The Brit shot the unique features at snowsports event Swatch Nines for this issue. “These structures don’t exist anywhere else,” says Acworth, who first picked up a camera at 14. “I’m often more excited to photograph the course than the riders’ tricks.”
Nina Zietman
The Cornwall-based editor and journalist specialises in adventure travel and action sports, so was drawn to dog-sled musher Emily Ford. “Her quiet courage stood out to me,” Zietman says. “Especially when she’s travelling alone through the Alaskan wilderness.”
Mads Perch
“I wanted to capture the energy of snowsports – a challenge when you’re in a London studio,” says Perch, who shot our winter sports gear feature. “But it was exciting to play with camera effects and lighting.”
Gee Atherton isn’t one to stand still. Having twice been crowned downhill world champion, this issue’s cover star decided to leave the constraints of competition four years ago to explore the world’s unridden mountains on his bike. What’s followed has been a wildly testing ride, and for Atherton that was exactly the point. Korean League of Legends gamer Faker actually does sit still for long periods of time. But, by exerting himself in a virtual battleground, he’s another world champion finding new and inventive ways to push himself – slaying the competition and becoming an icon for millions in the process. Plus, we meet London creative Lava La Rue as they release their new concept album, STARFACE. Taking inspiration from space isn’t a first, but embodying a gender-fluid, Prince-inspired alien quite possibly is. Enjoy the issue.
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Lessons in humanity and acceptance from the
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Perilous ridges,12-hour hikes, brutal injuries – how the world champion racer’s Ridgeline video project pushed him to his limits
Creating snowsports courses is an art, and at this iconic Swiss event they’re as spectacular as the skills of the athletes
In the League of Legends world, Korean gamer Lee Sang-hyeok is king –Unkillable Demon King, to be precise. Here’s why…
St Anton am Arlberg, Austria
Out in the open
Freeskiing can be exhilarating. But it’s never pretty when a mountain opens its giant maw and tries to swallow you up, turning you into a human Calippo. Of course, some might say this shot by Austrian photographer Christoph Johann actually shows two-time Freeride World Tour champion Nadine Wallner filming her years-in-the-making Backyard project: five freeride descents, 3,000 vertical metres and 29km of skiing in one day in the ‘backyard’ of her home in the Tyrolean Alps. But that’s their story. We’re sticking with ours. Watch Backyard on Red Bull TV; redbull.tv
Kalisz, Poland
Time to reflect
As DIY skate spots across the world are erased by urban redevelopment, the work of photographers such as Rafał Saganowski has become a chronicle of lost culture. This former factory site in central Poland is set to be the location of a new housing estate, but for now it remains a playground for local skater Alex Tomaszewski. “This iconic place will cease to exist,” says Saganowski, “so we wanted to immortalise it. The broken mirror is meant to emphasise its devastation and add an extra dimension.” The image won the Polish photographer a semi-final place in the Red Bull Illume Image Quest (Photos of Instagram category). redbullillume.com
Castle Valley, Utah, USA Heavens above
Standing as it does near geological wonders known as The Rectory, The Convent, Priest and Nuns, and Sister Superior, Castleton Tower sounds a little banal. But are climbers bothered by its ecclesiastical shortcomings, no sir. Philipp Reiter and his partner were abseiling down the iconic 2,029m sandstone column after a rewarding ascent when the German photographer spotted another party going up and just had to document the scope of the challenge. Reiter’s efforts earned him a Red Bull Illume Image Quest semi-final spot (RAW category). And if you’re one of the anonymous climbers, your own award is in the post (not really).
redbullillume.com
Loaded barrel
“The Code Red swell of August 2021 in Tahiti was breathtaking in its ferocity,” says surf photographer Morgan Maassen, recalling the day he captured this image, a Red Bull Illume Image Quest semi-finalist (Masterpiece by Sölden category). “We all gasped as [local surfer] Haunui David was towed into what looked like an unmakeable wall of water collapsing on itself multiple times with too much power. He threaded the barrel flying by the seat of his pants, his face illuminated by the light shining through the barrel, his only hope of survival.”
redbullillume.com
Teahupo‘o, French Polynesia
Amyl and the Sniffers
Warrior women
Amy Taylor, lead singer with Aussie punk group Amyl and the Snifers, pays tribute to four female music pioneers
Amy Taylor is a force of nature. As one quarter of Australian punk outfit Amyl and the Sniffers, on stage the 28-yearold vocalist exudes a raucous spirit, dancing with abandon and diving into willing crowds, turning every venue into a sauna. Formed in Melbourne in 2016, the band’s constant touring has won them rave reviews, and famous fans including Foo Fighters and Green Day. All the European dates of Amyl and the Sniffers’ 2024 tour sold out in days, and their third album, Cartoon Darkness, released in October, is on track to be their most successful yet. Taylor’s lyrics on everything from feminism to climate change are delivered over thumping drums and distorted guitars; combined with her hyper-energetic performances, it’s an irresistible mix. Here, she selects four songs by women who have inspired her wild rise. amylandthesniffers.com
Iris DeMent
Warriors of Love (2023)
“I think Iris is a true poet. I love her voice, and her perspective on the world is really relatable to me. This is from her most recent album, and I honestly wish it had come out before we wrote ours, so that her perspective could have leaked through. She tackles a lot of the things I’ve been thinking about, and for me it scratches an itch.”
Plasmatics
Monkey Suit (1980)
“For me, [Plasmatics] singer
Wendy O Williams was the queen of body autonomy, owning sexuality, owning power, and with a disdain for the system and for hypocrisy within modern-day society. She talked about dystopia and tackled subjects like climate change, which was really forward-thinking. This song is one of her finest.”
X-Ray Spex Identity (1978)
“Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex was somebody I didn’t know about when we started the band. But someone pointed out that we kind of sounded like them, and [at first] I felt super-defensive about it. Then I looked her up and became obsessed: I loved the lyrics, the performance, her vocals. Still to this day it’s one of my favourite listens. Check it out.”
Grace Jones Pull Up to the Bumper (1981)
“A couple of months ago we were playing a festival, and Grace Jones was on. [Her performance] really affected all of us – I think Bryce [Wilson, drums] and Declan [Mehrtens, guitar] cried. With her strength, her softness, her beauty and creativity, she raised my idea of what live music and performance could be. This is my favourite song of hers.”
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Most weekends, Jay Lichter can be found crawling around the damp undergrowth of the Waitakere Ranges, a mountain range near his home in Auckland, New Zealand. Scouring fragments of leaves, grass and bark, he’s hunting for an elusive, microscopic wonder of nature: the slime mould.
“You don’t just stumble across them,” explains the 27-year-old, who, by day, works as a project manager for a landscaping company. “A track that would take you 10 or 15 minutes to go down, I could spend eight hours on. But once you know where to look, there’ll be a fleck of colour that draws your eye.”
On Lichter’s Instagram, those flecks are documented by incredible, otherworldly photography, in bursts of rose pink, aquamarine, lime green and iridescent lavender. At their IRL size – some as small as a quarter of a millimetre –even these extraordinary hues are almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
It was Lichter’s former job as a gardener that sparked his interest in mushrooms. He began studying soil science and reading horticultural papers, and in one of these he discovered that in the dark, damp conditions favoured by fungi you’ll also find slime moulds. These single-cell organisms seek out and feed on organic matter, clumping together to form masses known as plasmodia. And the sophisticated networking behaviours of the slimy structures are being explored for their potential benefits to everything from creative thinking to town planning. Lichter began shooting the organisms with an iPhone three years ago but struggled to capture the exquisite detail of the spore-releasing fruiting bodies that form as part of the reproduction process. “It’s a certain stage in their life cycle, and it’s only seen for a short period of time,” he explains.
Mould school
When nature enthusiast Jay Lichter trained a camera on his local forest foor, he discovered a fascinating new world
“They’re so small and delicate. They pop up in rainy season, get rained on heavily and are destroyed. They’re quite ephemeral in nature.”
The New Zealander now uses a macro camera set-up and focus stacking to take between 30 and 400 shots for each crystal-clear image. One of his favourites is the mustard yellow Physarum tenerum, even though getting the perfect shot involved lying on the ground for 30 minutes and “scaring the daylights out of some people walking by”. The results have proven popular: Lichter has amassed more than 40,000 followers on Instagram, and a book of
his work, which also includes mushrooms and other fungi, is due to be published in 2025. While able to identify most slime moulds he encounters, Lichter uses the iNaturalist database for confirmation. But the current estimate for New Zealand – just 200 species –is low, he says: “This field is hugely in its infancy. You could have literally all the time in the universe and it still wouldn’t be enough to check every single leaf, every flake of wood. [This work] has given me a way greater appreciation of all the little moving parts that make the natural world go round, that make it possible.”
Instagram: @cyanesense
Macro photography
Life in miniature: (from top) slime mould of the genus Arycyria sp gets bullied by a pencil; photographer Jay Lichter
Guiding lights
Sick of wading through Tripadvisor reviews when in a new city? This handy AI compass could be your tour guide of the future
“You know when you’re in a new city and you want a coffee,” says Astin le Clercq, “so you go to Google Maps and plough through reviews. Then, if you find something negative, you look at another restaurant. And all the time you’re investing in your screen [is time] you don’t spend enjoying the actual city you so badly wanted to visit.”
‘Review fatigue’ is what prompted the Dutch designer to revolutionise one of humanity’s original gadgets: the compass. As co-founder of Amsterdam-based Modem
Works, a design studio that explores the possibilities of emerging technologies, he and partner Bas van de Poel decided to create a device for ‘mindful wandering’. In partnership with design duo Panter&Tourron, they have developed Terra, an AI compass that enables phone-free exploring.
With a New Age-inspired design that takes the form of a pebble – palm-sized, soft-edged and tactile –Terra uses haptics and soft glowing lights to guide its user through a bespoke
Tour de force: (from top) the palmsized Terra; Astin le Clercq, co-founder of Dutch design studio Modem Works
itinerary concocted by AI. “How nice would it be if you could talk to technology in a very humane way, as you would a local guide?” says Le Clercq.
As with ChatGPT, the user enters a prompt – for example, “a two-hour stroll around Le Marais in Paris, taking in a pastry and a park” – from which Terra, using AI and Google Maps, generates a series of GPS coordinates that the device communicates back. If you asked for a place to have a drink, Terra will guide you there with a glowing arrow, then it’ll gently vibrate when outside; if you take a wrong turn, the arrow will set you back on course.
“In an ideal world, you’d leave your phone at the hotel and take Terra, loaded up with a route prompted by your preferences,” says Le Clercq. “[It’s like] a quest that won’t take you away from your environment.”
The designer refers to Terra as a piece of “dumb” tech, emphasising its simplicity. It operates using just a chargeable battery and GPS, and the screen is deliberately hidden by the outer shell through which the lights and animations glow and fade unobtrusively – what Le Clercq calls an “ambient technology vibe”.
Although prototypes do exist, Terra is an open-source project. Rather than being available as a purchasable product, its software and CAD files are freely available online to anyone who would like to make, customise and even improve it. “The idea of this project is to share the vision with the community,” says Le Clercq, who eschews the traditional secrecy of the tech industry. “We want to share our insights and inspire other designers. It’s an opportunity to work with like-minded people… This is a sandbox, a playground.” modemworks.com/ projects/terra
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In Japan on a quiet Sunday in October, 70 people take their seats inside a taped-off square of floorspace at ARK Karajan Place in Minato City, part of the bustling, sprawling Tokyo Metropolis.
Resembling not so much a Zen garden as a shopping mall with vaulted ceilings, ARK Karajan Place has nevertheless become a focus of great contemplation: today, it will host the regional final of the Space-Out Competition, a 90-minute challenge where the country’s most stressed-out people gather to do… nothing.
“People living in a busy city feel anxious when they do nothing,” says South Korean visual artist Woopsyang, one of the competition’s founders. She put on the first event in Seoul in October 2014, with the aim of helping others in need of an escape from an alwaysbusy culture. “People these days work very hard, but they cannot enjoy free time as more work is always waiting,” says Woopsyang. “I thought that if I gather people to space out and do nothing together, we would no longer be nervous.”
The competition has grown over the past decade, with events taking place each year in locations as far afield as Hong Kong and Rotterdam. Participants can change position as often as they like –many choose to lie down – but chatting, laughing or sleeping brings elimination, and music is prohibited. It is, Woopsyang says, “the quietest competition in the world”. If the entrants need anything, such as a toilet break, they communicate using coloured cards.
At the end of 90 minutes, the 10 competitors who seem the most relaxed – according to the votes of spectators – are chosen, and the one whose heart-rate graph shows the steadiest downward trend is declared the winner.
Freelance radio and TV broadcaster Soa Kwon won the Seoul final in May this year. “It gave me an assurance that doing nothing is not bad and
Space-Out Competition
Idle pleasures
Competitive relaxing sounds like a contradiction in terms. But to win this unique contest all you must do is… nothing
has many benefits,” she says. “I absolutely recommend it, especially for people who feel anxious or even guilty about taking a rest. Korea is a very competitive country where people do not find rest even after work is over.”
Hercules Chan, from Hong Kong, was the international winner in 2017. “Taking part in the competition was funny and challenging at the same time,” he says. “I tried to be still for the duration, but there were flies and sunshine, which made it difficult. I learnt that something that looks easy could actually be very hard.”
Chan’s experience in the contest led him to start his own
business focused on mental health, and gave him a new appreciation of quiet moments: “We should not overlook how difficult it can be to take a break. I wish more people would appreciate its importance.”
As you might expect given her day job, Woopsyang sees the competition as much an art project as a sporting event. “Competitors dress to represent their profession,” she says. “Together, they represent a small city of stillness while spectators form fast-moving dots around them. It’s a striking visual contrast.”
As another entrant neatly put it: “The world does not stop, only us.”
Spaced is the place: (from top) competitors zone out for glory; the contest’s Rodininspired trophy
Spanners with Manners
Fixing the balance
London’s only allfemale garage is repairing negative perceptions of mechanics, one car at a time
Laura Kennedy didn’t set out to open an all-female garage. But back in 2018, when she rang the local college to request apprentices, they sent four girls. Six years on, Spanners with Manners in Finchley, north London, remains the city’s only garage staffed entirely by women.
“It kind of created itself,” explains Kennedy, 41. “I’ve never had a guy phone up and ask for a job!”
It’s a marked difference to Kennedy’s own beginnings in mechanics, when she was the first-ever girl to take the course at her college: “I was in a classroom with a load of 17-year-old boys. It was hell! They were just out of school, still hitting each other with rulers. I was 22 and like, ‘What am I doing here?’ But college was only one day a week, and when I was in the garage it was worth it.”
After leaving school at 16, Kennedy went straight into the motor industry in admin roles working for Mercedes and Land Rover, but she struggled in an office environment because of her dyslexia and would loiter in the workshops instead. So she enrolled to become a mechanic herself, not giving the industry’s gender imbalance much thought until she got into the
workplace. “That’s when I felt it,” she explains. “You’d get comments like, ‘You’re a woman – you should make coffee better than this.’”
Even worse, she found some mechanics unwilling to teach her. “A lot of them wouldn’t even entertain it, so at a certain point I was completely self-taught. I noticed that the more I knew, the more annoyed these men got. At the beginning they don’t want to teach you, then when you do know, they get the hump because you’re doing it better and quicker than they are!”
Describing herself as “quite a tough-skinned person”, she stuck it out, and when Kennedy opened her own business, the aim was to create a welcoming space for female employees and customers alike. “I remember working in other garages, and if a nice-looking woman turned up, everyone would stop work and just stare at her,” she says. “For some reason, in this trade it often seems to be acceptable to behave like that.”
There is no such leering at Spanners with Manners, which Kennedy now runs with her wife, Siobhan Murphy. “There’s no shouting. No one falls out. There’s no swearing, no crude jokes. It’s a totally different atmosphere. It’s just a nice environment.” No wonder, then, that apprentices are desperate to work for her: she even recently received a request from a young woman in Switzerland – “How on earth had she heard of us?!”
Next, Kennedy has plans to expand her business to include electric vehicles, too. But while the industry is changing, she acknowledges it’ll be some time before we see many more female mechanics working under the bonnet. “I think girls now know they can do whatever they want,” she says. “I think it’s going to take 15 or 20 years, as [more girls] are just starting to get into it, but there will be more garages like ours.”
spannerswithmanners.co.uk
Sparking change: (from top) Spanners with Manners’ Natasha Rawal at work; garage owners Laura Kennedy (right) and Siobhan Murphy
Emily Ford
The epic (and bitterly cold) journeys this 32-year-old dog-sled musher undertakes would be pure torture for most. But for the Minnesotan adventurer they’re life-affirming
Words Nina Zietman Photography Jesse Roesler
Emily Ford is no stranger to spending time alone in the wilderness. The 32-yearold from Minnesota began her adventures as a solo backpacker, completing a multitude of long-distance hikes including the 500km Superior Hiking Trail. Then, in March 2021, she became the first person of colour to nail Wisconsin’s 1,900km Ice Age Trail in winter, accompanied by her dog, Diggins. It was this hike that opened her eyes to the lack of representation of people of colour in the outdoors.
As a Black female adventurer, Ford has become a figurehead for inclusivity, featuring in two documentaries and a children’s book while pursuing her dream of becoming a dog-sledding musher. And now she’s taking on her biggest trial yet: the world’s toughest dog-sled competition. Staged in March each year, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race follows a historic supply route from Anchorage to Nome through 1,600km of Alaskan terrain, and Ford aims to become only the second Black woman in history to complete it. First, she needs to raise $50,000 to cover her costs – accommodation, race entry fees, food (for her and for the dogs) – for the winter season. Then there are the months of training, facing sleepless nights, ferocious storms and the threat of frostbite. Finally, the main event: a 12-day journey with 16 dogs across treacherous mountain passes, remote tundras and frozen lakes. There are no signposts along the route, conditions are subzero – in 2015, an overnight temperature of -51°C was recorded – and 30 per cent of participants won’t cross the finish line. But Ford is determined to manage it. Here, she talks about the allure of remote, icy adventures…
the red bulletin: How did you get into dog sledding?
emily ford: I grew up with dogs. My mum was a single parent, so my grandparents helped raise me on a farm in Minnesota. After college, I got a job at a kennel. Then, a year later, my college professor invited me to go on a backcountry dog-sled trip at Wintergreen Lodge [in the north of the state]. I ended up working there, and that’s how I got into mushing. Years later, I met my partner Anna by accident: she helped me after I hit an open river on a 200-mile [320km] solo sledding expedition. She was moving to Alaska to train for Iditarod, something I’d always wanted to do. That’s what we do now: I’m a head gardener in Minnesota in the summer, then we manage a kennel of dogs in Alaska in winter.
How do you train for Iditarod?
Over summer, the dogs get a little fat and slow, so we start training in October. At first, it’s like getting them to do a Couch to 5K. We start them at two miles a day, then four. Then we build up to 100 a day, before taking on mid-distance races of 200 to 500 miles. It’s training for us, too – Iditarod is not a flat race. You don’t just stand on your sled when the dogs are going uphill; you get off and run next to them.
What’s the biggest challenge you expect to face during Iditarod?
Sleep exhaustion. You don’t sleep much when you race. If you run 50 miles, you’ll probably rest in total for five hours, but three of those will be taking care of your dogs, so you probably sleep for 90 minutes per checkpoint, if you’re lucky. Then you’re off again for another four to five hours.
What inspires you to battle such gruelling conditions?
You are alone for a lot of a race. You and your dogs are just out there in this pristine wilderness. You’re just moving
through this beautiful landscape silently. It’s so magical. Taking care of your dogs, sleep deprivation, the cold… sure, it’s hard, but to be out there with 16 of your best friends, knowing you’re the only ones who are experiencing that moment? It’s indescribable.
How would you describe your relationship with the dogs?
It’s like having 16 children with 16 different personalities. Some dogs will get their head down and move; other dogs are always out to cause trouble. Then you have dogs that are your cheerleaders. [During a race] once, I got caught in a ground storm. I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me. My entire team stopped and lay down, just 15 miles from the finish. None of the dogs wanted to lead, apart from one dog. She was barking at me like, “Pick me!” She ended up leading us to the finish.
Dog-sledding is such a male-dominated sport – have you encountered many other female mushers?
Women are definitely up-and-coming in dog sledding. And all the women I meet [in the sport] are so unbelievably fierce. Generally, women are really good with dogs; they’ve just got a keen eye for how the dogs are doing.
You’ve become an inspiration for minority groups in the outdoors. Was there anyone in particular who inspired you?
My inspiration comes from Matthew Henson, a Black man who was one of the most proficient Arctic voyagers of the last century. He was the first person to reach the North Pole. The sled dogs he worked with were so wild, they would actually kill you. I love following in his footsteps. My hope is that more people of colour fall in love with cold adventures.
Sister sled
Name Emily Ford
Jobs Head gardener, adventurer, dog-sled musher Homes Duluth, Minnesota, and Willow, Alaska Achievements Solo-hiked the Ice Age Trail; completed the Goose Bay 150, Copper Basin 300 and Kobuk 440 dog-sled races
Total number of dogs 30 Goal To represent the underrepresented in outdoor spaces
Donate emilyontrail.com
“Being with the dogs is like having 16 children with 16 different personalities”
Holly Lester
The Northern Irish house DJ believes that dancefloors help heal division. It’s why she’s on a mission to transform Belfast’s heavily restricted nightclub culture
Words Alice Austin Photography Niall Murphy
Leaving a warehouse party at 7am this summer felt like an act of resistance for Holly Lester. As a full-time DJ, producer and label head, she’s no stranger to being on a dancefloor until dawn, but it rarely happens on her home soil in Northern Ireland. As official venues have been forced to close much earlier than before, the underground scene in the capital, Belfast, has had to get creative, covertly setting up parties to satisfy its desire to dance through the night.
Lester has been ‘obsessed’ with music and DJing since the age of 14, when –inspired by her father’s collection of trance, breakbeat and acid-house vinyl – she got her first decks. Her career flourished during university in Liverpool, and by the time she moved to Belfast in 2019 she was an established house DJ. Lester saw that a lot of progress had been made in the capital – including new legislation in support of gay marriage and abortion rights – but nothing had changed for its nightlife. It was in a bad way.
During the ’90s, the dancefloor was one of the few places where conflicting communities in NI could come together. But the country has the most restrictive nightclub licensing laws in Europe: the few remaining clubs must close at 3am, and Belfast has no nighttime transport. Despite all this, the city has one of the UK’s most vibrant, motivated and forward-thinking underground scenes –and Lester is at its forefront. Determined to set up a life and successful DJ career in her hometown, she set to work finding ways to help the local nightlife meet its potential by extending opening hours, improving nighttime transport and easing strict alcohol laws. In 2021, she teamed up with human rights advocate Boyd
Sleator to launch Free the Night, a nonprofit organisation committed to creating a safe, progressive and culturally rich environment for nightlife in NI.
Here, Lester talks about her aim to transform one of the UK’s most overlooked regions into a global nightlife hotspot…
the red bulletin: Why is club culture so restricted in Northern Ireland? holly lester: It’s traditionally a very conservative and Christian country. Historically, the people at the top haven’t understood club culture or the importance of the nighttime economy. But now that’s beginning to change. We’re starting to see a change in attitude among the council and government officials, which is great.
Why is nightlife so important, particularly in Northern Ireland? I won’t go into the economic value, although that’s important, of course. For us, it’s more about societal and community value. It’s important to have these spaces in a place like Northern Ireland, which is a post-conflict country with some of the worst stats for mental health in Europe. It might seem like a while ago in history, but I still remember what it was like during the tail end of the Troubles. It’s our lived experience, and there’s a lot of generational trauma here, so it’s important we have spaces where people are able to come together, where your religion, background, sexuality and so on doesn’t matter. Even though there has been a lot of progress here, Northern Ireland is still divided, and I believe dancefloors can help heal that.
What do you hope your organisation Free the Night can change?
We hope to extend club opening hours, see a rigorous review of the current licensing system, and have a new cultural license brought in. And I believe we’re the
only Western European city without a nighttime transport infrastructure. Currently most people walk home at night, which isn’t safe. So there’s a lot of work to do. But we’re slowly getting our message out there, changing mindsets and seeing progress. The BIDs [Business Improvement Districts] of Belfast have now appointed a ‘night czar’ – someone responsible for the nighttime economy, activity that takes place between 6pm and 6am. It’s a really positive step. We’ve also just launched the After Dark Alliance, a coalition of advocates, researchers and government officials across the UK and Ireland who exchange resources to learn, improve relationships and strengthen research on nightlife.
What are some of the biggest challenges you still face?
For me, it’s the number of talented artists who leave Belfast to live in a different city because of a lack of opportunities and infrastructure here. I don’t want to see any more of my friends leave – it’s already a small community. I want people to be moving back here to have a successful career. There’s something undeniably special and unique here; with the right support and infrastructure, I know it would be amazing.
What’s your best memory of a night out in Northern Ireland?
Coming out of a warehouse at seven in the morning over the summer felt pretty powerful – it was almost like an act of resistance given how restricted we are with club closure times here. There’s a narrative that this sort of thing could never work here, but it shows that events like this can be run smoothly and professionally. And it’s great to see first-hand that people still have a thirst for dancing into the early hours!
Call of the night
Name Holly Lester
Cued up At the age of 13, Lester bought a copy of the book How to DJ (Properly) Totally self-taught, she got her first decks at 14 Label boss She heads two independent record labels, Duality Trax and Terrazzo Recognition Her work with Free the Night helped earn her a nomination in the ‘Underground Hero’ category at DJ Mag’s Best of British Awards 2021 Website freethenight.org
“Northern Ireland is still divided – I believe dancefloors can help heal that”
Philip Colbert
The irreverent British artist has amassed a global following with his hyper-pop creations, which merge digital culture and art history. And it’s all thanks to Nietzsche… and lobsters
Words Jessica Holland Photography Alex Bramall
Philip Colbert says he became an artist when he became a lobster. His lifelong fascination with the crustaceans started as a boy growing up in Perth, Scotland. And when he got married in 2013 wearing a lobster-print suit, Colbert says, “people nicknamed me ‘the Lobster Man’”.
Today, the artist has created a whole world with an irreverent lobster character at its centre. In his enormous live-work space in Spitalfields, east London, lobsters are everywhere. On the walls are Colbert’s large-scale, hyper-pop, AI-assisted history paintings depicting mythological battle scenes with cartoon crustaceans in place of people. Boxes of his Dalí-inspired lobster telephones, which sell for £975 on his website, are stacked in a hallway. There’s even a 3,000-year-old vessel on display that was once used by ancient tribes, he says, to take on the creatures’ powers.
“The lobster is my artistic persona,” says Colbert as he walks through the space wearing one of his lobster-logoed T-shirts. He sees the crustacea as symbols of Surrealism: “They’re like aliens on Earth.”
Colbert didn’t go to art school, instead studying philosophy at St Andrews. His first step into the creative world was a clothing line of “wearable art” – dresses that looked like Duchamp-inspired urinals and Warhol-style soup cans, and of course there were lobsters. It cut through – Kanye West and Lady Gaga were fans – and gave Colbert’s pivot to painting the platform it needed. His chaotic first creations, which he described as “the spirit of pop today: a merge between painting, Google searches and Instagram”, did the rest.
In 2023, in addition to his regular brand collaborations, the artist showed work in Naples, Treviso, Shenzhen and Singapore, and he redesigned the kit of Italian football club AS Roma. More recently, he created Lobsteropolis City, a digital exhibition in the virtual world Decentraland, and installed a 16m-tall, inflatable ‘Floating Lobster King’ in a lake in Seoul. Next, he’s working on the pilot for a TV cartoon. Here, Colbert reveals how he has used his love of lobsters to connect with the wider world…
the red bulletin: What was it about lobsters that captured your imagination as an artist?
philip colbert: I often say I became an artist when I became a lobster. It’s my artistic persona. [I’m] living in this metaphysical realm within the canvas. I’m able to travel around in time and play, as if I’m a superhero character. In art, we can bring fantasy into reality.
What set you on this creative path?
I wasn’t a very academic kid; I was quite spaced out. But when I was 17 I picked up a book on Nietzsche and thought it was amazing. Maybe it was because I was high, but I felt like I was looking down at myself, wondering why I was letting the world push me down a conveyor belt. I thought it was better to have creative input in my destiny. It sparked this idea that it wasn’t too late to take action. It flicked a switch.
How did you put that into action? Little by little. It’s that idea of embracing failure, taking risks, and getting in the habit of following your dreams. Failure can be a step towards something, an ingredient of success that’s much bigger than you initially thought. Belief in yourself is so key.
Was making fashion a necessary step?
I didn’t know how to [work as an artist] commercially, so fashion was a half-step –it’s easier to imagine selling a T-shirt than a painting. I had no idea about fashion, but I was interested in limited-edition collectible art, which led me into wearable art. I had to reinvent myself when I began painting; it was daunting. I gave myself six months to make an art show, and I created a self-portrait as the Lobster Man.
A sense of humour is evident in your work, which often references renowned artists. As an outsider in the art world, did you initially see it as a bit of a game? No, but I’m very transparent: I embrace commerciality. Some people think that a serious artist couldn’t [exhibit] in a shopping mall in Asia – that’s too lowbrow. My philosophy is: art should be democratic, accessible. One can see my own obsession with art in my work. There’s parody, but it’s more a celebration than a criticism.
Last February, you partnered with a hatchery in Yorkshire to breed and release thousands of young lobsters into the sea. Why?
I feel very connected to them. I wanted to explore making art in connection to the real species, so I studied lobster language with a team of scientists. I was using the audio frequencies from lobsters and coding it into a form of language, using that to programme a robot I was building. It’s an absurdist attempt at talking to a lobster.
Does combining art with technology excite you?
New technology creates the opportunity to change what art is. I have a whole civilisation of 8,000 ‘lobster citizens’ who purchased my lobster NFT works. During COVID, I used telepresent robotics for an art opening [which allowed people to attend a private view remotely via robots]. It was a mind-bending experience. I believe art should feel a bit bonkers.
Relative claws
Name Philip Colbert
Also called the Lobster Man; ‘the godson of Andy Warhol’ Birthplace Perth, Scotland
Current home ‘Maison Colbert’ in Spitalfields, east London
Famous fans include David Hockney, Karl Lagerfeld, Rita Ora Next up Colbert’s latest show, The Battle for Lobsteropolis, is on at the Saatchi Gallery in London until January 13, 2025; saatchigallery.com
“The lobster is my artistic persona”
Space Oddity
Over the past decade, London musician LAVA LA RUE has become a respected and collaborative force in the city’s underground scene. Now, with their debut album, STARFACE, they’re poised to step into a new role: global solo artist and occasional alien
Words Lou Boyd Photography Claryn Chong
LAVA LA RUE
Field day: Lava La Rue has built a reputation for ploughing their own path creatively
“I wanted to take my time on the album. You only get one debut”
Making contact: “Starface may be an alien,” says La Rue, “but the album ultimately questions what it means to be human, and how people just want to feel accepted”
When they’re performing and promoting their debut album, STARFACE, London-based musician, visual artist and director Lava La Rue becomes a spaceage-meets-1970s psychedelic rock star. With a star painted on one side of their face, an iridescent sheen on their skin, and an array of brightly coloured velvet suits, ruffled shirts and platform boots, La Rue resembles an extraterrestrial who has travelled back in time for a Prince concert.
The outfits are part of the story La Rue tells on their first full-length record, which takes listeners on a fantastical, conceptual journey. It details the experiences of its titular character, a genderfluid alien who falls to Earth and falls in love with a human girl, seeing humanity through new, naïve eyes. “It’s a record that explores why humans are so self-destructive and asks how we might understand each other a little better,” says La Rue. “Starface may be an alien, but the album ultimately questions what it means to be human, and how, at the end of the day, people just want to feel accepted.”
Today, in their interview with The Red Bulletin, La Rue – the stage name is an anagram of their real name, Ava Laurel – looks more like a human 26-yearold than their intergalactic alter ego. La Rue has just completed the US leg of their headline tour and is now settling back into the UK weather. Gone are the stars and velvet, replaced by a fresh face, beanie and jumper on this chilly October morning.
This tour marks the culmination of the most significant period of their career to date. After signing to record label Dirty Hit in late 2022, they were named in Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ list the following year. June 2024 saw them perform the single Push N Shuv on Later… with Jools Holland, preceding the release of STARFACE, which features global names including Courtney Love, Biig Piig and Cuco.
La Rue’s recent success may seem sudden to some, but for those familiar with London’s creative scene they have long been a recognisable figure. Known in underground circles for their visual art agency, LAVALAND, and their talent for cultivating creative spaces, La Rue has consistently supported, promoted and collaborated with fellow artists. Growing up in west London, at just 16 La Rue assembled a group of emerging musicians, rappers and creatives – including Biig Piig, Bone Slim, KXRN, L!BAAN, LorenzoRSV, Mac Wetha, Nayana IZ and Nige – to form NiNE8 Collective, a DIY network of like-minded artists who pooled their talents to create mixtapes and EPs, paving the way for individual success. While many
“A persona can become iconic… It’s world-building”
members went on to gain mainstream recognition, La Rue continued to thrive within the DIY art scene, well-regarded by their peers but under the radar. Now, with STARFACE, La Rue is ready to share their own sound and artistry as a solo artist…
the red bulletin: Congratulations on your debut album being out in the world. How does it feel now that people are finally hearing it?
lava la rue: It’s been huge to see people’s reactions. I held onto this record for so long – three years from its inception to putting it out, mixing it and finding a label to release it. When I perform this music live, I reconnect to the person who wrote it three years ago. Seeing people experience this music for the first time makes me excited about it all over again.
What’s it like working on an album that long?
Because it’s my debut record, I wanted to take all the time needed to put out something meaningful – you only get one debut. There were people who felt they already knew me for where I’m from or who my friends are; I wanted to make my own statement, sonically.
How would you describe the music on the album? There are elements that lean into psychedelic and funkadelic, as well as Britpop, indie rock and more. The conceptual narrative let me build sonic themes too, like sci-fi sounds, synthesisers and guitar effects that I could weave through the album.
STARFACE tells the story of a “genderfluid, psychedelic, musical space alien”. Does working
within a fictional character offer some protection, allowing you to explore otherness, identity and self-acceptance without a sense of vulnerability? For every song, there are two storylines. There’s the storyline of STARFACE and what they’re experiencing in the narrative at that point, and then there’s what I was actually going through or the experience I drew from while writing the lyrics. It’s nice to have both my version and the version that the world sees. Sometimes you write songs to express yourself, but that doesn’t mean the whole world needs or deserves to know every detail of your personal situation. It’s good to have that separation.
Why did the idea of creating a separate musical persona appeal to you?
A persona can become iconic. With a lot of great artists, you can recognise them from just their outline; you can actually distinguish their persona in different decades from their silhouette. I think that’s interesting. It’s world-building, the same way as you would with a fictional character in a story.
Why did you decide to make a concept album? It was a way to tie together a lot of different ideas. I knew this wasn’t just going to be an album about love, romance and queerness, or solely about politics, society and government. Creating a character to experience everything through a narrative felt like a great way to discuss all those elements and unify the album.
You’ve spoken about your love of Bowie – another artist who used characters in his music – and about being more influenced by his lifestyle and experimental approach than the work itself…
I think Bowie was a curator who knew how to bring the right people into the right room. Many people don’t realise that while his vision was exceptionally strong and unique, it often stemmed from his ability to pair the right individuals and give them the space to create magic. I try to do that with my work. Also, he was a trial-and-error artist. His first three albums were total flops, yet he continually reinvented himself. I find that lack-of-ego approach to art fascinating.
You grew up around Ladbroke Grove, west London, after your parents met at a rave in the area. Were you inspired by its creative culture?
When I was younger, I took for granted how much culture was around me, because it just seemed so normal. Now, in my twenties, working with people from other areas of the UK, I realise how special and unique my environment was. Ladbroke Grove has a mix of different communities, from Carnival to punk history to various migrant communities.
You gain a lot of perspectives from that, which feeds into your music.
Collaboration seems to be at the heart of everything you do. How did NiNE8 Collective come about?
I’m someone who likes to create things when I hang out with people, and NiNE8 came from hanging out with my friends in west London after college when I was a teenager. It’s a very free and collaborative space; there are so many of us and we’ve all got such a unique sound. The music you hear is the product of a friendship group. The friendship comes first, then all the music we create together; the parties we hold and the events we create are secondary. We’re hosting a NiNE8Fest this week in London – it’ll be a multi-room, multigenre, counterculture club night.
Why is collaboration important to you?
It’s how you build a genuine scene. You work with other artists and producers and keep putting each other on stage and pushing each other forward. That’s why it’s important to keep things in the hands of artists. A great example is the [record label] PC Music world with [producer] AG Cook, Charli XCX, and all their collaborators. When they hold events, you see a specific demographic. At other festivals where musicians aren’t in control, you get random mixes of people – they’re booking based on ticket sales, not subculture. Artist-run events are more about throwing a great party with the right vibe.
As well as making music and hosting events, you have directed music videos, made documentaries and created a fashion line. What’s the benefit of working across multiple media?
I’ve never really thought about it that way, or even had a plan. I just think of something interesting, or see a space for something to be created, and then get to work at putting it into the world.
Is that artistic confidence something you’ve had to work on?
Being nerdy about music and art gives you a confidence to be able to trust your own aesthetic and your own direction. When I get into something, I become obsessed with it. It’s not so much my ‘creative identity’ as it is just diving into whatever is in front of me. I’ll latch onto a record or a film and it becomes my whole identity for a while. It doesn’t matter if it’s my project or someone else’s, I get so invested. I love the process of fully immersing myself in a project until it’s done. I don’t really think about whether I feel confident in it or not.
Is music still your primary focus?
“I’m someone who likes to create things when I hang out with people”
I do love different media, but music is the core, and I want everything else to feed into it. I can definitely see myself exploring directing, acting or fashion some more. Artists like Donald Glover and Tyler, the Creator inspire me because they balance multiple fields in a way where each complements the others. Like with STARFACE and the narrative
FIVE MORE OUT-OFTHIS-WORLD CONCEPT ALBUMS
1. David Bowie
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
One of the all-time great concept albums, Ziggy Stardust tells of an androgynous alien rock star sent to Earth as a messenger of hope amid impending doom. Blending glam rock with the themes of identity, alienation and societal change, Bowie depicts Ziggy’s rise to fame and dramatic downfall after falling victim to the excesses of celebrity culture.
2.
(1994)
Inspired by Arthur C Clarke’s novel of the same name, this album explores
humanity’s search for new life in distant galaxies after Earth’s destruction, with an ambient soundscape that mirrors a spaceship’s journey. The Songs of Distant Earth was one of the earliest albums to use digital sampling extensively, and it stands out in science-fiction music history for its immersive storytelling and merging of sound and narrative.
3. Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018)
The Sheffield band’s sixth album imagines a luxury resort on the Moon at the site where Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong took his first steps in July 1969. Using this setting, singer Alex Turner crafts a retro-futuristic narrative that reflects society’s obsession with escapism and digital disconnection. Presenting space as a symbol of both expansion and isolation, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino questions the limits of human nature in the face of technological exploration.
4. Electric Light Orchestra Time (1981)
Time tells of a man transported from 1981 to the year 2095, where he struggles with feelings of isolation and a longing for authentic human connection in a technologically advanced but emotionally detached society. With its futuristic, synth-led sound, the album was a departure from ELO’s signature string-laden orchestral pop.
5. Rush 2112 (1976)
A landmark sci-fi concept album, 2112 blends rock with a narrative that critiques authoritarianism and celebrates individualism; the title track tells of a dystopian future where creativity is forbidden. Inspired by Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, 2112 set a new standard for sci-fi storytelling in music and paved the way for future rock operas.
in that album, it’s more about building a world than choosing one path.
So, after three years with Starface, are you ready to move on from that character?
If there’s a demand for a part two of Starface’s story or a continuation of their narrative, I’ll do it. But a lot of that character was just for me to work with and build the album’s world around. Without giving too much away, in my next project I want to do the direct opposite of what I’ve done for the last few years.
Can you share anything about the new direction?
I think I have a clear sonic idea of where I want to take things. Right now, all I can say is that we’re just about to enter the halfway point of this decade, and that’s when you begin to understand the sound or essence of a period. Everything prior to now still felt like remnants of the late 2010s. I’ve found new ground that I’ve really been enjoying, and it feels like this is what it means to be a true 2020s artist.
What do you feel defines this era?
We’re witnessing major revivals of two movements in music. The first one involves bands; it’s such a great time for them, and there are exciting bands emerging in America as well as on the London scene. Every pub I visit has an amazing new band playing. And then, additionally, there’s a huge rave revival happening, along with a resurgence in dance music and club culture, spanning everything from the New York scene to more eclectic styles around the world. I feel connected to both the British post-punk scene and the underground rave scene. It would be fantastic to create music that marries these two influences.
That sounds like an exciting direction to take… I think that it feels very me, as someone who was born into, like, a rave scene but also spent a lot of my life with people from the punk scene. It will be great to get producers from both of those worlds together on a new record.
Could it be an album based much more in reality and your own musical history?
[Laughs.] I’ve given it away, haven’t I? You’ll just have to wait and see.
Instagram: @lavalarue
Mike Oldfield The Songs of Distant Earth
Red Bull athlete Šime Fantela, sailor, wears the new water-resistant, windproof, and breathable bonded wool caban jacket ORATA from AlphaTauri – functional fashion by Red Bull.
Peak performer
GEE ATHERTON ’s ambitious film series
Ridgeline documents the world champion downhill rider’s adventures in the most rugged and remote locations it’s possible to find. As an athlete who lives to push the boundaries of his own capability, Atherton knew swapping competition for the wilds of the mountains would test him. But he didn’t know he was about to embark on the journey of his life
Words Ruth McLeod Photography Dan Griffiths
Gee Atherton is sitting on his bike at the top of a steep, rocky ridge in southeastern Kazakhstan, surveying the barren steppeland that stretches out below him. It has taken three flights, several hours of driving and, when he and his small team could progress no further by road, a switch to a challenging hike carrying bikes and filming equipment on their backs in the heat to get here – Bartogay Lake, near the Tien Shan mountain range. It might as well be Mars. The dusty, unforgiving terrain is completely alien to even this well-travelled, two-time world champion racer. And in this vast, remote landscape, a satellite phone is the only thing connecting him to the rest of the world – there’s no rescue team on standby, no quick exit.
This is the latest in a series of intrepid journeys for Atherton and the dedicated team who make his ambitious video series Ridgeline, which sees him take on some of the world’s toughest, unridden big mountain ridges. Kazakhstan’s steep scree-strewn faces, massive fly-offs and drops, naturally sculpted into the rugged landscape, represent a playground of possibility for Atherton, and he’s currently gearing himself up to tackle the last feature he’s painstakingly worked into this ridge: a blind highspeed take-off into a 25m step down. This would be edge-of-your-seat riding at the best of times, but now high winds are adding another layer of unpredictability – a strong gust at the wrong time could throw him off course. But testing locations like this are the reason the 39-year-old has beaten a path here. After checking in with his team via radio and running through the line in his mind for the thousandth time, Atherton beats his chest with his hands and feels a familiar surge of adrenaline. As a drone begins to whirr high above him, he launches himself down the ridge.
On the edge of control: Atherton rides a scree slope in Altyn-Emel, Kazakhstan. This was one of the gnarliest sections he rode, and he had to do it without a test run. The loose scree led straight toward big cliff faces, and if he lost control or traction he would go over the edge
Call of the mountains
The first edition of Ridgeline was filmed in 2020 on an unridden 666m-high ridge behind the big mountain trails of Mid Wales’ Dyfi Bike Park. The result is a polished four-minute edit of whiteknuckle riding down the imposing mountainside, which quickly racked up millions of views on YouTube. And it begins with a teaser clip of Atherton coming off his bike. He catches his front wheel on a rock midway down his run and flies forward, emerging from it largely unscathed. But seeing this first serves a purpose. For the rest of the film, even on this steep expanse of unforgiving mountainside, riding a narrow, clearly perilous ridge, Atherton’s rare talent for navigating uneven rock at breathtaking speed means he almost makes the near-impossible look easy. The crash is an instant reminder that, for all his world-class skill, Atherton is fallible. And this is riding at its limit.
“I love that feeling of being on the very edge of how far we can go,” he says. “It’s just the pure exhilaration of knowing you’re doing something you’re good at. You enter this strange zone where you’re in tune with everything and the
“I’ve juggled risk and reward my whole life”
The Ridgeline, 2020
Atherton takes on 700m of Welsh rock in the film that started it all. “This is probably the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen Gee do on a bike,” said his big brother Dan at the time. But he hadn’t seen the Kazakhstan edit…
bike becomes an extension of your body. I love it. I’ve been juggling risk and reward all my life, so I’ve questioned it so many times: is the risk worth it? And the answer has always been yes.”
Atherton’s Ridgeline project is driven by this same passion for progression that’s already seen him dominate the sport of downhill. Alongside his fellow pro-athlete siblings – his elder brother Dan is a revered trail builder as well as a skilled rider; younger sister Rachael is one of downhill’s most decorated riders, with six world championship titles – Gee has spent his life in the saddle, shaping and exploring some of the most testing terrain in Mid Wales after the Athertons relocated there from Salisbury, Wiltshire, as children. Racing in downhill, Gee tackled steep, rough terrain at high speeds. And he was a natural, winning national and then world cup titles, and becoming downhill world champion in 2008 and 2014.
But, after two decades of top-level racing, and having got more than a taste of what freeriding can offer at contests such as the infamous Red Bull Rampage in Utah, Atherton began to feel a hunger for his next challenge: to bring the speed and technical excellence he’d honed in downhill into the unrestricted wilds of the mountains. When racing was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, he saw his chance. “My life was just purely training, racing; everything was very regimented,” Atherton says. “It felt a bit like I was just ticking a box before moving to the next event. Ridgeline felt like the opposite of racing. It’s about that freedom of starting on top of a mountain and just building a big, fast line down the side of it, for no other
The Knife Edge, 2021
Atherton’s almost life-ending crash is a difficult watch –though many have managed it. “We could have put this edit together with just the riding – a run from top to bottom of me getting down it,” he says. “But that’s not what happened. I wanted to show exactly what went wrong. And it went wrong spectacularly.”
Ridge racer: the team had spotted this sharp black ridge from the valley below while scouting in the Dolomites. It was steep, with loose shale over the rock, so it would have been easy for Atherton to pick up speed and lose control
“Even a small miscalculation is going to be high consequence”
“You never leave a crash the same. It shapes you”
reason than it’s a lot of fun. It’s as much creativity as you can muster.”
Over the past four years, the Ridgeline series has taken Atherton on the journey of his life. After that first Ridgeline edit, the series has expanded into six very different instalments, each with its own tests and triumphs. Though a huge amount of prep work goes into each edition – recceing locations, building lines into the mountain, and endless discussions on each feature, each shot – at its core this project is about Atherton and his tight-knit team of four sticking a pin in a map and then making it happen. After taking on the ridges of Wales, the project has ventured to Italy’s Dolomites, Switzerland’s peaks and now the arid expanse of Kazakhstan.
“It’s driven by us wanting to explore more extreme parts of the world,” says Atherton. “One of the craziest things about Kazakhstan is the scale of the place – it’s just enormous. You can be in the desert in 30-degree sun one day and then 4,000 metres up a mountain in thick snow the next. I feel like you could almost cover every kind of terrain in the world in one corner of this country.”
Navigating this remoteness has been a feat in itself. On the scouting portion of this 17-day trip, the team’s FJ Cruiser ran out of fuel on one of the seemingly endless, barren roads heading east to Bartogay Lake. Spotting a military outpost, Atherton found himself miming a request to buy petrol from armed guards through a metal grille. “They all had rifles and guns on their belts,” he says. “I had no idea where we were, and they had no idea what I was asking for. Then one guard nudged the security camera up in the air with a broom so it wasn’t pointing at us. I was thinking, ‘That’s not a good sign.’ But it worked out fine. Things like that have been happening at every turn.”
The trip has also meant 4.30am starts from their small guesthouse, hours-long hikes in the heat, and
a diet based heavily on freeze-dried noodles. And then there’s the riding. “A lot of the lines you build are blind, just dropping over cliff edges or fly-offs that have nothing behind them,” says Atherton, “and it’s a loose, dusty surface you’re not used to. Everything’s alien. But it’s been humbling in a sense. I’ve ridden all over the world on different terrains. Then you turn up here and it’s a brand-new type of riding; you have to adapt. The first few days I was just skidding through long scree slopes, learning how I could brake, or grip, [finding out] what the bike would do – all these tiny things you’ve learnt years ago. It’s really cool going through that learning process all over again.”
Learning as they go is something the Ridgeline team has come to expect. Their first foray outside their home turf of Wales – to Italy’s Dolomites in summer 2023 – saw them swap sub-1,000m peaks for 3,000m-plus snowcapped giants. It quickly became clear that the learning curve would be as steep as the slopes, and the journey to these remote locations would become as much of an adventure as the riding.
“Stepping into those mountains was like entering a new world,” says Dan Griffiths, photographer and co-director of the Ridgeline series. “We’re all pretty tough lads, so we adapted to it, but we’re not all mountaineers. The physical and mental demands were beyond anything we’d faced. Twelve-hour hike days became the norm, wading through waist-deep snow, climbing up cliff faces… There were endless setbacks: we’d often summit only to find the terrain was unsuitable for mountain biking or, worse, that we’d taken the wrong path. It was a rude awakening.”
“It was pretty hair-raising for sure,” Atherton says of that trip. “But this was what we wanted from these projects – to go to places other people hadn’t been before. Which is really difficult, because if no one’s taken a bike there it’s usually with good reason!”
In the final Dolomites film, the drone is fixed on Atherton riding at full pelt along a via ferrata –a painfully narrow ledge, thousands of feet up – with the rock face on one side of him, a sheer drop on the other. As the drone pulls back, the rider becomes a small dot as the true scale of this vast mountain landscape is revealed. Then we’re close to the action in a shot from Atherton’s helmet cam, showing the bumpy, jarring reality of having to negotiate every uneven detail of the path ahead with split-second timing to keep himself on track.
This is the payoff of Ridgeline, capturing Atherton doing what he loves – pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on a bike. And the results are all the more impressive when you realise he’s felt the very real consequences of crossing that line.
Scars and shadows
In 2021, while prepping to film the second instalment of Ridgeline, Atherton suffered a horrific crash that could have ended his career, or worse. It happened during filming for The Knife Edge, which was intended to be a small filler video project but became something much more significant. The title comes from the ragged line of Welsh mountain rock Atherton was attempting
Ridgeline II: The Return, 2022 Atherton returns to Wales’ big mountains for some exceptional riding that proves he’s back at the top of his game, despite all the mental battles involved. “As soon as I dropped in, I was back where I belong,” he says.
Ridgeline IV:
The Dolomites, 2023
The team’s first foray into international big mountains is a baptism of fire for all concerned. When facing mountains three times the size of any they’ve captured before, each day is hellishly demanding. But Atherton still manages some breathtaking riding.
to descend, which resembles the serrated edge of a blade. But it also references the dangerously narrow margin for error he operates in. Atherton went for one last take after completing the run, and made one small mistake. It was almost his last.
“I dropped in, and the last thing I remember is getting thrown off the line,” he says. “The list of injuries was immense. There was a high-impact fracture to my femur, so five or six pieces were blown apart, which blew through all the muscle and fascia around the bone. I broke five ribs, which also punctured my lung. An open fracture on my radius came through the skin, and there was a lot of nerve damage. I fractured my eye socket, broke my nose and, to top it all off, I knocked myself out.”
A coastguard helicopter reached him within minutes, and he was flown to hospital, where he began a painful year of recovery. Footage of the crash has been viewed millions of times, but Atherton has only watched it once – “half squinting, with the sound turned down” – to decide whether or not to release it.
The mental and physical journey he has been on in order to continue filming these far-flung Ridgeline projects is as gnarly as any big mountain terrain. “The recovery was enormous,” says Atherton, “a huge task. But the mental side was probably most difficult. There was a lot of trauma to deal with months afterwards – waking in the night, feeling like I was ragdolling down the side of a mountain. Then seeing your body in that state… it’s like having a nightmare and waking up to realise it’s come true.”
When it was clear Atherton would physically recover, he faced a crucial decision. “You choose one of two paths,” he says. “It was either give in to that fear, which would have been understandable, or to take it on and battle it. That was my choice: to try to overcome it. I didn’t know whether I’d be able to, but I knew I wasn’t ready to hang up my boots. I wanted to get back to the top of my game, and that’s what pushed me to try to get the better of that fear.”
The first significant riding Atherton did after the crash was to film Ridgeline II in 2022. The location, in Mid Wales again, had been recced and the line almost built at the time of his accident.
“As I started to get strong again, that was the project there waiting for us,” he says. “This was my return. I had to prove to myself that I could get back to full strength. I’d be tucking down this ridge and hitting a kicker as fast as I could, flying through the air, and I’d have these glimpses of what it felt like to be riding a good level again. But also I’d be up this mountain, putting on my gloves and helmet, and fear would hit me like a wave. I learnt that you just have to be bigger than it to get the better
Ridgeline V: Resistance, 2024
Expanded from the usual four-or-so-minutes to nearer 15, this extended episode sees Switzerland’s peaks push the team further than they’ve ever been.
of it. You have to get hold of yourself and say, ‘You’re capable of this.’ Otherwise that terror can bury you. These big projects were a way of showing myself that I could move on.”
Going through this intense period of mental and physical recovery altered the approach that Atherton and his Ridgeline team take to these big mountain projects.
“We’d always taken precautions to eliminate unnecessary risks, but there has been a change in that risk management for all of us since that crash,” says Griffiths. “From an outsider’s perspective, you might assume that Gee has a death wish, that it’s all reckless fun destined to end in disaster. But his approach is meticulously calculated. And after his crash it was clear there’d been a shift in mentality, an extra layer of awareness. Now Gee will say things like, ‘Is this shot worthwhile?’ Especially in Kazakhstan with its remoteness.”
“It taught me a lot,” Atherton agrees. “In these more hostile environments, the risks are so much bigger. I recovered, and I still had a passion and a drive for doing more of these big mountain projects. But I also knew that I had to be… careful is the wrong word. I had to be smart with it, to operate with a different mindset, to be conscious of those risks all the time. The problem of feeling that pressure not to crash is the massive contrast to what you’re coming on a filming project for – to find wild lines and big gaps. I try to be as calculated as I can, overthink everything, but at the same time I’m not willing to compromise my riding because there’s a risk of injury. We take out as much risk as we can.”
Atherton knows it’s impossible to completely eliminate risk at this level. A few months after he returned from filming in the Dolomites, two years after The Knife Edge, he crashed at last year’s edition of Red Bull Rampage. “I didn’t want to try to do anything too groundbreaking,” he says. “But unfortunately you don’t always get to decide. Even a small miscalculation is going to be high consequence.”
He landed badly from a 21m drop, fractured a vertebra in his neck, and found himself back in a helicopter. He then had to spend three long months in a halo – a metal frame screwed directly into his skull – to allow his neck to heal. “Getting through those three months was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Atherton says, “but I did it and I was lucky – I was able to come out of it and start that long recovery process.”
At the time of the accident, he had already been working out his 2024 Ridgeline trips – to Switzerland in the summer and then Kazakhstan in autumn – and didn’t intend to change his plans. “We had these two
“Ridgeline felt like the opposite of racing – freedom”
Ridgeline’s core crew
Dan Griffiths, co-director and photographer
Growing up in Mid Wales, Griffiths was a bike-loving kid when he first met Atherton. After picking up a camera at 17, he began working with the rider in 2017. Griffiths says that, thanks to Ridgeline, “what once felt like a daunting climb up a Welsh hillside now seems like a walk in the park”.
Brodie Hood, camera operator and lead mountaineer
An accomplished mountaineer, Hood is a member of Scotland’s Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team and has summited Everest twice, meaning he brings crucial experience of filming in big mountain environments to the table.
Nico Turner, FPV drone and camera operator
The Nottingham native joined the team in Switzerland, where the big mountain environment was a new challenge for him. But if drone operation skills were Everest, he could summit with his eyes closed. On his debut Ridgeline trip, he surprised himself with how quickly he became hooked, ready for Kazakhstan.
Jamie Robertson, access and operations
Porter, logistical supporter and long-time friend of the Athertons, the Welshman keeps things moving. From carrying bikes and gear to helping manage logistics, he’s someone the whole crew trust and depend upon.
trips planned, back-to-back,” he says, “both big mountain, both high-risk. It might seem absolutely bonkers, but I feel with these things you’ve got to go full attack and throw yourself at it.”
World-building
True to his word, Atherton got himself back to full fitness by the time he boarded a flight to Zurich, ready to travel to Switzerland’s Engelberg region for the next instalment of Ridgeline. And he needed every bit of it. The resulting Ridgeline instalment is titled Resistance to reflect the countless hardships of the seven-day trip. You see Atherton, bike on back, hiking dizzying peaks against backdrops of endless mountains, negotiating rocky ridges so thin it’s hard to believe. At one point, after a 6am start, the team find themselves in the dark, still hiking back at 11pm. The next day, after a challenging hike up a mountain they discover their path is blocked a few metres from the summit…
“Every day was about 16 hours long, hiking with up to 3,000 metres of climbing,” says Griffiths. “It was just brutal. But when those good moments come, when the fog lifts just in time or a gruelling climb reveals the trip’s best footage, the reward is more than a great shot – it’s the satisfaction of knowing you’ve earned it, that every bit of effort has brought you to that point.”
When Atherton talks about the Switzerland trip, his first thought isn’t the relentless slog of it. After his recovery, being there meant comparative freedom. “This trip took ages to plan, then it felt like suddenly I was balanced on top of this Swiss ridgeline,” he says, “I’d be sat on my bike thinking, ‘God, I’m actually here.’ I’d be there with an incredible scene below me, the sun setting with this beautiful golden light, having done some incredible riding, and it would hit me. I’d think, ‘Thank God I did this. Thank God I made this decision.’ None of that hard work, those dark, difficult months of gruelling recovery, none of it seemed relevant. I’d almost forget about it in that moment and think, ‘This is worth every ounce of effort.’”
Atherton’s ambition when he started this Ridgeline series was to push himself, to evolve and face new challenges. And he would be the first to say he’s a different rider from the one who rode that Welsh ridge in 2020. There have been towering peaks and deep valleys in the emotional rollercoaster of Ridgeline so far. And although Atherton would never have wished to pay such a high physical price, he’s philosophical about the journey.
“You never leave a crash the same, either physically or mentally,” he says. “It shapes you and changes you. And I accept that. I carry the scars and shadows from all my previous crashes, but I’m never too begrudging of them. I’ve learnt a lot from them – they’ve turned me into who I am. You can only do these projects if you truly love them – not just me but the crew, too. Everyone has to be hugely motivated to push as hard as they do. The reward has to be massive for each of us; it has to make everything worth it. And, for me, that’s definitely the case.”
Ridgeline VI, Kazakhstan 2024
Just as the team have got used to Europe’s mountains, they swap it all for the rugged remoteness of Kazakhstan, the world’s ninthlargest country. Here, with no prospect of rescue, Atherton pushes his riding on unfamiliar terrain.
That reward, for Atherton, is emerging from this journey as a big mountain rider who feels confident in taking on the world. “This project has shown us that when we’re brave and we push ourselves into the unknown,” he says, “the possibilities of where we can go are suddenly endless.”
“Good to go, Gee.” At Bartogay Lake, the message comes back to Atherton on the radio. He takes a deep breath and sends himself down the scree-strewn slope, his wheels quickly picking up speed. Launching up off the blind take-off, the full expanse of this vast environment is revealed to the rider as he flies across the 25m gap for what is just a couple of seconds but feels like longer to him. Atherton braces as his tyres meet solid ground again and rolls cleanly away to cheers from the crew. He’s nailed it in one take.
Then, after a brief pause for backslaps, they’re on to the next shot.
Watch every instalment of the Ridgeline video series at the Athertons’ YouTube channel; youtube.com/ @AthertonRacing
Architecture in action
Months of blue-sky thinking, inventive engineering and precise sculpting go into creating the courses at snowsports event SWATCH NINES. The result: features as striking as they are challenging
Words and photography Theo Acworth
SWATCH NINES
Snow globe, 2021
Swedish freestyle skier Jesper Tjäder, an athlete known for his creativity, tackles the tunnel through the event’s first-ever spherical feature. (Opposite page) Swatch Nines’ 2022 snowboarding take on skater Tony Hawk’s legendary downward spiral loop – see page 54 for more.
Snow wouldn’t be the building material of choice for most architects. But for lovers of snowsports it’s the perfect substance for creating uniquely testing structures. Swatch Nines is a collaborative project between snowboarders, skiers, park shapers, designers, photographers and cinematographers, with an emphasis on form as well as function. Described by event founder and former pro skier Nico Zacek (pictured below) as “a friendly antagonist to the competitive side of action sports”, it has no contest bibs, no live streams and no judges, just the world’s most talented winter-sports athletes expressing themselves on some of the most distinctive snow structures ever made.
“Designing Swatch Nines is a collaborative process,” says Zacek. “Before the event, a core group of athletes hang out in a chalet for two days with designers and architects to just let them create. When you open their minds, you get unlimited, absolutely beautiful ideas.”
The event takes place each April in Switzerland, above 3,000m in altitude – high enough for everything to be built with natural snow. Designs are adapted according to the terrain: “Ultimately, nature tells us what to do and where to build,” says Zacek. Three weeks before the athletes’ arrival, shaping crews get to work bringing the designs to life, pushing building-sized piles of snow into place and refining them with equipment ranging from 10-tonne excavators to chainsaws and hand tools.
What started as a one-off in 2008 is still going strong. Each event sees different and original creations, from sharp lines and shadows to flowing curves and tunnels. “The philosophy is ‘by riders, for riders’,” says Zacek. “It’s where young talents can push their careers, and established athletes can enjoy a week with no pressure.”
Interactive sculpture? Shreddable architecture? Call it what you will, the results speak for themselves. thenines.cc
Snow shadows, 2022
“For me, capturing the set-up is just as important as capturing the tricks,” says British photographer Theo Acworth, who has shot Swatch Nines for many years. “Honestly, it’s more important. The things they build here are unique, and it’s always a pleasure to see how the light and shadows move around them during the day. A short scramble up the hill from the drop-in gave me this perspective over the whole course.”
One to watch, 2022
“The Swatch feature was inspired by Tony Hawk’s downward spiral loop,” says Swiss freestyle ski pro and digital artist Nico Vuignier, “but instead of replicating that in snow, it ended up being more of an open bowl with this tunnel exit. When I saw this for the first time, I just thought, ‘Holy shit’ – it’s actually a pretty big hole that you really have to take some speed into. But surprisingly it was fine, and fun. You could never have built or maintained this in a regular snowpark.”
“You could never have built this in a regular snowpark”
Ahead of the curve, 2024
“When you open the athletes’ minds, you get unlimited, absolutely beautiful ideas,” says Nico Zacek. “Sometimes their designs are a little too crazy, so we develop them together with the best planning and shaping companies on the planet, to build what the athletes want.”
Pièce de resistance, 2023
“The details of this end feature were inspired by the Palais Bulles building [near Cannes, France], which I found while researching retro-futuristic architecture,” says Britain’s Sophie Acworth, creative director of Swatch Nines. “It has a kind of playful inventiveness to it, with lots of round shapes and curves.”
“The feature was inspired by the Palais Bulles building… and it has a kind of playful inventiveness”
Trade risk, 2023
“You can hit these round features from a bunch of different directions so you don’t have to take the same line as everyone else,” says creative Norwegian pro snowboarder Fridtjof ‘Fridge’ Tischendorf. “But I think I took out a camera guy one time when he was filming inside the doorway. It didn’t turn out that bad, but he definitely took a rest after that!”
Bridge jump, 2024
“This wallride was challenging due to the ninemetre vertical cut over a very long distance,” says Sven Toller, managing director of snowpark creators HelvePark. “We thought everyone would be too scared to hit a rail 10 metres above ground, but they even spun on it. It was crazy!” “You have to trust your angles and your ability to slide a pretty short rail,” adds Jesper Tjäder. “But it was worth the risk to get the shot.”
Going global, 2021
“We had never made such a perfect geometric sculpture before,” says Dirk Scheumann, a German former freeski pro and founder of snowpark builders Schneestern. “It’s easy to build walls and edges, but a ball is hard to do perfectly. We made a three-piece, extendable wooden template in the shape of the ball, then put a nail in the top, which acted as the axle. Then we moved the template around that, shaping as we went. To cut the tunnel without it collapsing, we started with more like an egg shape. That way, when we removed the snow for the tunnel, the ball settled into the perfect shape.”
“We had never made such a perfect geometric sculpture before”
Perfect by design, 2021
“What drives me in creating the Swatch Nines course is exploring aesthetic designs that balance rideability and feasibility,” says German 3D designer Sebastian Gehwolf. “Just as the riders push their athletic limits, I get to push the boundaries of design, creating this unique playground. I’d feel honoured if my work was described as ‘snow architecture’, because that’s what I’ve been striving to achieve over the years.”
It’s the biggest esport on the planet, played in a game filled with magical beings. But League of Legends’ most extraordinary character exists not within its world but in ours: the Unkillable Demon King and now five-time world champion, Faker
The Legend of Legends
Words Tom Guise
Less talk, more play: in the competitive world of League of Legends, 28-year-
old Korean esports player Lee Sang-hyeok, aka Faker, is considered the GOAT
In 2013, League of Legends was still young.
Launched in 2009, the game’s first pro tournaments had begun in 2011, and while its rapidly emerging competitive scene had produced star players, it had yet to discover its protagonist. Then, on April 6, 2013, a televised match in the South Korean capital of Seoul changed everything.
CJ Blaze was a popular local team, a favourite to win the Champions Spring tournament, and their star player was a 20-year-old, Kang ‘Ambition’ Chan-yong. In League of Legends – or LoL to its fans – two teams of five fight for control of a magical battlefield filled with jungle and divided by three lanes: top, middle and bottom. The player who navigates the mid lane must be among the most adept in their team, and Ambition was considered the best mid-laner in Korea.
Facing CJ Blaze was a new team, SK Telecom T1 #2. Their mid-laner was a mysterious rookie making his debut on the pro circuit. For months, he’d topped the online solo rankings under the gamer handle GoJeonPa. Forums had been abuzz about who GoJeonPa really was. So, when an unassuming 16-year-old, Lee Sang-hyeok, walked on to play this match under his new handle – Faker – the excitement was palpable. But it was far from the biggest thrill of the night.
Six minutes in comes a moment that has become seared into LoL folklore. Ambition briefly stops to evolve his in-game character, an assassin named Kha’Zix. “When you do that evolution, there’s a little pause where you can’t do anything,” recalls Eric ‘DOA’ Lonnquist, one of the commentators that night. “It’s such a tiny window that nobody takes advantage of it. But Faker dove in. It was something no one had seen before.”
In a fraction of a second, Faker transforms his own champion, the female tracker Nidalee, into a cougar and casually executes Ambition. “If it had been just any mid-laner, it would have been less astonishing,” says Jeon Yong-jun, better known as Caster Jun, one of Korea’s most famous esports commentators, “but it was Ambition.” Faker then took down two of the four remaining opposition players in less than 30 seconds. SKT T1 finished the evening decimating CJ Blaze 2-0.
“I still remember my anger, it was that impressive,” recalls Ambition today. “Faker’s 3,000th kill, his 4,000th, his 5,000th… no one will remember them. But people remember his first. Thanks for killing me first, Faker.”
Less than six months later, SKT T1 went on to win the biggest tournament of them all – the League of Legends World Championship, aka Worlds. At the Los Angeles Staples Center, watched by millions online, Faker lifted the greatest prize in competitive video gaming, the fabled Summoner’s Cup.
“Back in 2013 is where we witnessed the beginning of the legacy that Faker was about to build, even though we didn’t know it,” says Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere, the host of Worlds 2013. She shares this anecdote in a film released this year to celebrate Faker’s entry into the Hall of Legends
–
LoL’s equivalent of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The number of Hall of Legends inductees so far? One.
This is how Faker became the protagonist of League of Legends
Big-screen attraction:
Faker and his team, SKT T1, win their second Worlds title in 2015
Faker’s influence on LoL, and indeed esports as a whole, is difficult to encapsulate – not because it’s intangible, but because his achievements are so vast. Following Worlds 2013, he and SKT T1 won again in 2015 and 2016 – the only team ever to achieve the triple crown. Faker has 10 LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea) titles to his name, and two Mid-Season Invitationals (the largest mid-year tournament); he also won gold at the Asian Games in 2022 and lifted the Esports World Cup in 2024. He’s the first player to reach 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 kills in the LCK, and he holds the record for the most kills in world championship matches. In 2017, Faker was named Best Esports Athlete at The Game Awards; in 2019, he appeared on Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ list.
But it’s the titles his rivals, fans and the media have given him that resonate the most: ‘the Michael Jordan of Esports’, ‘the Unkillable Demon King’, even ‘God’. “He’s just the final boss of League of Legends,” says Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, the Dane considered the greatest western LoL player of all time.
In 2020, ESPN esports writer Tyler Erzberger tweeted an image of four famous figures: Oscar-winning film director Bong Joon-ho, Premier League striker Son Heung-min, K-pop group BTS, and Faker, with the caption ‘The Elite 4 of South Korea’. “The people I was mentioned alongside are all international superstars,”
“He’s an innovator. It’s like, ‘Wow, he can do that?’”
David ‘Phreak’ Turley, gameplay designer
remarked Faker when asked about this. “It does feel good to be mentioned there. I am a bit famous overseas, too.”
What makes Faker so special is his ability to see, and exploit, what others can’t. In esports, there’s a term, ‘meta’: most effective tactics available. In LoL, the best players master these optimal strategies, but to be the one who discovers them requires rare talent. “There are multiple plays throughout Faker’s career that you probably couldn’t practise, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he told you that was the first time he’d done them,” says Andrew ‘Vedius’ Day, a shoutcaster for LoL publisher Riot Games.
“He’s an innovator,” says David ‘Phreak’ Turley, LoL’s lead gameplay designer. “Seeing the things Faker does with the tools we put in the game, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this guy can do that?’”
LoL features more than 160 playable characters, known as champions. There are magicians, assassins, long-, mid- and close-range fighters, some that deliver a lot of damage, others that can take it. Each has their own unique set of abilities, playing styles, strengths and weaknesses, which become even more complex when matched up against different opposing champions. “Faker has played 83 unique champions – more than any other mid-laner in pro play,” says Turley. “This man plays basically everything, and he’s often been the first to do it.”
To understand Faker’s gift for LoL requires a look at where he came from. Born in 1996, Lee Sang-hyeok grew up in Gangseo District, Seoul; he was brought up by his father, Lee Kyung-joon, and grandparents after his parents had divorced. His father describes him as an introspective child. He was also a fast learner, teaching himself foreign languages and how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, and he enjoyed video games. “I got my start the same way as other kids: PlayStation and other consoles,” he recalls in a self-penned 2016 piece for The Players’ Tribune. “But I wasn’t interested in playing competitively.” However, in 2004, when Lee was eight, his father bought him a PC and he became a fan of StarCraft, at that time the most popular esports game in Korea. Then, in 2011, he discovered LoL: “That sent me down the path toward pro competition.”
At school, Lee earned the first of his gaming nicknames, ‘Mapo High School’s Fiery Fist’. Online, however, he already had another name, GoJeonPa. There, he played a format of LoL known as solo queue, where a lone player is randomly teamed up with others. It forced him to become adaptable, to master more champions in different team set-ups.
“I got better and better until I was being put into matches against the top talent in Korea,” he says.
“I was still an amateur, but I earned the number one spot in the server rankings.”
By the end of 2016, Faker was number one in the world, period. Two years earlier, a Chinese team had offered him a US$1 million contract to defect, but he declined. “I want to stay in Korea and win the world championship again,” he told ESPN. Every year, the offers grew: $10 million in 2020 to play in America; $20 million from China in 2022. He turned them all down.
But by then he was also in the wilderness.
“Faker’s the final boss of League of
Legends
”
Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, League of Legends all-time great
In 2013, Faker was offered his place on SKT T1, and he admits that he didn’t consult his family.
“I just implied that it might work out OK,” he wrote in 2016. “They don’t actively root or cheer for me. Esports can be a volatile environment, so I understand their concern.”
At the Worlds 2017 final, that concern seemed well placed. There, SKT T1 faced Samsung Galaxy, the team they’d beaten in the 2016 final, and Ambition – Faker’s famous debut kill – was their captain. In three straight victories, Ambition exacted his revenge. It was Faker’s first loss in a world championship final, and for the first time fans saw the Unkillable Demon King at his most mortal. “I was right next to him,” recalls teammate Bae ‘Bang’ Jun-sik of the aftermath. “He wasn’t just crying, he was wailing. Watching a teammate express that much sadness was devastating.”
“I cried, too,” admits Faker’s father. “How can a parent not cry when their child is in pain?”
It was the start of a difficult period for the player once considered indestructible. After a poor showing in the 2018 spring playoffs, Faker found himself benched during the summer season. The team’s roster became a revolving door of players – old ones out, new ones in. That year, SKT T1 crashed out of the LCK regional finals and failed to even qualify for Worlds. Over the next two summers, Faker again found himself subbed out in favour of younger players. Fans expressed outrage, but there were also whispers. “[They said] the sun was setting on Faker’s era,” recalls Caster Jun. “That it wasn’t just a slump – he was being aged out.” In 2020, the team – now called simply T1 – failed to qualify for Worlds again. Faker was 24 years old.
The competitive lifespan of a pro LoL player is surprisingly short: the average age of retirement is around 23. There are many reasons why. Some simply can’t keep up. Riot Games regularly updates
Action stations: (opposite page) T1 in battle mode at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational Group Stage in Busan, South Korea, in May 2022; (above) the five teammates strike a pose between matches; (right) their star player is immortalised in a drone show above Busan‘s Gwangalli Beach
“We were arrogant,” says Oner. It was a lesson in humility
The big event: a T1 victory was anticipated at Worlds 2022 in San Francisco, but in the end they lost out to Korean underdogs DRX
Aftermath: the iconic, award-winning image of a shellshocked Faker and heartbroken Keria after their 2022 Worlds defeat
As
Fakermation
Every year, Worlds gets an official anthem. Here are four times Faker has made an appearance in the music videos
Ignite, ft Zedd (2016)
Faker is seen eating raw broccoli – a callback to Worlds 2015, when a fan said his hair looked like the vegetable. He promised he’d eat a stalk of it if he won. He did, and he did.
Gods, ft NewJeans (2023)
A catchy tune from the K-pop act, set to 2022’s epic confrontation between old school-friends Deft and Faker. This time, as IRL, Faker loses.
The Unkillable Demon
Heavy is the Crown, ft Linkin Park (2024)
2023’s victors, all five members of ZOFGK feature as the final bosses in this mighty battle set in LoL’s realm of Runeterra.
Rise, ft The Glitch Mob, Mako and The Word Alive (2018) Ambition, Faker’s fabled foe, battles to Worlds 2017 victory. Who should await him at the end?
King, of course.
the game’s code, adding new characters and changing the attributes of the ones that already exist, which forces players to continually relearn the meta.
Burnout is a harsh reality. While traditional athletes may train for up to eight hours a day, a 2019 analysis of Faker’s daily regime put his hours at 13 – a mix of scrims (training matches), solo queue sessions and personal practice. The rest of his day? Eating, sleeping and just a single hour of free time. “He talked about the game even while eating,” says former teammate Lee ‘Wolf’ Jae-wan. “Even on vacation he’d play instead of hanging out.”
Then there’s the physical toll. Esports might not seem as intense as, say, football, tennis or Formula 1 – all sports with athletes well into their thirties – but its ailments can be gradual, undetectable and, worse of all, chronic. The hands and wrists of LoL players experience punishing amounts of micro-movements. During a game, an ordinary player might perform 100 actions per minute (APM); Faker’s APM has been clocked at closer to 500, as he uses the mouse and hot keys to not only move his character but also jump the in-game camera about, checking on teammates and taking in anything that could give the slightest advantage. Many players retire due to permanent injury – swollen tendons, nerve compression, neck and lower-back pain. There are no actively competing LoL pros over the age of 30.
“On vacation he’d play instead of hanging out”
Lee ‘Wolf’ Jae-wan,
former teammate
Early into the 2021 season, Faker decided to bench himself for three weeks – not because he’d had enough, but because he needed a break. He also wanted to change something in himself. “I had a strong ego,” he ruminates on that time. “I acted based on personal experience. Now I’ve become more objective, flexible and mature.”
That year, T1 lost at Worlds again. Faker was there, but the boy who wept in 2017 was gone.
There’s an iconic image from the Worlds 2022 final, so striking it won Photograph of the Year at the Esports Awards. Standing on the stage at San Francisco’s Chase Center in the aftermath of another defeat, Faker stares at his teammate, Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok, who remains seated in front of his computer. Keria, head cupped in both hands, is inconsolable.
2022 was meant to be T1’s year, Faker’s year, his 10th anniversary in pro esports. Early in the season, he became the first player in the LCK to achieve 2,500 kills, the second in LoL history to surpass 1,000 pro games. A regular roster of players had finally settled around him: Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je, Moon ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun, Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong, and Keria. The fans had even coined a name for them – ZOFGK – made from their gamer-handle initials in the order they played on the map, with Faker at the centre. In spring, ZOFGK finished 18-0 undefeated. Ahead of the Worlds final, 76 per cent of fans predicted a T1 win. Their opponents? An underdog Korean team called DRX, captained by an old schoolmate of Faker, Kim ‘Deft’ Hyuk-kyu. “We were arrogant,” recalls Oner. It was a lesson in humility.
As the word ‘Defeat’ was splashed across T1’s playing booth, Faker leant back in his chair. Displayed on giant screens to more than 14,000 spectators and beamed to millions of viewers, anguish flickered across his face, quickly replaced by composure. “Unlucky, guys, we did well,” he said, supportively, into his mic. Then he looked at his team. At 26, he was the oldest – Zeus and Oner were still teenagers, Gumayusi and Keria had just turned 20. As the latter sobbed uncontrollably, tears welled up in Faker’s eyes, that photo memorialising the moment for ever. “I was checking if they were OK,” he recalls. “My teammates dreamt of playing in the Worlds finals. They were heartbroken. I’d been there many times.” It was now six years since he’d last won.
“I tried to look ahead to next year, to focus on taking care of our players,” Faker says. But seven
Here for the LoL: T1 fans show their support at the Worlds opening ceremony at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in November 2023
Cup heroes: T1, headed by Faker (centre, with Zeus, left, and Keria), took the 2024 trophy after beating China’s Bilibili Gaming
“I have no plans to retire – I’ll continue to play for T1”
Faker when asked about his future after Worlds 2023
months later he began to experience something worrying. “At the beginning of summer, I felt numbness and tingling in my arm. At first, the loss of sensation in my fingers lasted only a few minutes, but soon it was the whole day.”
“I thought, ‘It’s time,’” says his father. “The inevitable had arrived.”
Faker underwent an MRI scan of his hand. “There was no clear diagnosis,” he says. “There also wasn’t a definitive treatment.” He took time off to recover. No one was sure when, or if, he would return.
Even before this, T1 were in turmoil. Following a sensational 17-win run in the Spring Split, they lost in the final. It was now four tournament defeats in a row. Doubt began to creep in. “We thought maybe we weren’t a good fit,” Faker admits. Then they crashed out of the Mid-Season Invitationals. “After that, it completely fell apart,” says Keria. “The trust was almost non-existent. We were not communicating.”
With Faker absent, his place was filled by a rookie, 17-year-old Yoon ‘Poby’ Sung-won. “That wasn’t just any seat, it was a holy grail laced with poison,” says Caster Jun. “The mid of T1 – Faker’s position.” Burdened by the weight of impossible expectation, Poby struggled. T1 fell to fifth in the summer standings. If they dropped below sixth, they’d fail to qualify for Worlds. The mood within the team became so troubled that Gumayusi admits to having sought therapy.
Thirty-one days after he’d stepped back, Faker returned. For fans, it was the news they’d been hoping to hear; for ZOFGK, it meant the restoration of the missing piece needed to qualify for Worlds. For Faker, it was a moment to express his gratitude to Poby. “He was put in such a difficult position,” he says. “I’m thankful that he gave it his all.”
Among all the world championships since they debuted in 2011, never was one more possessed of mythic portent than Worlds 2023. It was taking place in South Korea, home to the greatest LoL players. Seven times had a Korean team raised the Summoner’s Cup; next best was China with three wins. But on the two occasions Worlds had been held here – in 2014 and 2018 – Faker had failed to qualify. For the home crowd, there was an air of destiny. By the semi-finals, T1 were the only Korean team left in an insurmountable field of Chinese opponents. “We learnt our lesson from last year,” says Oner, “and we came to appreciate the importance of ZOFGK playing together as a whole.”
Destiny can be cruel. Sometimes it’s a tale of tragedy, of valiant heroes falling in the final act. But not this time. On November 19, 2023, in Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, ZOFKG swept to victory in the grand final, and a decade after his first win Faker became the only player to raise the Summoner’s Cup for a fourth time. In his moment of triumph, he said five simple words: “Our team is so good.”
Four weeks later, T1 were competing again. But, to use a phrase that seems all too rare in this game, the mood was… playful. At the Velodrom in Berlin, Germany, an exhibition match – Red Bull League of Its Own – had been organised in honour of the world champions. Some of Europe’s best pro teams had come to pay their respects and maybe, just maybe, beat them (one did). If this felt like the happily ever after to ZOFGK’s fairytale, they had other ideas.
In a press conference after Worlds 2023, Faker answered a question on many people’s minds. “I have no plans to retire – I’ll continue to play for T1,” he said, calmly. “I’ve been learning and growing throughout my career. It’s a rare opportunity for a human being.”
Lee Sang-hyeok is a rare human being. A unicorn. The second-youngest player to ever win Worlds, and now, at 28, the oldest. “I never thought pro players’ careers had short lifespans,” he said in 2022. “Some retire, others keep going. I don’t believe there’s a huge difference between a player in their early twenties and those in their early thirties.” But then, he’s always seen the worlds he inhabits in ways that others don’t.
“I can’t picture the day when people talk about League of Legends without mentioning Faker,” says Vietnamese pro player Đo ‘Levi’ Duy Khán. “It’s a day no one would ever want to see.” But in 2017 Faker gave an inkling of what life after LoL could be like for him. “I’ll definitely work in esports,” he said. “But if we count that out, I want to work in a field that involves science and people – working with people’s brains.”
For now, he’s content to just play with our emotions. In a drama-filled 2024 season, ZOFGK barely scraped into Worlds as the last team to qualify. Once again, the doubters doubted, but at The O2 in London this November, in front of a capacity crowd of 20,000, with an additional 6.94 million viewers worldwide – the largest audience ever for an esports event – T1 once again lifted the cup.
Ahead of the 2023 final, Faker made a statement: “The third trophy was for myself. The fourth is for my teammates.” In 2024, he had just one thing to add: “To those that believed in us no matter what… the fifth trophy is for you.” Whatever comes next, his place is assured – the greatest LoL player who ever lived.
“Looking back, League of Legends and Faker needed each other,” says Sjokz. “There was a platform given, and one person who stood up and said, ‘I will be that icon for you.’”
Scan the QR code with your phone to watch T1 Rose Together, the documentary on the team’s incredible 2023 season, on Red Bull TV; redbull.tv
TRAVEL/ HOKKAIDO
“Extra grip is required underfoot as we navigate huge chunks of frozen snow on the ridge, the gaping crater below our destination if we slip”
The biting wind howls as it spirals freely around the conical, snowcapped volcano. A freezing fog clings to every inch of my body, backpack and skis; my facial muscles work hard to move in the frigid conditions as my beard and eyelashes stiffen.
Clouds have rolled in, limiting visibility to metres. My fellow adventurers, Rowan Brandreth and Mauri Marassi, and I inch higher up Asahi-dake’s icy western face, the 2,291m summit of the stratovolcano – Hokkaido’s tallest mountain – still hours away. Having already donned our warmest layers, our only defence against the cold is to keep moving – a prolonged stop in these conditions would result in hypothermia.
While Japan’s northernmost island is world-famous for its near-limitless powder skiing, its volcanoes offer the chance to explore remote areas with spectacular terrain far from the crowded resorts. The standalone peaks and their alpine-style skiing come with a serious weather warning and are only for the most adventurous and experienced skiers, but climbing and descending these magma-made mountains has always felt special. Their very existence tells a story billions of years in the making, and one that’s still being written
– there are 31 active volcanoes in Hokkaido alone and always a small chance of an unexpected eruption. Having conducted extensive research, we compiled a volcano hit list that would take us all over the island. Watching forecasts avidly, we would be guided by the conditions. A solid weather window enables us to tick off Mount Yotei, an iconic spot that strong skiers aspire to when spending time around the nearby resort, Niseko. And, in the centre of the island, Mount Tokachi and Mount Furano offer up all-you-can-eat powder in awesome terrain; steep couloirs, powdery spines and bellowing, sulphurrich fumaroles (volcanic vents) provide an awe-inspiring reminder of just how unique skiing in Hokkaido is.
One big day after another, we ski until the last rays of sunshine disappear behind the surrounding snowy peaks, before enjoying the striking reds and pinks of alpenglow as we soak our weary legs in piping-hot onsens – the traditional outdoor hot-spring baths that you can find all over this region.
Asahi-dake was high on our volcano hit list. The peak is the tallest in Hokkaido’s Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group, an area known by the indigenous Ainu people as Kamui Mintara (‘the playground of the gods’) – a fitting description. While not at an altitude comparable to Europe’s alpine peaks, Asahi-dake has no protection from weather rolling in off the Pacific, leading to savage conditions that give it a serious edge.
Catching the ropeway lift, we sneak in a few off-piste powder tree-runs before stocking up with supplies and embarking on a 45-minute windy ski tour to the refuge hut, which requires digging out to find the door. Primitive, with four stone walls and a wooden floor, it could sleep 20 but clearly isn’t a popular spot; we have the place to ourselves.
Leaving at first light, we alternate between crampons and ski touring –extra grip is required underfoot as we navigate huge chunks of frozen snow on the ridge, the gaping crater below our destination if we slip. After four hours that feel like 40, we finally break
STEEP IMPACT (Clockwise from top left) clouds roll in and out on the summit of Mount Biei; volcanic gases vent into the atmosphere on the shoulder of Mount Tokachi; night skiing in Mount Teine, near Sapporo; Marassi finds a pow stash in the forests at Mount Teine; Rolph puts on a show as he takes those first turns off the summit of Mount Yōtei; (opening page) Rolph surfs champagne powder on Asahi-dake
through the cover to reveal a snowy expanse glistening beneath the morning sun, which shines brightly behind the active fissure’s crown.
We take our final few summit steps and, although elated on the inside, no words need to be spoken. I glance over to Mauri and Rowan and we share a solemn but satisfied fist bump, in keeping with this stoic mission. Despite trying to catch breath whisked away by the effort, altitude and intense conditions, I can’t help but pause to take in the view from the pinnacle of our volcano-hopping adventure.
The cold has no time for sentimentality, though. We transition to downhill skiing as quickly as possible, ripping off our climbing skins and clicking our bindings and boots into ski mode before dancing our way down the icy moguls formed naturally by extreme wind on this all-too-exposed island.
It’s almost impossible to differentiate between the earth and sky, which blur
into a seamless expanse of white. We ski together, leapfrogging one another using the skier ahead as our only means of depth perception until we reach the forested lower slopes, where the story is entirely different. In this sheltered sanctity, the snow becomes deep, velvet-smooth, and offers that ‘champagne powder’ experience Japan is so famous for. As a few rays of sunlight pierce through the clouds, the silvery birch trees light up; it feels dreamlike as we carve fresh tracks together through this magical forest.
Japan has some incredible cultural experiences, and never-ending top-ups of japow, and we’ve been richly rewarded for seeking out the more wild and remote side of this incredible country.
Aaron Rolph is a British adventurer and photographer based in the Alps. He founded the British Adventure Collective and specialises in human-powered ski and bike expeditions all over the world; britishadventurecollective.com
GO HOKKAIDO
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and can be reached via a connecting flight from Japan’s capital, Tokyo. There are six ski resorts within an hour of downtown, and the region experiences 18m of annual snowfall, so you’re guaranteed to experience the iconic japow on any winter trip. snowsapporo.com
SNOW WONDER (Clockwise from left) Marassi climbs the steep, icy inclines of Asahi-dake; a Japanese onsen is the perfect reset for tired legs and mind; spiralling up the slopes on Mount Yōtei; world-famous Japanese hospitality
First ones up First ones down
We’ve got you covered for all your snow needs this season.
SLOPE STARS EQUIPMENT/
Our pick of the best ski and snowboard gear to be seen schussing and carving in this season
Photography Mads Perch
SALOMON MTN Lab Helmet, salomon.com; SMITH 4D Mag S Goggles, smithoptics.com; PROTEST Prtditsy Jacket, Prtcarmackos Ski Trousers and Prtkagura Gloves, protest.eu; OSPREY Firn 28 Backpack, osprey.com; NIDECKER Sensor Snowboard, nidecker.com
SMITH Scout Helmet, smithoptics.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE PXV2 Goggles, uk.dragonalliance.com; RAB Khroma Diffract Insulated Jacket and Khroma Diffract Pants, rab.equipment; 686 Gore-Tex Linear Mitts, eu.686.com; SALOMON S/Pro Supra BOA 120 Boots, salomon.com; WEDZE Patrol 105Ti Skis, decathlon.co.uk
HELLY HANSEN HH Rib Beanie, hellyhansen.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE RVX Mag Icon Goggles, uk.dragonalliance. com; 686 Gore-Tex Pro 3L Thermagraph Jacket, GRTX Stretch Dispatch Bib and Lander Mitts, eu.686.com; NIDECKER Rift APX Boots and Supermatic Bindings, nidecker.com; SLASH SNOWBOARDS Thumbs x Slash Happy Place Snowboard, slashsnow.com
Models: Alex @ Osmosis Casting Management; Timeri @ W MGMT
Winter sports can be a pricey pursuit. Flights, accommodation and equipment hire costs soon creep up, while splashing the cash on your own boots, bindings, skis or board is a serious up-front investment, even if it will pay off in the long run.
And that’s before you factor in a resort’s lift pass – the daily fee charged to access the chairlifts, gondolas and cable cars that ferry you to all corners of the mountain. They’re a necessity, and there’s no way of avoiding them unless you want to be limited to the nursery slopes.
Fortunately, Helly Hansen has a pocket-friendly solution. Renowned for crafting pioneering, performancefocused clothing, the iconic Norwegian brand is a solid choice when buying gear that can handle changing mountain conditions, wherever you are in the world. And as part of its Ski Free initiative, when you buy a ski jacket or pair of pants from its latest ski collection you automatically get a free day of skiing. All you have to do is upload a picture of your receipt online to unlock your day on the mountain.
FREE PASS
Helly Hansen’s Ski Free offer enables you to experience a day on the mountain for less this season
Eligible at more than 50 premier resorts in Europe and North America, the offer varies depending on location – from a single-day ticket to a two-forone or other deal – but it means you can access some of the best ski spots around without having to delve deeper
into your salopettes’ insulated pocket. For UK-based skiers and snowboarders, the closest participating resorts are the breathtakingly beautiful Chamonix – nestled in the shadows of Mont Blanc in France – and Swiss freeride paradise Verbier. But you’re not limited by proximity.
From experiencing the Canadian Rockies’ unrivalled powder offering at Castle Mountain to sampling Scandinavian skiing havens such as Norway’s Voss Resort or Sweden’s Stöten I Sälen, open up the world’s best runs for less with Helly Hansen’s Ski Free this winter.
FITNESS/ AVANT-SKI
Want to avoid a wipeout this winter? Freestyle snowboard ace Charlie Lane tells us how to get in shape for the slopes
Avoriaz, France. St Moritz, Switzerland. Brighton, UK. While one of these locations is more renowned for its stony beach than for its snowboarding, that hasn’t stopped South Coast native Charlie Lane carving out a name for himself as one of the sport’s most exciting prospects.
The 17-year-old won gold and silver in the slopestyle and Big Air events at the 2023 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival, is part of the GB development set-up, and is now sponsored by Nidecker Snowboards. But when not shredding in Japan or finessing his technique in Finland, he’s putting in the hours at home in Brighton on his backyard terrain park, which has its own dry slope-covered drop, jump and rail.
“It was an idea I had this summer,” Lane explains. “The rail has made a massive difference, and my rail riding has progressed in that short period. I’m quite excited to see what it’s going to do for [my riding in] the future.”
The DIY build isn’t the only preparation Lane does miles from the mountains: he uses specific training tools and techniques to keep himself in snowboard shape yearround. And you don’t have to be a future freestyle star to see the benefits. Here are some accessible techniques you can use to shake off the pre-ski holiday rust…
Build your base
“If you haven’t been on snow for a year, the first day will be a shock to your system,” says Lane. He includes a spin before every gym session to keep his lower body used to that post-boarding burning sensation. “I dislocated my knee at 13; ever since
“Being back on snow after a year off it is a shock to the system”
Charlie Lane, freestyle snowboarder
that, the exercise bike has been part of my gym warm-up – it’s a good way to get the body awake and legs moving.” Lane recommends 20 minutes on a mediumto-low intensity: “It doesn’t have to get you out of breath; it’s just to get the legs working and blood pumping.”
Strike a balance
Before building his backyard set-up, Lane would spend hours on an Indo Board (pictured) – a tea tray-shaped wooden board you stand on while balancing atop a plastic tube. “I’d stand on it while watching TV, and it helped with keeping balance over the centre of the board and working on all the press [tricks],” he says. It’s difficult at the start, he concedes, but it has a direct impact when you hit the snow: “[You] understand the movement you have with an unbalanced object beneath your feet and how to manoeuvre with your hips and your knees.” If you don’t want to splash out on an Indo Board, Lane says that a Bosu ball – a domeshaped piece of kit with a flat base, found in most gyms – can also help boost your balance. “Standing on one and feeling the ankle work and the glute engage can help you get used to that instability beneath you and the feeling of not being grounded.”
Jump to it
The foundations of a freestyle snowboarder’s tricks are all honed on the humble trampoline: “I spent about a year on one, dialling in the more basic stuff –backflip, front flip, underflip, cab underflip – that I can do on snow. It’s good for aerial awareness, because you can get familiar with going upside down and not seeing where you’ll land.” Even if you don’t plan on leaving the ground, Lane believes a trampoline can be beneficial. “Gentle jumping, just straight up and down, could help with hip stability and ensure you’re putting equal force through each leg.”
Half measures
Skiing or snowboarding requires you to slightly squat for every run down the mountain, which can cause achy legs for the first few days of a holiday. Lane says there’s a way to simulate that in the gym and minimise the soreness: “I do quite low squats that prepare me for impacts [from landings], but a half squat, where your knees are at 45 degrees, is enough.” He recommends dipping slightly lower, too, to mimic what the mountain will feel like and prepare you for any bumps on the slopes: “Going lower will get the legs softer and improve your suspension.”
Instagram: @charlie.lane_
www.zellamsee-kaprun.com
In Ava Glass’ best-selling series of spy novels, her heroine Emma Makepeace plays cat and mouse with Russian operatives against a backdrop of MI6 safe houses, the G7 summit and an oligarch’s superyacht. Crime-fiction titan James Patterson has called the character a “worthy heir” to James Bond, and while Glass drew on writers such as Ian Fleming and John Le Carré for inspiration, she was also informed by her real-life experience. While working in counter-terrorism communications for the UK government earlier in her career, Glass (not her real name) was tasked with explaining the work of spies to the public: “They showed me their work, and I then pitched articles they wouldn’t let me write.” Despite the frustrations around secrecy, the job was fascinating, says Glass; the world of MI5 and MI6 was “nothing like the cliches”.
If the fictional Emma Makepeace is based on one person, the author says, it’s a young woman who befriended Glass in the early days of her new job in London. She met the woman in the office kitchen, then repeatedly bumped into her in places such as her favourite coffee shop and her bus to work. “She was just one of those chatty, charming people who wants to know about your life,” says Glass, who’d just left a job as an investigative reporter in the US. “And then she completely disappeared. It was as if I’d dreamt her. It took me a couple of months to realise that she was a spy and that was my final security check. She seemed so ordinary.”
Since then, Glass has had plenty of opportunities to talk with spies (current and former) about their lives and work –so much so that she worried she’d reveal state secrets in her writing. Here’s what she learnt about uncovering information without blowing your cover…
Keep out of trouble
A spy may be trained to kill, but the last thing they want is an altercation. “If a spy gets in a fight, or even gets mugged and has to fight back, it’s a nightmare,” Glass says. “They have to tell the cops they work for MI5; they get outed. When a spy friend of mine got mugged, he was so cross. He kept telling the kid, ‘This is so dumb. Don’t make me hurt you.’ Then the whole night was spent breaking it to his boss and doing the paperwork.”
Don’t enjoy it too much
Spying is lying, says Glass. Spies usually don’t tell their spouse or parents what they really do. And for every job, a spy needs a new legend – a new backstory of who they are, and their life so far. So
HOW TO/ SPY
What does it take to secretly gather intel when the stakes are sky-high? The skills involved might surprise you…
a spy must lie to almost everyone about everything, all the time. It isn’t easy. Nor should it be, Glass says: “You want someone who can psychologically justify the lies but is aware of the moral dodginess. You don’t want someone who’s too enthusiastic about the deception. It’s a fine line. You have to be doing it for the right reasons.”
Ditch the tux
Spies aren’t all athletic, clean-cut white men in their prime. “Older women make brilliant spies because they’re ignored so much. People would happily leave an older woman alone in their office, where they can merrily go through files and computers. That’s incredibly valuable. One of the
“Older women make brilliant spies because they’re often ignored”
Ava Glass, spy-fiction author
scariest spies I ever met was a woman in her late sixties. She was so fierce. She really scared the crap out of me.”
Learn the lingo
The spy world is full of jargon and code. In the British security service, Glass says, US intelligence are known as the ‘cousins’; MI5 is ‘Box’ or ‘Box 500’ (after its wartime address, PO Box 500). Then there’s the ‘spy nod’. One of Glass’ spy friends was doing counterterrorism training in a village pub when they saw some Americans at the next table who they instinctively knew were CIA agents. They were undercover and had no legitimate reason to be there, so all the spy could do was give them a knowing nod. When the nod was returned, the spy knew they were on the same page.
Keep a clear head
Take a leaf out of James Bond’s book. “The reason his Martini is shaken, not stirred, is because the alcohol sinks to the bottom if you shake it, so he can look like he’s drinking but stay alert,” Glass says. This translates to the real spy world, too. “Spies do know how to drink but not get drunk. I always thought it was about quietly dumping out the glass, but I don’t know for sure; they would never tell me that secret.” The Trap by Ava Glass is out now, published by Penguin; avaglass.uk
Humans have sought the elixir of life for more than 4,000 years. In the poem Epic of Gilgamesh, written in the second millennium BC, the hero searches for a rejuvenating herb at the bottom of the ocean. Today, achieving immortality is less myth, more reality. The quest for greater longevity has given rise to a whole new industry backed by tech billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and wealthy entrepreneurs such as 47-year-old American Bryan Johnson, the lab rat of longevity science.
Johnson spends $2 million a year on attempts to turn back his biological clock, which have even included extracting and injecting his teenage son’s blood plasma into himself via transfusion. While that particular experiment proved ineffective, it seems his daily cocktail of supplements, check-ups and exercise is working: Johnson claims tests show that after just three years of his ‘Blueprint Protocol’ he has the cardiovascular health of an 18-year-old. Fortunately, an expensive and intensive regime isn’t the only option. Many are beginning to safeguard their long-term health earlier in life with the aim of slowing their biological clock rather than winding it back. “Increasingly, longevity is not just a concern for the middle-aged or older,” says Dr Tamsin Lewis, a former elite triathlete and the founder of Wellgevity, a service that aims to help clients improve their day-to-day health for decades to come. “It’s becoming clear that the earlier we focus on it, the greater the potential to modulate the biological ageing process.”
So, aside from the obvious – eating and sleeping healthily, exercising regularly – how can you get the upper hand over your health? Here, Dr Lewis offers up some life-lengthening insights…
Restrict the flow
Strength training and cardio workouts help slow the body’s natural loss of muscle, bone density and aerobic ability, but you needn’t load up the squat rack to see the benefits. “Blood flow restriction (BFR) training bands are great for building muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness without needing heavy weights,” says Dr Lewis. Research shows that lowintensity BFR leads to the same gains as high-intensity exercise without the bands; one study suggests the load can be as low as 20 per cent of your one-rep max. Dr Lewis explains that the bands, worn at the top of your arms or legs, make your body work harder by restricting blood flow, “stimulating muscle growth and improving vascular function”.
WELLBEING/
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
Looking for ways to boost your health without an expensive, time-consuming regime? Longevity expert Dr Tamsin Lewis has realistic tips for delaying decline
Powder up
If you’ve already nailed your nutrition with a balanced diet, Lewis recommends a potentially life-extending topping. “Haskapa Berry Powder is a simple but impactful addition,” she says. “The antioxidant-rich powder, made from haskap berries, is loaded with anthocyanins.” The pigments that give this blueberry-like fruit its indigo colour have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties and have been shown to boost runners’ 5K times, as well as cognitive ability in older adults.
“Longevity is not just a concern for the middle-aged”
Dr Tamsin Lewis, wellness expert
Strap in
Being locked inside a chamber as someone in a lab coat fiddles with the air pressure might sound like a surefire way to shorten your life, but Dr Lewis swears by Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). “Breathing 100-per-cent oxygen in a pressurised environment enhances oxygen delivery to tissues, reduces inflammation and speeds up healing,” she says. “There’s a growing evidence base that HBOT [traditionally a treatment for decompression sickness and carbon monoxide poisoning] slows the pace of ageing. I use it to improve brain function and tissue repair, and aid recovery from long COVID, infections and travel.”
See the plus side
There’s still no one-pill antidote to the body’s decline, but Dr Lewis recommends taking NAD Regen. Found in all living cells, the coenzyme NAD+ is crucial for energy production, DNA repair and cellular health, but levels decline as we age. Studies of the long-term efficacy of NAD supplements are ongoing, but Dr Lewis takes it daily with the aim of improving the function of mitochondria – the powerhouse of the cell. “I feel it helps me sustain energy, and I have brighter cognition and focus.”
Instagram: @drtam
10 CALENDAR/ THINGS TO DO AND SEE
December onwards
Calm Beneath Castles
Maybe you’re a fan of backcountry skiing, maybe not… it doesn’t matter, this film will mesmerise you either way. The castles here are towering snow-capped mountains as far afield as Japan, Austria and Alaska, as legendary Canadian freeskier Mark Abma and 23 pro athletes scout out and execute some of the sickest lines captured on camera. The friendships, foolery (there’s butt-naked skiing) and masterful grilling of cheese toasties on snowmobile exhausts is pure old-school ski-flick – but once the drones lift off and the soundtrack soars, you ain’t nothing seen like it. Watch it on Red Bull TV. redbull.tv
10
December to 2 March 2025 Club Curling
Forget the bobsleigh and figure skating, we all know the best Winter Olympics event is curling – that 16th-century Scottish sport where they coax polished stones down a icy lane with brooms. It’s also the one you’d most fancy your own chances at, so here’s your opportunity. While the brooms seem distinctly lacking at this six-lane stone-sliding experience (it’s a case of chuck-itand-see), there are other distractions to make up for the lack of sportsgrade sweeping equipment. Such as a bar. And epic lighting from legendary east London neon wonderland God’s Own Junkyard. Also, a portion of all ticket sales goes to local charities. Coal Drops Yard, London; kingscross.co.uk
10
December to 2 March 2025
Titanique
It’s been 27 years since James Cameron’s Titanic ploughed headlong into our lives (becoming the highest-grossing film until Cameron’s own Avatar toppled it in 2010). It exists now only in our memes... and in this outrageously hilarious stage musical retelling the events through the eyes of its themesong singer, ‘queen of the power ballads’ Celine Dion. The product of a drunken chat a decade ago between off-Broadway writer-performers Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, it has amassed awards, and a legion of fans who’ve seen it many times thanks to an improvised structure that guarantees no two performances are the same. Near, far, wherever you are, go see it. The Criterion Theatre, London; criterion-theatre.co.uk
6
to 9 February 2025
Our Mighty Groove
Sadler’s Wells is a champion of contemporary dance in the capital, and now its new, second venue in east London can showcase even more great community talent. Its opening show, by choreographer Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu, blends club styles and African dance performed by London company Uchenna Dance, with the audience joining in afterwards as the event becomes a party. Sadler’s Wells East, London; sadlerswells.com
16 January to 28 March 2025
In the Dark
At this live music experience, you won’t be distracted by the glare of someone’s phone – or any light at all. For the duration of the one-hour performance, the audience is blindfolded and the musicians perform in total darkness. This is intended to reassess how we listen, and serve as a sensory reset. What you’ll hear is a mystery, too –
all the instruments are hidden from view before the show. It’s touring three London venues (Great St Bart’s, Cutty Sark and Trinity Buoy Wharf), so at least you’ll be able to find your way there. Across London; in-the-dark.com
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THE RED BULLETIN Austria ISSN 1995-8838
Editors Nina Kaltenböck (Manager), Stephan Hilpold (Senior Editor) Lisa Hechenberger, Petra Sturma Publishing Management Julian Vater
Editors David Mayer (Manager), Stephan Hilpold (Senior Editor) Publishing Management Natascha Djodat
THE RED BULLETIN Switzerland ISSN 2308-5886
Editors
Anna Mayumi Kerber (Manager), Stephan Hilpold (Senior Editor) Publishing Management Meike Koch
THE RED BULLETIN USA ISSN 2308-586X
Editors Peter Flax (Manager), Melissa Gordon, Nora O’Donnell
Publishing Management
Branden Peters
SEMI-RAD
Adventure philosophy from Brendan Leonard
“I’ve been lucky enough to have gone on a few ski trips to beautiful places for my job as a freelance writer. How this usually works is: you pitch the story, or get assigned a story by a magazine editor, and you’re paired up with a photographer who shoots photos of the skiing in the beautiful place. Something I learnt over the years is that you can be doubly useful to the photographer if you can ski really well and look good doing it, because then they can shoot some photos of you carving a perfect turn in the perfect spot in perfect light. Or that’s how it would work in an ideal situation for the photographer. With a different writer. Because I am not a great skier. I enjoy it, but I don’t look that great doing it. If I make 300 turns on a ski trip, maybe five of them are aesthetic enough to photograph, and even then my jacket or backpack is probably hanging in a weird way. Look, there are people who get paid to ski, and they’re called athletes. I (sometimes) get paid to write about what skiing feels like, not to look good doing it. Maybe that’s why no one’s hired me to write about skiing in a while.”
The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on February 11
TRAIN TO PERFORM WITH THE ULTIMATE SMARTWATCH F Ē NIX ® 8
