The Friday Matinee

If it's Friday then it can mean only one thing, yes, it's time for the Friday Matinee, our transparent excuse to while away those empty hours before the weekend arrives.

Normally we're all for whizz bang action, but this week we thought we'd slow the pace and take a look at some authentic outdoors heroes...

First off, here's the extraordinary Reinhold Messner - first man up Everest without Oxygen, first to summit all the 8,000ers - interviewed in English.

Next, the author of arguably the most dramatic climbing book ever, Joe Simpson being interviewed by Gordon Stainforth and talking graphically about the thin line between life and death.

Fiinally a hero of a different kind next, Yvon Chouinard, visionary climber, founder of Patagonia and Black Diamond and founder of the 1% For The Planet talking about being a reluctant businessman.

That's just the start - Chris Bonington, Doug Scott, Don Whillans, Joe Brown anyone - but it's all for now. Have a good weekend :-)