A sabre-cut above the rest? I just can't keep Mumm

I'm going to miss Ran Fiennes if he dies attempting to climb mount Everest. I think the most likely outcome is that he collapses somewhere on the attempt and is persuaded by Rob Casserley, the team medic and cameraman, to give up.

If he collapses high on the mountain, possibly after summitting (the way back down is often the most dangerous part of the climb) then I wouldn't give much for his chances, given his history of heart problems.

Some might criticise his decision to go to Everest again when he has a young wife, but he is a driven man. It's part of his character to do extreme things. What I most admire about him is that he just gets on with them.

Telly adventurers

I'm glad he is not one of the new generation of "telly adventurers" like Bear Grylls and Ben Fogle who, while they have achieved some things - I wouldn't diminish the feat of rowing across the Atlantic - have learned to talk a good story in front of the cameras. The problem in Gryll's case is that sometimes the "derring-do" is less than its seems. Journalist/adventurer, Tarquin Cooper told me about this article.

I have met Grylls on a few occasions. The last occasion was at a recent do hosted at the Royal Geographical Society and later at the Travellers' Club by GH Mumm, the Champagne producer. Mumm has a clever marketing strategy of shipping a case of champagne and offering some limited sponsorship to various people when they have achieved something special, thus sharing the limelight at the celebratory end of the trip.

Polar gentleman

This is not a new idea. They have been doing it for years, ever since Captain Jean-Baptiste Charcot - a Frenchman (naturally) described as the "polar gentleman" by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, went to Antarctica in 1904. Charcot and a companion were photographed sitting in wicker chairs on the ice with a fold-down table and their glasses of champagne.

It's all harmless stuff and I suppose there is nothing wrong with Mumm setting up a special club, The Cordon Rouge Club, for special people. All of its members deserved the sabres they were given in their special presentation packs. Indeed it was an all round special evening with a few hangers-on like myself invited to share the posh nosh and champagne. The sailing world was represented prominently by Mike Golding, Brian Thompson, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dame Ellen MacArthur (who didn't make it to the do because of another promotional commitment)and Dee Caffari.

People who do exceptional things deserve recognition. But I worry that the media - people like me - are sucked in to what can become a fame game.

Everest in winter

If you read the article on exploration that I wrote a little while back, you will see some examples of people who have achieved some astonishing feats, but who are not feted by champagne manufacturers and who are barely recognised by the media or the public outside their specialist fields. I'm thinking of people like Krzysztof Wielicki, the first man to conquer Everest in winter (you only need to compare his Wikipedia entry with that listing all the achievements of Grylls to work out who has the best PR).

You wouldn't see Wielicki making popular survivalist series (that have been made much better, incidentally, by Ray Mears who doesn't pretend to be an explorer or action man adventurer). You might wonder perhaps why some of our great mountaineers such as Sir Chris Bonnington or Doug Scott are not part of the club? Where is Sir Ranulph Fiennes or James Cracknell, Fogle's slightly more accomplished rowing partner? Where is Pete Goss, another true adventurer?

The answer, of course, is that Mumm can ask whoever it wants to its own party. Some who were there, such as Ben Saunders, a genuinely outstanding endurance nut, deserved their accolade. But I wouldn't say that all of them were a sabre-cut above the rest.