We invited our pals Adam Rajah, Soraya Abdel-Hadi and Roundtable regular Lauren MacCallum to join us, and this conversation is the result.

In this episode, we discussed, among other things, the following topics:

- Vulnerability in storytelling.

- How do we take climate storytelling out of the echo chamber?

- Is longform dying?

This one was really special. I’m really grateful to Steve and Matt for being such great collaborators; to Adam, Lauren and Soraya for their trust and openness; and to the audience for being so engaged and receptive to this format and conversation. Let’s do it again!

As usual, I’d love to hear what you think about this episode. And make sure you follow Matt and his brilliant podcast.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

This week’s guest is Chas Smith, surely the most notorious surf journalist on the planet right now thanks to his work with Beach Grit, books like Welcome to Paradise Now Go To Hell, and podcasts like Dirty Water and The Grit with David Lee Scales.

Along the way, Chas has come to personify a particular type of surf writing trope - the tough-talking, hard-drinking alpha who is forever storming out of trade show interviews and picking literal and metaphorical fights with his peers and contemporaries.

And yet….I’ve always been intrigued by Chas. Firstly because I met him last year and found him to be utterly charming. Secondly, because in its way this persona as as much of a cliche as the very surf conformity he has spent his career railing against, and I’ve long suspected that nobody is more aware of that than Charlie himself.

All of which begged a fairly obvious question as I sat down to interview him for this episode of the podcast: where does ‘Chas Smith’ end and Charlie Smith begin?

Really enjoyed this one - my thanks to Chas for coming on the show and being so open and honest.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Lockdown Surf Film Festival bonus episode with Gabriel Novis! Yep, in April 2020 Chris and Demi, my friends behind the Lockdown Surf Film Festival, asked me to interview Gabriel about his film Sorria, which was showing as part of the festival.

Sorria is a few years old now and is, as Gabriel explained during our conversation, an attempt to show another side of Brazilian surf culture and performance surfing than the one we’re so often used to seeing portrayed in the majority of surf media. As Gabriel put it, he wanted to explain, ‘why we’re so noisy and take up so much space’.

He did so by dialling up the positivity and fun, and showcasing surfers like Fillipe Toldeo, Yafgo Dora, Jesse Mendes and Thomas Hermes away from the line up.

Today, Gabriel works as a film-maker in LA, and still has the same creative, indpendent views on surfing and film making that informed Sorria, as I discovered during our chat.

So that’s what I did, catching up with the Brazilian film-maker to discuss all thing surfing, Brazilian surf culture and film-making.

Big thanks to Gabriel for coming on the show - and to my pals Chris and Demi for getting me involved in the brilliant Lockdown Surf Film Festival. Find out more at www.lockdownsurffilmfestival.com

There are no Show Notes for this bonus episode, so if you want to find out more about any of the things we discuss, check out my Instagram (@WeLookSideways), Twitter (@WeLookSideways) and Facebook (@wearelookingsideways). Nice one.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com

Let’s not mess around. My guest this week is one of the action sports G.O.A.T.s, up there with Hawk and Slater as the greatest and most influential rider his discipline has yet produced.

Terje’s achievements are so legendary it is difficult to know where to start. Subjekt: Haakonsen? The Olympics boycott? THAT world biggest air record? That peerless string of 90s contest wins that set the tone for a generation? The fact that he’s still charging as he approaches 50?

And yet, such a CV also presents something of a challenge for the interviewer. After all, how do you avoid going over the same old ground, the questions that have been asked thousands of time before?

Luckily, I go back a long with Terje. We first met around in 2005 and have remained friends ever since. Which is why I approached this conversation the way I approach all Looking Sideways chats: with an open mind and no agenda other than to have a fruitful conversation.

I’m happy to say that the result is as revealing an interview as Terje has ever given, covering his relationship with Jake Burton, the influence of Craig Kelly, those recent social media controversies and - yes - the Olympics.

Don’t miss this one.

Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.

Even in a field crammed with extremely motivated people, Reece Pacheco stands out. He is Executive Director of WSL Pure, the WSL’s none profit with a mission to inspire the global surf community to lead the way in protecting the ocean.

He is also in charge of the sustainability program for the World Surf League - or SVP of Ocean Responsibility to give him his full title.

As if all that wasn’t enough, he hosts the WSL Pure One Ocean podcast too. All of which, by my reckoning, makes him extremely busy across a lot of fronts.

What’s especially interesting about Reece’s current work with the WSL is the scale of the brief. In effect, he’s been given the daunting task of devising from scratch a strategy to help the WSL lead the way on matters of environmentalism and sustainability in the surf industry.

As such, our chat about Reece’s approach is a fascinating counterpoint to last month’s conversation with Chris Hines about the genesis of Surfers Against Sewage; an organisation that, after all, evolved over many years from a single issue group into the most influential environmental body in the surf industry.

As ever I was interested in digging into Reece’s background to find out how his experiences and private passion for this cause had led him to this point, and his views on the challenges the industry currently faces. Great chat this one - hope you enjoy it.

New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers.

Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe