Chamonix is my spiritual home. It's a place I can easily get to often for adventure, high mountains and inspiration. I met my wife there too despite the competition. It's quoted that there is only one woman for every ten blokes. The actual summit dome of Mont Blanc is set back from the town and not that impressive, nevertheless the massif dominates the valley. At 4810m high - nearly 4000m above the bars and boulangeries - Mont Blanc is truly Himalayan in scale. I've climbed it five times over 20 years, from three different routes on the French side, including a traverse with my future wife when I proposed on the summit. (On hearing our news her dad quipped, "Are you sure he didn't say "will you carry me?"). I've also skied up and down it with my much younger chum and polar expert Tim Burton. Another ascent beckoned but this time my goal was to fly off by paraglider.

In 2006 the outdoor industry set up an organisation to proactively look after its livelihood and most vital resource - the natural environment.  Since then, and from a standing start, the EOG Association for Conservation has funded fourteen projects contributing €300,000 to grass roots conservation projects worldwide. With almost 50 members, the Association this year has reached the impressive half a million Euro funding milestone.

Most outdoor enthusiasts wouldn't think of themselves as athletes yet a quick look at the physical demands of the things we do in the hills may suggest otherwise, with an average hill walk, mountain bike ride or day spent on the crag likely to require a high level of aerobic and anaerobic fitness as well as stamina, strength and sometimes even mental prowess.

Buying commercial insurance cover to protect a business can be riddled with complexities - even for the smallest company. However, many business owners could come unstuck because they believe that they are receiving advice as they buy their insurance when in reality all they are getting is information, according to research commissioned by the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA).

Anyone with even a vague interest in the media would have noticed that our very own Sir Ranulph Fiennes climbed Everest in May, finally, after three attempts in four years. This news is just the tip of the Everest Circus iceberg. I heard about Ran's achievement on May 20th on the early BBC TV news (he didn't make it on Channel 4). Background video of him huffing and puffing through the icefall with a journalist, who was puffing even harder, was interlaced with still images from the summit. The footage was accompanied by Ran's taped crackly voice that was beamed from the top a few hours earlier in the freezing dawn of the Himalaya. Moving stuff.

As described previously, 100% of funds raised from membership fees, and funding raised from other sources such as events at OutDoor and ispo are ploughed into grassroots conservation projects that have been nominated and then voted for, by the membership.

This April I was back in Greenland for a third time guiding a week-long private expedition for two clients. Yes - just two, who are time-poor and somewhat cash-rich old chums. They wanted to do their own thing, when they wanted, with no strings attached. We arrived at Constable Point on Greenland's east coast via Iceland and from the airport (there's only an airport there actually) we were met by two skidoos to take us into the mountains. We rummaged through our kit in a hangar that had been shipped months before and dressed for a bracing journey across Hurry Fjord, up the Sodel valley and onto the icecap of Liverpool Land. Paul, the airport manager, handed a rifle over to me for protection from "ice" bears and we were suitably warned about them by the Danish airport cook. My last expedition to Greenland in 2006 was rudely interrupted by a polar bear attack and I needed no reminding.  

In June 2006, the EOG Association for Conservation was brought into being following a desire by the Outdoor Industry to collectively ‘put something back' into conserving and protecting the environment that it cared about so passionately.

Early in the morning of March 7th in "biting winds" and temperatures down to minus 15 degrees C., motor mouth Radio One DJ Chris Moyles, actress Denise Van Outen, boy band singer Ronan Keating and other celebs topped out on the summit of Kilimanjaro. It was a great effort to raise funds for Comic Relief but it is hardly an original idea. Hundreds of Brits climb Kili every year to raise money for charity and thousands undertake similar trips and adventures. I bet that every reader of this article has sponsored someone to participate in a charity fund raising event whether it be to run, trek, cycle, climb, ride or jump (from an aircraft). Google charity trek and you get 287,000 hits. The first three listings I found were sponsored links (Oxfam, Christianaid, DoitforCharity) which is indicative of the competition to get people signed up. It is big business, but for whom?

The current economic climate presents a real challenge to businesses and many outdoor employers are coming under increasing pressure to keep a tight rein on their budgets. As companies face tougher choices to ensure they remain profitable, training budget cuts are being considered, especially if the return on investment is not immediately apparent.