Climber, Contractor, Farmer: The Man Who Does Everything

Available for over a year

Ioan Doyle never stops. He’s one of the best shearers, dry-stone wallers, and fencers – as well as being a world-class climber and mountaineer. He’s scaled the toughest peaks in the world and has twice attempted the so-far unclimbed South Ridge of K7 in the Himalayas. Ioan and his wife Janie own and run a busy contracting business in Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, alongside farming sheep, pigs and chickens and raising their two young children, Evan and Eidda. Yet, for all his energy, self-belief and determination, Ioan feels torn between two worlds: farming and climbing. He opens up to Anna Jones about the conflict he feels trying to balance the “pride and tradition” of Welsh hill farming with the “hard graft” of contracting while pushing his body and mind to the limit on the world’s most inaccessible and dangerous rock faces. Produced and presented by Anna Jones