In 2005, Houlding appeared in the BBC television program
Top Gear in which he raced presenter
Jeremy Clarkson up a cliff face in
Verdon Gorge, winning the challenge (Series 7, Episode 2). Houlding, joined by
Tim Emmett, climbed the canyon whilst Clarkson drove an
Audi RS4 to the top using the surrounding roads. He has also appeared several times on the
Audi Channel. He was the subject of the 2003 TV documentary "My Right Foot" which was part of the
Extreme Lives series aired on
BBC Television. In 2007, he joined the
2007 Altitude Everest Expedition, led by American climber and mountaineer,
Conrad Anker, retracing the last steps of legendary British climbers
George Mallory and
Andrew "Sandy" Irvine on
Mount Everest. They take on the
Second Step without the use of the fixed ladder; free climbing it with the use of some modern safety precautions (e.g. perlon rope,
camming devices, belay devices), to evaluate if indeed Mallory and Irvine were capable of climbing the Second Step themselves in 1924. In 2008, Houlding presented
Take Me to the Edge, a
British reality series on
Virgin1 (later repeated on
STV); and signed a deal with Ford Motor Company to become a brand ambassador for their pick up truck, the
Ford Ranger. In August 2009, he led a team of climbers and filmmakers to
Mount Asgard on
Baffin Island, Canada. They attempted to
free climb a 15-pitch route up the north face of the mountain to create the first free route. Although over half of the ascent was eventually freed, the team was unable to complete the full free ascent within the available time. Houlding and American team member
Sean 'Stanley' Leary BASE jumped from the summit. The ascent took 12 days and is featured in the 2010 film
The Asgard Project. He appeared in the 2010 film,
The Wildest Dream, along with
Conrad Anker retracing the steps of
George Mallory and
Andrew Irvine in order to recreate their journey up
Mount Everest. In 2010, he completed his 10-year project
The Prophet, becoming the first Briton to free a new route on
El Capitan in Yosemite. From December 2012 to January 2013, a team led by Houlding and including Alastair Lee, Chris Rabone, Sean Leary, Jason Pickles, and David Reeves made the first ascent of a new route up the north-east ridge of
Ulvetanna Peak in Antarctica. The peak was described as 'the most demanding peak on the world's toughest continent' via its fearsome north-east ridge. The film that was produced,
The Last Great Climb premiered in London on 5 November 2013. After his
Mount Asgard climbing partner Sean Leary's
wingsuit death in 2014, Houlding stopped
BASE jumping. Houlding returned to summit Mount Asgard in 2023, establishing a new 12-pitch line called Loki's Mischief on the mountain's 1200m East Face. ==Personal life==