I arrived back on Tuesday morning from leading my favourite and most difficult Kili climb yet. I was fortunate to lead the Laureus Kilimanjaro Climb which took place from the 3rd December to the 14th December. It was fantastic to have tennis legend Martina Navratilova, Paralympic champion Michael Teuber and British Olympic star, Gail Emms amongst our group but it was the non-celebs that really made my day.

Now I am a realist. Kili can be tough. Hella tough! But for a high level mountaineer or practiced high altitude trekker it should not present too much of a problem. However, that is not what our group was comprised of. Does having 9 Wimbledon titles help you summit? What about being a Paralympic cycling star? Not to mention hoarding Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games medals? Short answer - No!

From day 1 we were consistently rained and snowed upon. Most everyone's gear soaking wet from the outset. For some it was their first ever night slept in a tent! Coupling sodden gear with ever increasing altitude and you could forgive our team of "normal" folk to fall apart just a little. I have seen it before. As camps are ticked off and altitude readings on my Suunto Core go up, so inversely does team motivation and stoke, if you will, go down.

What was remarkable and so cool to see was our group actually continually lift themselves higher and higher, both literally and figuratively. Our team grew closer and unified against a common evil (well, not so much evil cause snow and rain have their own beauty on a mountain. How about common pain in the ass?). At a cold, wet and windy Barafu Camp, 4700m on the side of Kili the amount of pure stoke generated by our team was awesome!

Not everyone summited. Those that did not were devastated. Seeing tears in the eyes of these folk brought a smile to my face. WTF? Am I some sort of sick bastard? No. Let me explain. Having someone be absolutely gutted at being forced to go down the mountain (by me) tells me a lot about that person. It tells me that they have thrown their all at a goal. Lived and breathed it for months. Invested time and money into achieving it. So when their disappointment is so real it means a lot. I was amped to have these people on my climb.

As my sunburned face begins to peel like some sort of flesh eating disease and my swollen knees start to feel a little better I look forward to heading back up this beautiful mountain once more.

*The climb was in aid of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which celebrates the universal power of sport to bring people together as a force for good and uses the passion that sport inspires to effect social change across the globe. The trip was organised by the good folk at Charity Challenge.

In a couple of weeks I am headed back out to Tanzania to lead Martina Navratilova and a group representing the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation to the summit for the company, Charity Challenge. By now I have a pretty good idea of what kit works on the mountain and equally what does not. Here are a few of my "must-haves" to make getting to the top much more likely and a whole lot more comfortable.

1. Rab Neutrino Endurance Jacket - best down jacket I have ever used, ever. Super-light and super warm. I wear it every day around camp and on summit night. North Face-clad hipsters look on in awe!

2. Buff Headwear - I pity the fool who does not bring a Buff on the mountain. Every day on trail is hella dusty. Powder-fine dust is kicked up by everyone and if you do not have a Buff you will pay dearly. Sure the trendy scarf you bought in Laos will do but it just ain't the same.

3. Extra-thick sleeping mat - You can bring your own Therma-rest and you will be fine. Or you can hire (or get free because you are bloody working on the mountain!) one through your outfitter. A couple of inches of foam between your backside and the cold earth does wonders for a good night's sleep. Sleeping up high is hard. Spend 25 bucks and increase your chance of standing on top.

4. Wooly hat (with ear protection) - I have a skanky, flea bitten wooly hat I bought with my mate Phil Swart in Cuzco when we paddled the Amazon. It has been the length of that river, to Nepal, across Iran and up and down Kili a good number of times. Who cares if it has little pig tails and a pom-pom on top. It works a treat!

5. Rab Andes 800 sleeping bag - I was lucky enough for Rab to hook me up with one of these for my last couple of trips up the mountain. Like the down jacket I am blown away. The loft of this bag must be seen to be believed and instead of the usual claustrophobic effect of most mummy bags this has stacks of room. A super neato dry bag compression stuff sac to store it in just tops it all off.

6. My thongs! - Not the type I wear under my trekking trousers, but rather what you might call flip-flops, jandals, sandals etc. I wear these around every camp including Barafu (Lemosho route) at 4700m. I get a few looks and people tease me mercilessly but they do the job. What else could I use? Crocs? With socks? Oh, c'mon that would be way too embarassing!

It hit me on the weekend. What are you doing man? You gotta chill. Go outside. Relax. So that is what I am going to do. I will still be around on my website and that damn Twitter working my backside off but I am not going to burn myself out doing it. It's back to having a "not-job" for me people!

What about you? Time to take stock or are you doing just fine? I am thinking my life and yours should look like this awesome clip below by Tom Lowe (in an abstract, use your imagination kind of way, not literally). What do you think?

*Let this bad boy fully load, go full screen and pump the volume. Stylo!

Like most everyone at this time of year things are getting hectic. For some reason it feels like you must fit in a great deal of stuff into less than 2 months of time. To round off my year I have a bunch of talks to give before heading back to Kilimanjaro once more to lead a group of sports ambassadors up the mountain for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The group is headed up by none other than Martina Navratilova and is being filmed for broadcast. You will no doubt see me in the background trying to get on camera before being asked to move. In any case I am rather looking forward to going back for my 3rd summit in the last few months.

Otherwise some potentially big and exciting things in the pipeline both regarding my little paddle next year and some hush hush action sports related gigs. Stoked for now, but we will see where it leads!

One such post I wrote in the first week of November last year. While not being a literary masterpiece itself, it contains the immensely powerful sentence with which I began this post. Those few words have fast become the mantra by which I attempt to lead my life. Perhaps I was already doing so, but those lines put it all into a neat little, go-everywhere package for me. To be honest, I do like to put a little asterisk at the end (and indeed after any quote) which says something like - *Fancy quotes ain't worth s**t unless you do something about them! It's a nice little reminder to keep moving.

You can check out the post in full, titled, "What's your measure?", right here.

Finding ace clips for the Stoke each week is sometimes a mission. Trolling through the so-so stuff to find the gems, while enjoyable, takes up a lot of time. Narrowing down the field to find the winner is even tougher. Today's installment came down to 2 clips. One was a little more exciting and to be fair the other clip was an ad, albeit a pretty cool one! If you want to see second place (which after you watch the clip is kind of ironic!) click here. Otherwise enjoy the below, take a long lunch and leave work early!

Check out the other 2 clips when you need a lift. Gnarly!

Perversely, undertaking these activities in training puts me at a much higher risk of injury which would prevent me from setting off on an expedition at the drop of a hat! Go figure.

Now, having fractured my right clavicle over the weekend while kayaking I must once again go through the process of recovery. Physically this is always pretty straight forward (lots of injuries means lots of rehab over the years). I struggle much more with the psychological side of the process. The frustration at not being able to do the things I love is killer! That is the barrier I must break through.

Like some sort of Groundhog Day I wrote about this exact issue just after I had my shoulder reconstruction in March this year. Going back and reading this post just now was a great help and will for sure get me through yet another period of recovery. Check it out here - Get Off Your Ass!

What techniques do you use to get through an enforced lay-off from doing what you love?

Yannick Beven lives close to me here in France, just down the road in Guethary. His house and gym are near Quicksilver Europe's new rather awesome HQ. Yannick was formerly a pro surfer (his brother Patrick competes on the world tour still) but now spends his days generally living life to it's full. Which, for him means surfing and BJJ. Yannick is the conditioning trainer for a number of surfers and Quicksilver pros including Jeremy Flores, Miky Picon and the one and only Kelly Slater.

Hard sessions grappling followed (and preceded by) a gnarly session in the water. He gets paid to do this? That is what I call living the dream! The vid below gives a good idea of what that dream is all about.

Not so much surf around this weekend but the rivers are running well so I am on the water in any case. I head to the UK next week for a few talks. Guessing that summer is over there? Enjoy your weekend folks.

Zeal Optics have been an amazing sponsor over the last 3 years and super supportive of anything I do. Zeal Optics are just like me. Stoked to be doing what they do and with a real passion and "zeal" for the outdoors. Without doubt they make some of the best eyewear available on the planet!. Anyway, great company, awesome kit. End of story. Now watch the clip below.

NB. I swear I did not read that spiel off a prompter. It took about 100 takes just to bumble those few words out and that was the best of a bad bunch!

Right, how to win! I have a bunch of hats, (as you saw in the clip) and a pair of Zeal Optics Tenacity sunglasses with ZB-13 polarized lenses to give-away. All you need to do to be in the running is the below. Simple.

1. Answer this question: How many grey Zeal Optics hats are shown in the clip?

2. Email me (mark@markkalch.com) with your answer and Twitter name*

3. Follow me (MarkKalch) and Zeal Optics (ZealOptics) on Twitter and tweet the following - "I just entered to win sunglasses from @ZealOptics thanks to @MarkKalch. Stoked! You can too! http://bit.ly/brT99Q" (no need for the parentheses)

*If you are honestly not a Twit like so many of us, just email me the answer (and tell your friends about it!). If you are on Twitter, be nice and follow Zeal Optics and myself. Good Karma!

Easy enough? I will be drawing the winner at random on the weekend of the Expedition School (August 20-22).

First prize is 1 pair of Zeal Optics Tenacity sunglasses with ZB-13 polarized lenses plus a sweet Zeal Optics cap and stickers. I also have a couple of runner-up prizes of caps and stickers to give-away.