Adventure Travel Company Profile
High & Wild is a UK-based company that offers an exceptional variety of highly unusual adventure travel trips. On the website, you choose between desert, sea, fresh water, grassland and other options – or between "adventures" and "extreme adventures," such as Tornado Quest, the Saami Reinderr Migration and the first ever Everest Skydive (solo or tandem).
To watch skydivers soar over Mount Everest on an expedition put together by High & Wild. click on this BBC News video and report. Adventure Travel and News from Himalayas lists the daily exploits. Jumpers fly out for their skydive in groups of four.Even the more classic trips, such as a multi-sport Galapagos Island vacation, include twists such as mountain biking to find giant tourtoises, or trekking the less-crowded Umbwe route up Kilimanjaro.
Here’s the company’s history, straight from the website because it’s so unique:
Alaska, 1978, on a crisp, clear June morning… just below 6000m on Mt McKinley, near Archdeacon's Tower, at the foot of the summit ramp… two bodies, prone and motionless. Were they dead? On approaching, you could see the bodies were resting, but in between gasps for air, they were arguing about who would make the lead climb up the final section to the summit, and thus make the first successful one day climb of Mt McKinley.
The resting pair of climbers were Ned Gillette, skier, mountaineer and adventurer, and Galen Rowell, climber, photographer and author. The climber who found them was Nigel Gifford, founder of High & Wild, on his own route to the summit. This impromptu meeting turned into a Mad Hatters tea party, with Nigel producing tea bags, powdered milk and sugar from every pocket. This was the beginning of a firm and lasting friendship, and various climbing forays into the mountains of the High Sierra. The unabridged version of this first encounter is in Galen Rowell’s book of his escapades called High and Wild, from which the name of our adventure company comes.
The Boss’ Pitch
Company founder Nigel Gifford, the author of two books about adventure and expedition planning says: "High & Wild is the recognized home of adventure travel expertise. Our journeys and adventures fulfill the motivations and expectations of those seeking exciting and remarkable experiences in new and different horizons. Our adventures are planned by adventure professionals who have real practical experience to draw upon.
"High & Wild is an innovator of adventure too, the Everest Skydive is just one example. The introduction of the use of supplementary oxygen when trekking up Kilimanjaro is another -- it has been recorded that 40% of people have been failing to reach the summit and 36,000 people make the attempt each year."
Popular adventure travel trips:
Saami Reindeer Migration: A very special one-of-a-kind journey available to only 16 people each year, inside the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway, where you will accompany a Saami family in moving their reindeer herd from their winter grounds to their summer grazing area on snowmobiles.
Galapagos Multi-Activity Adventure - Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: A multi-activity adventure holiday in the Galapagos Islands. A full week of sea kayaking, trekking, mountain biking, horse riding and snorkelling and the added option of scuba diving. The main highlights will be hiking to the Sierra Negra Volcano on Isabela; paddling sea-kayaks in gin-clear waters past penguins or sea lion pups; mountain biking to the top of Santa Cruz in search of giant tortoises; and snorkelling or scuba-diving through huge shoals of tropical fish. This trip can be easily combined with trips to mainland Ecuador and other neighbouring countries, to provide a holiday of great contrast.
Where to Learn More
For more information visit High & Wild or call +44(0)1749671777. On the Web site you can also read more about the skydiving expedition over Mount Everest.
