Textbook survival says stay still, don’t take any chances, wait for rescue. That’s a boring TV show. My thing was always, “Listen, shoelace, dead squirrel and no other way down this rock face. You can do this!”
I am not fearless. I get scared plenty. But I have also learned how to channel that emotion to sharpen me.
There is little faith involved in setting out on a journey where the destination is certain and every step in between has been mapped in detail. Bravery, trust, is about leaving camp in the dark, when we do not know the route ahead and cannot be certain we will ever return.
There is no feeling like coming home after danger.
Unless you have shelter, fire is going to be very hard and if you have fire, but no water, you’re going to die. They’re all super important.
My best life lessons and education didn’t come from a classroom – they’ve come from the wild. How you act in the big moments, the ones that challenge you, scare you, tempt you, and force you to make the right decisions, is what defines you.
The truth is, I need 10 lifetimes to scratch the surface of the things I’d love to do.
My work is all about adventure and teamwork in some of the most inhospitable jungles, mountains and deserts on the planet. If you aren’t able to look after yourself and each other, then people die.
My faith is an important part of my life and over the years I’ve learnt that it takes a proud man to say he doesn’t need anything. It has been a quiet strength and a backbone through a lot of difficult times.
Eating any of these things, goat testicles or what have you, isn’t going to be nice, but you get into that zone, you become focussed and you do what you need to do. It’s all about one thing: coming home in one piece.
I was super skeptical about doing TV. I said no three times, part of which was confidence because I didn’t really understand that world. I know how to climb mountains and do all that, but I wasn’t a TV person.
When you find yourself thinking about someone or something in the same old negative way, just stop yourself. Think. Check. Change. Refresh. Job done. Smile. Move on. Do this enough times and you will change. For the better; for the stronger.
I do see a lot of the hard end of ecology, and my feeling is that we live on a super-exciting planet but a super-fragile one.
I always had a really natural faith as a kid. Where I knew God existed and it felt very free and pretty wild and natural, and it wasn’t religious.
Look, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, sometimes you need a bit of luck.
Life has taught me to be very cautious of a man with a dream, especially a man who has teetered on the edge of life. It gives a fire and recklessness inside that is hard to quantify.
Weather can kill you so fast. The first priority of survival is getting protection from the extreme weather.
I hang out all the time with kids and young scouts and I never meet kids who don’t want adventure.
Change the way you use your time, and you change your life.
The only difference between ‘try’ and ‘triumph’ is varying degrees of ‘umph’