Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

Episode 260: Lesley McKenna - Risk Aesthetic

Welcome to the second of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which I am examining the recent Winter Olympics from a variety of different perspectives.In this second episode, I’m joined by Lesley McKenna, one of snowboarding’s great original thinkers.A pro skier, snowboarder, coach and team manager, she is herself a three-time Olympian, and helped run GB Park & Pipe in the years when Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan won their medals.She has spent the last few years working on a Phd that analyses the tension that exists between a traditional sporting structure as epitomised by the Olympics, and a none-conventional action sports culture such as snowboarding. She’s has called it the Risk Aesthetic Framework, and it is fascinating stuff.Why does this matter? Because while snowboarding now looks fully integrated into the Winter Olympics, its relationship with the Games has always been complex — and at times uneasy. In this conversation, we dig into judging controversies, cultural friction, performance vs. progression, and ask whether something essential is gained — or lost — when snowboard culture enters the Olympic machine.As ever with Lesley, this is a mind-bending conversation: endlessly intellectually-stimulating, and full of the ideas and provocations that mark her work out as so original. If you care about snowboarding and its culture, don’t miss this one. --This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from DbLOOKINGSIDEWAYS2026 for 15% off any Albion purchaseLOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order--To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Episode 259: Tim Warwood & Ed Leigh - The View From The Booth

Welcome to the first of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which we’ll examine the recent Games from a number of different perspectives.As a lifelong snowboarder, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the Olympics. The performances and spectacle are incredible. But beyond the hype, there are bigger cultural conversations worth having. That’s what this short series is about.In this first episode, I’m joined by BBC Olympic commentators Tim Warwood and Ed Leigh — lifelong snowboarders and much-loved voices of Olympic action sports on the BBC.In this riotous chat, we discuss their experience at the Games, their breakout moment this year, the cultural tensions between core snowboarding and the Olympic machine, the controversies, the progression — and what these Games really mean for the activities and cultures we love.--This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from DbLOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchaseLOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order--To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Episode 258: Alice Sainsbury - Design Justice

Alice Sainsbury is a designer, writer and speaker who in 2015 was diagnosed with an acute neurological condition called transverse myelitis.Since then, she’s been on a mission to break down the barriers that stop people with disabilities participating in the outdoor sports and activities that so many of us take for granted.In this episode, we explore the reality of life for a disabled person in 2026, and the systemic, societal difficulties disabled people face when it comes to participating in outdoor sports and activities.We also discuss Alice’s own story, as well as her latest initiative UN[PARA]LD, which launches at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics with the aim exposing a hidden barrier in elite sport: the incredible fact that many Paralympic athletes are still required to adapt, alter, or retrofit their own outdoor and alpine clothing in order to train and compete.This is one of the most illuminating and intellectually-stimulating conversations I can remember hosting on the podcast. I learned a lot, and I think you will too.To find out more about Alice’s work, and the UN[PARA]LD initiative, click here.--This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from DbLOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchaseLOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order--To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Episode 257: Orlando von Einsiedel - The Cycle of Love

Oscar-winner, snowboarder, and one of the most influential documentary filmmakers working today, Orlando von Einsiedel makes his return to the show, nearly eight years after his first appearance.In that time, films such as Virunga, The White Helmets and The Lost Children have set a new standard in gripping, immersive documentary story-telling.Recorded live at the 2025 Kendal Mountain Festival in front of a sold out audience, this wide-ranging conversation centres on Orlando’s latest film The Cycle of Love, which is currently cleaning up on the festival circuit.It also a rare, honest insight into the reality of life at the sharp end of documentary filmmaking, even when you appear to have achieved the success everybody craves.We dig into Orlando’s creative process, the state of the documentary landscape, and the somewhat dire financial realities of getting ambitious projects off the ground, even for an artist of Orlando’s calibre.If you enjoyed my recent episode with Lucy Walker, or are interested in the real, often precarious mechanics of a creative career, this one’s for you.--This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from DbLOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchaseLOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order--To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Episode 256: Axel Pauporté - Europe's Freeriding Pioneer

If you ask me, this week’s guest Axel Pauporte is one of the most influential snowboarders of the 1990s and 2000s.Even if you don’t know his name, you’re living in a snowboarding culture that he helped shape. Especially if you’re a European snowboarder. To qualify this rather bold claim, it helps to remember how singular an outlier Axel truly was. Back in the early 90s, professional snowboarders from mainland Europe were a genuine rarity. Professional snowboarders from flat Northern European countries such as the Netherlands, the UK or Belgium, where Axel was brought up? Legitimate trailblazing pioneers.All of which makes Axel’s career path especially legendary. Here was a rider who started snowboarding late - and on dry slope to boot.And who, by the end of a storied twenty-year career, was universally regarded as one of snowboarding’s greatest ever freeriders, and had demonstrated that European riders could lead the way in a proving ground like Alaska alongside peers such as Travis Rice, Jonaven Moore and Jeremy Jones. And the story of how Axel made this happen is as unlikely as it is instructive. This isn’t your standard pro snowboarder origin story. Here we have an outsider, both literally and figuratively, who was driven by a potent emotional combination: his own insecurities, a Stakhanovite work ethic, and a ferocious desire to use snowboarding a way of finding a sense of belonging. In Axel’s case, that ultimately led him to AK, and the pursuit of risks that today make him pause and wonder, as we discussed. As you might be gathering, this is a very honest conversation that covers belonging, identity, and the psychology and selfishness of risk; as well as the reckoning that comes to us all once the body and mind begins to fade, and other priorities take precedence.Big thanks to Axel and my friend Dave Mailman for the help with this one. --This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from DbLOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchaseLOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order--To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe