Lessons From the Edge: Inspirational Tales of Surviving, Thriving and Extreme Adventure

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In his debut book, Lessons From The Edge, Aldo will inspire readers with his jaw-dropping stories and show them how to survive and thrive through sheer strength of mind and sharp decision-making. It will reveal how this tough military man was able to cope with suddenly feeling worthless, how he overcame doors literally slamming in his face, how he came to realise that you can’t wait for things to happen and instead how he rediscovered his identity and harnessed his emotions to his advantage to find determination, purpose, and a renewed sense of belonging. And how, to use his own words, he became the captain of his own ship. He also endured the toughest infantry training in the world at just 16 years old. Hard man? Yeah, he's a hard man. Camping and Caravanning Club president Julia Bradbury will be opening the show on February 21, talking about her love of the great outdoors and highlights of the club's Outjoyment Report - as study into the wellbeing and mental health benefits of camping in the great outdoors. Aldo Kane is a former Royal Marines Commando Sniper turned adventurer and television presenter. Behind the screen, he is a go-to in the television and film industries around the world as a technical safety expert in all environments. He hashosted programmes for the BBC, Natural Geographic, and Discovery, and taken celebrities including Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, and Henry Cavill into some of the most extreme environments on earth. He also hosts the reality show The Bridge alongside AJ Odudu, guiding the teams across tests of physical ability, mental skill, and teamwork.

I just think it’s the mechanics and process of the natural world that fascinated me, and probably what inspired me to be part of TV programmes where we look at how things work, live and die,” says Kane who’s always sought to live a life free from predictable societal constraints. I’m probably a bit more measured with my emotions,” muses the adventurer. “But whether I’m abseiling off Angel Falls, or exploring a cave system no one’s seen before, I’m there to do a job. I have people to keep safe, kit to sort out. Clothes are just clothes and cars are just cars, however expensive they are. No one has ever been on their death bed and thought ‘I didn’t do much. But at least I owned some lovely trainers’ But people will reflect on the amazing adventures they had, or regret that they didn’t have more’’Preparation and the right mindset. I had it in my head that I wanted to join the British military to pursue a career of adventure, and I went to the careers office and asked what was the hardest service to get into. I was told the Royal Marine Commandos. I was about 13. I was young and determined. I had the fire in my belly that just about beats everything else. It’s the drive that pushed me through the hardest infantry training in the world. It has to be Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. I remember when I was a kid I was super-interested in taxidermy. When I was around 10 I wrote to them and asked if I could learn how to do it. It's a circuit that follows a logical oder until everything has been completed," says Kane. "It's strength, endurance and cardio in one hit. It keeps me going for about an hour." From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:

It’s 32 weeks training to become an elite-fighting machine. It’s one of the most arduous and longest infantry training regimens. I absolutely love Glencoe. My wife Anna and I got married there two years ago at The Study. My all-time favourite mountain walk in Scotland is the Aonach Eagach ridge. Also in Glencoe you have the Hidden Valley which is a great walk. Through experience and necessity, it’s understandable Kane isn’t easily overwhelmed by situations, or prone to hyperbole. Over the last seven years, Aldo has worked on well over 45 TV & Film productions, appearing on many broadcasters from the BBC, to Discovery, Nat-Geo, Channel 4, PBS, ITV, Channel 5, History Channel and many more. Aldo was recently the on-screen Expedition Leader for National Geographic’s feature-length Natural History series Welcome to Earth, hosted by Will Smith.In his own words, he’s “been risk assessing and avoiding danger for years, basically, so it’s hardwired into me. I almost feel comfort in that discomfort. Living out of a bag, being cold, wet, hot, underground, covered in beasties, that’s my norm.”

You go on expeditions and adventures all over the world. Was it nice to have a hotel for this one and not be camping out in the wilderness somewhere? Every challenge they face is designed to get to the core of the person or the team’s reason for being there. Some of them are financially motivated, some of them want recognition or some are there to escape and to learn. Some of the challenges are incredibly physical, then there are mental and emotional tests that test the very moral fibre of every single person there. Individuals may be asked to do something that basically allows them to profit early on, but the others won’t and the others won’t know about it, so there are some very moral questions. The ambitious six-part series is executive produced by National Geographic Explorer at Large James Cameron and in partnership with BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit (“Blue Planet II”) and OceanX. The only difference between someone who’s successful and isn’t, is that the person who’s successful has applied themselves in one direction, and given it their all rather than drifting. Time is so valuable and only goes, so if you have an inkling of what you want to achieve, then all you have to do is break it down into sizable chunks. For me, it’s always been about having a target in mind and trying to reach it.” For me travel is education – travel and adventure are an education of what’s going on in the world, and what I think about it and how I interact with it.

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But “once a Marine, always a Marine,” he notes. “It’s that elite brotherhood, and you don’t ever lose that, whether it’s confidence, physical ability, muscle memory, they’re lessons for life, and what I do to this dayis based on its ethos and core values.” Yes, they’re going to earn it. Effectively, I’m the puppet master pulling the strings on the challenges. It’s one of the biggest cash prizes in TV at the moment, so it’s pretty full on. The winner must be worthy of it and will have to work hard for it. Aldo Kane joined the Royal Marine Commandos at the age of 16 and went on to become one of the youngest Elite Commando Reconnaissance Snipers in the UK armed forces. No mean feat with the hardest, and longest infantry training in the world. Aldo saw active military service from Northern Ireland to the Middle East and became a survival expert in many environments. Aldo has become an instructor in many outdoor fields including Mountain Leader, professional climber, Skydiver, re-breather diver, SIA bodyguard & qualified medic. He went on to gain rope and inspection certificates, worked offshore on an oil rig, read business books, made plans, and then in 2010, got a call from someone who’d heard he was an ex-Marine and “handy with ropes” asking if he could get a film crew into an active volcano. In episode one it takes both teams a while to get going on building their bridges. Was that frustrating for you, especially when you’d given them instructions?