Melanoma Fund launch “Peak Exposure” exhibition for UK’s Mountain Training Professionals
Peak Exposure, a captivating, new melanoma photo exhibition and engagement campaign from the UK-based skin cancer awareness nonprofit Melanoma Fund, premiered at the Mountain Training England and Mountain Training Cymru national provider conference at the Plas y Brenin National Outdoor Centre in Wales on 26–27 March.
The initiative showcases provocative photographic images of real melanomas, which at first glance look like dramatic mountain landscapes, at a time when participation in outdoor activity continues to rise. At altitude, UV levels increase by approximately 10–12 per cent for every 1,000 metres gained, while snow can reflect up to 80 per cent of UV radiation, intensifying exposure to the face and eyes, according to the World Health Organization.
Peak Exposure also features headlines drawn from interviews with real melanoma survivors: Willie Munro, Guy Jarvis, and Caroline Gleich. All three have spent much of their lives outdoors in high-risk environments, yet never expected one of the greatest long-term dangers to be UV exposure. Their voices bring lived truth to the work and reinforce the need for better year-round sun protection and skin-check awareness.
“After decades of climbing mountains, the nearest thing that’s come to killing me is melanoma,” said Mr. Jarvis, who addressed the thousands of mountain training instructors, guides, and other outdoor professionals who attended the conference.
Michelle Baker, CEO, Melanoma Fund said: “This campaign is about a disconnect. The damage happens now. The consequences come later, so it’s easy to ignore, a bit like smoking. These images remove that distance. They make the connection impossible to dismiss. It’s uncomfortable, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”
Capturing mountain professional reactions
Klick Health’s UK team created the unique campaign and will be on-site at the conference, capturing real-time audience reaction to the exhibition and informing campaign development across the outdoor sector in partnerships with the Mountain Training Association (MTA) and further engagement through Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Industries Association.
“We are proud of the work we are doing with Melanoma Fund,” said Tim Jones, EVP, Executive Creative Director, Klick Health. “Peak Exposure makes the invisible danger of UV impossible for winter sport, mountain, and outdoor communities to ignore.”
Built as a poster-led still image campaign, each execution is designed as a two-stage reveal. From a distance, the image appears to be a dramatic winter mountain landscape. Up close, it reveals its truth:
the mark of real melanoma. In doing so, the campaign delivers a clear message: skin cancer can leave its mark in winter, too. The work was built from real melanomas captured on set to keep the campaign grounded in truth and handled with care. Real people living with melanoma were cast for the project. Makeup was applied directly on the skin and around each lesion to shape highlights, shadow, and texture for macro capture, treating the surface like natural topography. The lesions were then photographed in extreme detail and mapped into CGI to form winter ridgelines, slopes, and snowfields. The result transforms something familiar and beautiful into a warning.
A cultural blind spot in outdoor safety
Skin cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, with over 21,000 cases of melanoma diagnosed each year and significantly higher numbers of non-melanoma skin cancers. Despite this, sun exposure remains one of the most normalised and least challenged risks in outdoor activity.
Research from the Melanoma Fund highlights:
● 72% of coaches, leaders and teachers have never received training on sun or heat protection
● Only 16% of organisations have a dedicated sun protection policy
● Over two-thirds report sun or heat-related incidents, including sunburn and heat exhaustion
From awareness to impact
Peak Exposure is designed to disrupt a long-standing gap between awareness and behaviour. By transforming melanoma imagery into familiar mountain landscapes, the campaign creates a moment of recognition followed by realisation, forcing viewers to confront the direct relationship between environment and impact.
Ms. Gleich, who recently underwent treatment for actinic cheilitis, a precancerous condition caused by UV exposure, makes that gap visible. Despite growing up with a strong awareness of skin cancer, she still experienced significant sun damage, reinforcing the gap between knowledge and consistent protection.
Embedding change through Sunguarding Outdoors
The campaign forms part of the Melanoma Fund’s wider Sunguarding mission, supporting organisations, instructors and outdoor professionals to embed practical sun and heat protection into everyday practice. This includes:
● The Sunguarding course - a CPD-accredited training programme for coaches and outdoor leaders
● Sunguarding Outdoors - sector-specific guidance and resources
● UV Safety Stations - infrastructure designed for outdoor environments to support behaviour in real-world settings
Outdoor organisations, instructors and partners are encouraged to engage with the Sunguarding course and resources via www.melanoma-fund.co.uk to embed sun safety into everyday practice.
