A childhood spent growing up on the beautiful coastlines of Devon and Cornwall has fuelled Edward Lummis’s love of no fewer than nine adventure sports.

He recalls: “I spent a lot of my childhood summers on the beach. There is plenty of surf around and as a kid I did lots of bodyboarding in the smaller waves. I took a proper surfing lesson in my early teens and was hooked. Since then I have continually wanted to experience new things and a pursuit of adventure.”

He has tried his hand at pursuits including snowboarding, alpine skiing and telemark skiing (where the rear heel moves free from the ski during a turn), sailing, power boating, scuba-diving and more typical city-based sports like squash and tennis.

Now living in London, Edward tries to pursue his adventure sports hobbies at weekends or during planned longer trips between working as an Investment Manager at Quilter Cheviot.

InstructorEdward is a ski instructor, qualifying with the British Association of Snowsports after leaving school and undergoing much training in the French Alps. He has sailing and powerboat licences from the Royal Yachting Association and a VHF radio licence, all required to safely skipper larger vessels offshore either under engine or sail. He also has an Adventure Diving qualification with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors which enables him to explore more difficult areas, such as wrecks and underwater caves, in addition to allowing him to do deeper dives and night dives.

"Surfing and ski-mountaineering stand out as my favourites"Out of all these exciting sports, Edward is passionate about two in particular: “Surfing and ski-mountaineering stand out as my favourites. They both require different skills but ultimately the thrill and feeling of gliding across a wave or through a fresh unexplored powder field after ski-touring and climbing to get there are both unparalleled in any other sport. They also both give the feeling of blissfully escaping city life in some truly stunning surroundings.”

While, naturally enough, Edward’s sporting calendar is geared to skiing in the winter and surfing in the summer, he is not one to be ruled by the weather: “I sometimes cross over surfing in the winter, braving the icy cold Cornish waves around Christmas, even when there has been snow on the beach! With the right equipment the temperature can be bearable for at least an hour and at that time of year you can get the best waves with perfect offshore conditions and beautiful deserted beaches.

“At my peak in the summer I would surf at least every two weeks, mainly in the South West or the Channel Islands with regular swimming in between to keep my fitness levels up. Skiing is generally two to three times a season for around a week at a time. I would do more if London were closer to the mountains or a beach!”

His love of sport has taken him to many countries: skiing mainly in the Alps in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy in addition to the United States and surfing in countries such as France, Portugal, Morocco, California, Australia, the Philippines, Costa Rica and Hawaii.

“Some of the other sports I do closer to home. I learnt to powerboat up and down the Thames right through the heart of the City! I gained my sailing qualifications in Plymouth and London and I can now skipper large yachts and have done so all over the Caribbean, Mediterranean and East Coast of Australia.“

Ruling the wavesIt is in sailing that Edward has been most recently successful, skippering a 50ft yacht in an international race of around 80 boats in Croatia: his boat came first in its class having successfully navigated some challenging winds around the various islands of the central Dalmatian coast.

Each sport requires a different approach in terms of focus and mental preparation: “Surfing can be quite scary when you get caught up in the wrong place when there are bigger waves. Strong currents, pummelling waves and being held under water are all certainly experiences I would rather limit. Being able to stay calm as well as being able to hold my breath unusually long does help.

“It is becoming ever easier to explore the mountain off-piste. Recent advancements in ski technology and safety gear, for example avalanche airbags, breathing apparatus and locator beacons, combined with ski resorts making these areas better accessible mean more and more people are venturing to potentially dangerous areas. It is easy to over rely on equipment in the event of an accident and fail to make proper preparations, underestimating the perils of the mountain. There are many stories of serious and fatal accidents for failing to take the right precautions. I have experienced ice and rock falls, avalanches and crevasses and am all too familiar with the risks involved. The best planning is limiting your exposure to risk and not getting to the point where you have to use any of this equipment in the first place”.

The danger element of these sports cannot be over-emphasised and Edward has witnessed this first hand: “I have been close to some serious accidents in the past including the 2012 Mont Blanc avalanche which killed nine people.

“In 2013 a mountain guide in Chamonix disappeared in the snow just metres in front of the ski group. He had fallen into a deep crevasse hidden by the snow and a rescue helicopter was called. The mountain rescue team abseiled into the crevasse to find him wedged about 10ft down with serious shoulder injuries. A narrow escape.”

Edward’s most memorable experience was when he first skied off  piste as a teenager: “It was down the Vallée Blanche glacier that comes down from Mont Blanc. I was initially a much keener snowboarder but to keep up with the group of skiers I was with I had to don skis. It is a relatively easy ski once you have braved the entry but the whole experience skiing past ice caves, navigating huge deep crevasses in the glacier and witnessing the sheer beauty of the mountain unlike any resort was inspiring. I very quickly changed my focus to skiing and have strived to experience more like this ever since.”

​Have you got an interesting hobby? Contact Lora Benson at lora.benson@cisi.org
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