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

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It’s not about the money, it’s about life because at best it’s brief, so it’s about collecting experiences rather than things.”

I’ve been to Vietnam quite a few times and when we were planning it, I was thinking ‘this is going to be lovely’. But when we got there it was cold, we had temperatures between 10 and 12 most days and it was misty and rainy. The teams were cold and wet, the South China Sea was cold and if you’re in that water for eight or nine hours a day like they were, hyperthermia is a real risk. And they still have to work in the wind and the rain, they only have 12 days to build the bridge.

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. He also endured the toughest infantry training in the world at just 16 years old. Hard man? Yeah, he's a hard man. In 2021, he was cast by James Cameron as Mission Ops Leader for the adventure and conservation series OceanX, to air on Disney+ in 2023. Also last year, Aldo wrote his first book, Lessons From the Edge: Inspirational Tales of Surviving, Thriving and Extreme Adventure, published by Yellow Kite to great success. About the Author: Aldo joined the Royal Marine Commandos at the age of 16 and became one of the youngest Snipers in the UK armed forces. He spent 10 years operating around the globe in all environments including war in the Middle East. Leaving the Royal Marines as an expert in Jungles, Deserts, Mountains and the Arctic, it wasn't long before Aldo started to carve a new career for himself in the TV and Film industry. Aldo now runs Vertical Planet, a technical safety risk management company providing services for some of the world's largest TV and film productions.

Here are some of my favourite inspiring quotes from the book that I have really hit home and I found inspiration and motivation from - Despite now residing in Bristol, Kane retains close ties to his homeland. He says: “It [Scotland] never leaves you. The last tune on my phone is probably The Corries. The more I travel the more I listen to Scottish music.And it’s often people who aren’t predicted to achieve much who lead the most extraordinary lives. When almost everyone assumes you’re unexceptional, you can go out on a few limbs, without the risk of letting anyone down. Including yourself’ - Aldo Kane 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. Were you impressed with the contestants? Did people surprise you from your first impressions of them? By their nature, managers are appointed, even worse if they are self-appointed. Leaders are the people who teams look to in a real crisis for guidance. I always lead from the front and by example. Many of the jobs I have done, from being an operational sniper to a high-risk advisor for TV and film, require me to disassociate from the situation. That means that I have to remove emotion from my decision-making process and only deal with the facts.

I was out of the Marines,and now there was only one person that was going to be responsible for my success or failure I just always knew as a kid there was so much more than doing a normal job, working to a pensionable age and then retiring, and perhaps because there was less expectation, it allowed me to go out on a limb and try things,” he notes. What was it like working with AJ? She’s quite competitive, do you think she’d make a good contestant?

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Away from the limelight, Aldo runs the company Vertical Planet providing technical safety consultation & risk management for TV and Film crews operating in remote, hostile and high-risk environments around the world. A Fellow at the Royal Geographic Society, he shares his unique experiences from some of the world’s most dangerous, extreme, and remote locations. I’ve been 1,000m down to the seabed, which was utterly mind-blowing – and night diving in a shoal of millions of jellyfish. I still don’t take any of it for granted, at all.” He adopted the same approach when he decided to join the Reconnaissance (Recce) Troop at the age of 18. Some people thought it an audacious move at such a young age, but Kane reasoned “why wait five years to find out I’m good enough” and went onto fulfil his ambitions of becoming a sniper. But by 26 he was ready for new challenges and a different life, so left the military. We used to go driving around Scotland every summer. Mum and dad had an old Volkswagen Campervan and with us five kids we used to basically camp all over the place. I remember one particular time camping in Glencoe, right next to the river. I remember washing in the river in the morning and having Cornflakes and powdered milk for breakfast.