Efrem Brynin is the CEO and Founder of Strongmen, the UK men's bereavement charity. He participated in the TV show 'SAS: Who Dares Wins' in 2016 where he shared that his son, James, was killed in his second tour of Afghanistan.

In this conversation, we talk about:

- How dangerous and real the SAS tv show actually is for a recruit.

- How to do the thing you say you are going to do.

- Being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

- Why men need community in today's age.

- How death shapes our perspective on life.

Strongmen website:

https://www.strongmen.org.uk/

You can find Efrem here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/efrem-brynin-44451917/

Thank you

The Brooner is in an elite military unit called the Mountain Leaders in the Royal Marines. He is the host of 'Brooners Mountain Madness' podcast and lives off grid in a van in Scotland.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Nearly quit ML selection in Norway

• ML vs SAS selection

• Avalanche warning stopped everything

• Map disintegrated in the Cairngorms

• Challenging the romanticising of risk

• Just being there is risk enough

• Feeling imposter syndrome at work

• Royal Marine Mountain Leader role

• Balancing joy and risk in remoteness

• Constant what if injury checks

• Mountain Madness podcast origin

• Ordinary people doing extraordinary things

• Solo episode when a guest cancelled

• Choosing guests who share failures

• Motivation from personal growth

• Leaving an unfulfilling relationship

• Simple love of views and nature

• Comfortable with solitude since childhood

• Three winters living in a van

• Owning individuality despite stereotypes

You can find Brooner here:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/the_brooner/

You can find Brooners Mountain Madness podcast here:

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3nOkZYmF8gjRbiFRFTCeaF?si=a7ec6c55dc2a4949

Megan Hine is a survival consultant who has worked with Bear Grylls and Mr Beast. She also holds a degree in psychology to translate high-risk fieldcraft into clear decisions under pressure.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• ​Working 15 years alongside Bear Grylls
• ​Megan’s transition to YouTube and working with MrBeast
• ​Megan’s adventurous childhood and how running away became a career.
• ​The science behind why our primal brains struggle in the modern world.
• ​How to decompress after intense stress.
• ​Challenging stereotypes as a female survivalist in the media.
• ​Why the TV industry is struggling.
• ​Confronting identity when your passions are taken away.
• ​Why younger generations are struggling with resilience.

You can find Megan Hine here:

• ​Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/megan_hine/
• ​X / Twitter – https://twitter.com/Meg_Hine
• ​Website – https://meganhine.com/
• ​Book, Mind of a Survivor - https://shorturl.at/i08wH

Jan Bakker is an expedition leader, co-author of Trekking in Tajikistan, and pioneer of the Pamir Trail, a long-distance trekking route that connects remote mountain communities.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• How a boy from flat Netherlands fell in love with mountains

• First mountain at 16 in Mallorca

• Why Tajikistan captured his imagination

• Designing 1300 km Pamir Trail in Tajikistan

• How to map a long distance hiking route

• Choosing routes from satellite and shepherd paths

• Working with local communities along the trail

• Real world dangers including glacial rivers and rockfall

• What to do when rescue is days away

• Politics on the ground and border permits

• Being a white tourist in Afghanistan

• Myths versus reality on the Afghan border

• Ethics of opening remote valleys to tourism

• How a trail creates local jobs and homestays

• Why he kept government at arms length

• Funding phase two for homestays and guides

• Family life in Uganda while building trails

• First multi day trek with his kids

• Cultural differences in time and priorities

• What comes next after the Pamir Trail

You can find Jan's book, Trekking in Tajikistan, here:

https://shorturl.at/9cMiL

Jan is the Founder of:

pamirtrail.org

packraftafrica.com. 

You can find Jan Bakker here:

LinkedIn - ⁠https://shorturl.at/KLapD

⁠Instagram - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/summitsofafrica/?hl=en⁠

Solène Declas is the Founder of AIBŌ, a social enterprise on a mission to reconnect generations. Growing up between cultures and now living in a three-generational home, Solène brings a unique perspective on the loneliness epidemic and what it means to build real community in a disconnected world.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Living in a three-generational home

• Solving the loneliness epidemic

• Connecting the young and old in modern society

• How to start a business from scratch

• Why you should back yourself at a young age

• How social media slogans like “find your purpose” can do more harm than good

• The rise of social wokeness over respecting your elders

Solène is the Founder of AIBŌ:

https://aibo.org.uk/

Find Solène here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/solenedeclas/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_aibo_uk/ 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/AIB%C5%8C/61565981714919/ 

In this episode, I’m sharing 3 of my UK adventures bound by a single theme: they didn’t go to plan. From teenage mishaps to midnight marches and a canal odyssey gone sideways, these stories show that the best memories often come from the bits we couldn’t script. If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to start, this is your cue to get outside.

In this conversation I talk about:

• The South Downs Disaster – my first wild camp at 18 that veered into a pub crawl, complete with a friend convinced he was being hunted through the woods.

• The 14-Hour Dartmoor Slog – a rain-soaked trek that spiralled into singing “there will be no white flag” while crossing a military training danger zone in the night.

• Birmingham to London by Narrowboat – two engine breakdowns, a towpath scam, and the stubborn optimism it took to coax a boat and a plan all the way south.

  
  

I hope this episode nudges you to explore the UK and proves that anyone is ready for their first adventure.

Thanks

Zukie Tandathu is an ultrarunner, a 22-year soldier, and a crew member of Black Trail Runners. In this episode we chat about how joy and discipline can live side by side, what it really takes to train for the desert in the Marathon de Sables, and why inclusion in trail running needs more action than slogans.

In this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up in South Africa with sport at the centre

• Moving to the UK at 14 and culture shock

• Joy and discipline coexisting in training and life

• Lessons from 22 years as a soldier

• What it really takes to run the Marathon des Sables

• Instilling adventure in his children

• Managing screens and encouraging time outdoors

• Why brands are not doing enough on diversity

• Practical actions to increase inclusion in trail running

• The role of Black Trail Runners and how to support it

You can find Zukie here:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zukie_tandathu/

Threads - threads.com/@zukie_tandathu 

Zukie is a crew member of BTR (Black Trail Runners)

Thank you

Connor Fletcher is an Expedition Leader with unique experience in leading children as young as 15 in some of the world's harshest environments. We get honest about resilience, failure, and why adventure is about people as much as peaks. Connor is a straight talker on the grind behind expeditions, social media myths, and the power of shared achievement.

In this conversation, we talk about:

- Children are tougher than we think, tech-gen myths

- Dream-chasing: failure, burnout, 24/7 expeditions on low pay

- Calling out the one-trip Instagram armchair mountaineer

- Why shared summits beat solo glory

Aaron Rolph is a mountain athlete, film-maker and The North Face ambassador. He holds world records for the greatest vertical mountain bike descent and the most countries visited by bike in seven days. Raised in the Lake District and now based in Chamonix, Aaron’s work spans photography, film and writing alongside big, human-powered objectives.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Life in Chamonix and finding both community and wilderness

• Why style and ethics matter in human powered, self supported adventures

• The realities of turning a beloved hobby into a career

• Valuing process over outcome in adventure and work

• A brutal bike crash, emergency surgery and coming back to finish the route

• Challenging the myth of the elite adventurer and celebrating weekend warriors

• Planning just enough and embracing the unknown on trips

• Championing UK adventures and questioning holiday culture abroad

• Storytelling through short films and what it reveals about motivation

• Upcoming projects, from an alpine refuges book to South Georgia in Antarctica

You can find Aaron here:

https://www.instagram.com/aaronrolph/

Aaron is the Founder of The British Adventure Collective (BAC): https://www.britishadventurecollective.com/

Xian Goh is a professional rock climber, coach, global champion and rock climbing ambassador for The North Face.

In this conversation, we cover:

• ​Moving from urban Singapore to rural Scotland
• ​Culture shock and deciphering accents
• ​Early days of rock climbing
• ​From indoor comps to outdoor adventure
• ​Climbing as self-cultivation
• ​Patience, progress and avoiding injury
• ​Reframing the fear of falling
• ​Social media, instant results and reality
• ​Goals for direction vs process for growth
• ​Practical tools for nerves: risk checks, visualisation and laughter

You can find Xian here:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/xiangoh_/

Xian is the author of:

Smooth: Movement Principles and Techniques for Climbing - https://shorturl.at/h1946