Every year the death toll on Mount Everest rises, and for every ten mountaineers who make it to the top, one will die. Yet at 7.22am on May 26th 1998, Bear entered The Guinness Book of Records as the youngest, and one of only around thirty, British climbers to have successfully climbed Everest and returned alive. He was only 23 years old.

The actual ascent took Bear over ninety days of extreme weather, limited sleep and running out of oxygen deep inside the 'death zone' (above 26,000 feet). On the way down from his first reconnaissance climb, Bear was almost killed in a crevasse at 19,000 feet. The ice cracked and the ground disappeared beneath him, he was knocked unconscious and came to swinging on the end of a rope. His team-mate and that rope saved his life. The expedition was raising funds for the Rainbow Trust and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Previously, in 1997, Bear had become the Youngest Briton to climb Mount Ama Dablam in the Himalayas (22,500 feet), a peak once described by Sir Edmund Hillary as unclimbable'.

Prior to the Everest Expedition, Bear, also a Karate Black Belt, spent three years with the British Special Air Service (21 SAS). What makes his story even more remarkable is that during this time he suffered a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa where he broke his back in three places. After months and months of rehabilitation, focusing always on his childhood dream of Everest, he slowly became strong enough to attempt the ultimate ascent of the world's highest peak.

Bear has a natural talent for communication and his speaking and TV shows has brought him worldwide acclaim. As a motivational speaker, he has addressed corporations all around the world on his experiences on Everest and how these can help us in our life and business environments. He is among the youngest and most successful speakers in the world.




Bear's first book, ‘Facing Up', went into the top-10 best seller list, and was launched in the USA titled, ‘The Kid who climbed Everest'. Worldwide this book has touched people through its enduring honesty, courage and humility. Bear has always been a popular guest on television shows, which have included, amongst many others, the Oprah Show and Jay leno's Tonight show in the USA and in the UK: BBC's': Friday night with Jonathon Ross, Heaven and Earth, BBC's Ready Steady Cook, Channel Four's Richard & Judy, GMTV, and radio programmes such as Radio 1, Radio 2 & Five Live.

Bear first TV break came when he was approached to star in a ‘Sure For Men' deodorant TV commercial (Rexona, worldwide). This featured the story of Bear's Everest climb and what makes him most nervous! The advert was awarded campaign of the week on its release. (see TV section of this website)

In 2003 Bear successfully completed another ground breaking expedition, (click here), leading a team across the freezing North Atlantic Arctic Ocean in a small open rigid inflatable boat. Suffering weeks of frozen spray and icebergs, the expedition was filmed for a documentary, and was raising funds for the Prince's Trust charity. The book on this remarkable journey, 'Facing the Frozen Ocean', and was short-listed as Sports Book of the Year, and Bear was awarded an Honorary commission in the Royal Navy for this record-breaking feat.

Bear was also used by the UK Ministry of Defence to head the Army's anti-drugs TV campaign, and featured in the first ever major advertising campaign for the world renowned shop: Harrods. His first major TV Series was for Channel Four, called ‘Escape to the Legion', where he went through simulated basic training with Legionaires in North Africa and told the story of what it is like for a recruit to join the French Foreign Legion.

On the back of the success of the Foreign Legion Documentary, Bear was commissioned to present 15 x 1-hour programmes for a TV Series called 'Man Vs Wild' on Discovery Channel Worldwide, plus also an 8-part TV Series for Channel Four titled 'Born Survivor: Bear Grylls'. These feature Bear being parachuted in to some of the most inhospitable  deserts, jungles and mountains on earth and showing what you need to do to survive!

Man Vs Wild went on to become the No. 1 cable show in all of America and reaches a global audience of over 1.2 Billion viewers, making it one of the most recognised and watched programmes on the largest TV network on earth. To date the team have filmed over 45 x 1hr episodes.

The book accompanying the Born Survivor Channel 4 UK TV series stayed for 10 weeks in the Sunday Times Bestseller List.

In 2007, he became the first man to fly a powered paraglider to a height above Mount Everest in the Himalaya. Sponsored by GKN, the team raised over $1million in the process for Global Angels and children's charities worldwide. 2008 also saw Bear lead a small team to climb one of the most remote un-climbed peaks in the world in Antarctica. See:  www.journeyantarctica2008.com This was raising funds for Global Angels kids charity and awareness for the potential of alternative energies, a cause very close to Bear's heart. The expedition was using wind powered kite skiing, bio-ethanol powered jetskis, electric powered paragliders and good old footwork!

In 2009 Bear was voted by the Scouts to become their Chief Scout and figurehead to nearly 500,000 Scouts in the UK. He becomes the youngest Chief Scout in history.

Bear lives with his wife Shara on a boat on the Thames in london, and also on a small Welsh island. They have three little boys called Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry. They are the pride of Bear's eyes.

Bear's story of progressing from a broken back in hospital to the summit of the world's highest mountain, is one that touches people globally.

As he says live on stage: "I remember lying there during those long months of recovery and suddenly this dream that I had clung to so tightly and for so long, of climbing Everest, just felt a million miles away. It was beyond what I could believe and I remember vividly looking at the pictures my late father had given me of Everest years earlier, and taking them down. I dismissed it as something childish and something that could no longer become a reality."

But Bear continued to persevere against all the odds and eventually after three months on the mountain, during which four climbers had tragically lost their lives, he was edging ever closer.

"I remember clearing that final lip, lying  on my stomach, heaving for oxygen, and looking up in disbelief, that just 200m away was the place that had captured me since I was a little boy. The roof of the world. But however many of these pathetic shuffles I took it never got any closer. I remember the adrenalin beginning to pump - you feel it as this very physical presence that fills your muscles and your veins but which also very quickly leaves you with this weakness that follows as you struggle to maintain that intensity…"

Eventually, at 7.22am on the 26th May 1998 Bear Grylls climbed into the Guinness Book of Records as the Youngest British climber ever to reach the summit of Everest and return alive.

"Looking back it is strangely clear how certain qualities stood out above everything else up there. There were certain things that kept people alive and gave us hope; and they may be different from what you might at first imagine…"

Bear's talks focus on those simple qualities that make the difference between life and death on a mountain: the intimacies and realities of teamwork, the honesty needed in intense environments and the courage that comes not from bravado but from something else inside.

"The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is so often just simply that little word - extra. And for me, I had always grown up with the belief that if someone succeeds it is because they are brilliant or talented or just better than me…and the more of these words I heard the smaller I always felt! But the truth is often very different…and for me to learn that ordinary me can achieve something extra-ordinary by giving that little bit extra, when everyone else gives up, meant the world to me and I really clung to it…"

Bear's story continues to touch people around the world. It is a story of honesty, friendships, determination and humility.

Teamwork
Where he talks about the human bonds that tie people together when the chips are really down. About what it really means to have your life depending on a slender rope between you and your teammate. The ability to work together under such harrowing conditions as 28,000 ft above sea-level, in -40o celcius. And how crucial a role honesty, integrity and trust plays when your lives hang precariously in the balance.

Motivation
Bear's story focusses on that ability to find something special, deep inside, when it matters - not a transient, chest-beating form of motivation that fades when the going gets tough, but the discovery of a core drive, that sustains you through the darkest times. An instict to achieve. A quiet strength. The realisation that no-one is super-human, but that we are all fragile- but also understanding that as humans we are built to excel. It is about finding that little bit 'extra'; that vital word that makes the difference between the ordinary and the 'extra'ordinary.

Leadership
A realisation that the qualities needed for effective leadership can be learnt. That real leader's inspire a feel-good factor around them; you want to be with them regardless. That we all perform better when we are appreciated and encouraged and valued. That leader's think bigger, and differently. They inspire those around them to go that little bit further, to perform that little bit better, and feel that little bit stronger.

Bear has lead numerous expeditions now and shares the keys to his success - bringing the best out of the people whose lives are in the balance with him. His story is of leadership put to the ultimate test.

Communication
Bear is only too aware that an effective team on a high mountain relies on honest communication. Having a shared purpose, a culture of can-do and want-to; rather than politics or one-up-man-ship. Encouraging faith in each other, encouraging trust, and an ability to share weaknesses as well as strengths. An awareness that vulnerability creates bonds, and where there are bonds there is strength.  A determination to make it together, where humility is a virtue and kindness really matters.

Inspiration
That we all have our own Everest's in our lives. Bear's story is really about applying those simple qualities that kept him alive and that helped him become one of the few, or as Bear often says, "one of the 'lucky' on Everest." It's a story about knowing that the harder we try and the more of our heart we put into things, the luckier we all become. It is about not being afraid to be close to those around you, and about each of our ability to make a positive difference.
That each of us is special and has that strength to reach our own summits.
If Bear made it to the top of the physical world, despite the horrendous odds, statistics, pitfalls, and even a broken back in three places only two years earlier…then we too can reach the highest peaks in our lives.

Other areas
Thinking on your feet; coping with radical change; coping with the successes and the times in between (or as some call them: the failures!); coping with conflict; knowing that individual success is the really just the product of thorough planning, preparation and team-collaboration... and a bit of good fortune too.

MAN VS. WILD host, author and seasoned adventurer Bear Grylls began a lifetime of exploration at an early age.  Bear grew up on the Isle of Wight, and as a young boy would go mountain climbing with his father.

He served three years with the Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British army. During his service, he broke his back in three places in a parachuting accident over Southern Africa.

Despite the accident and severity of his injury, Bear went on in 1998 to become, at age 23, the youngest British climber to complete a summit and descent of Mount Everest. He wrote about his experience in the book, The Kid Who Climbed Everest.

Not content to slow down, Bear achieved another first when he and his Everest climbing group circumnavigated the United Kingdom on jet skis. He also led the first unassisted crossing of the frozen North Atlantic Ocean in an open rigid inflatable boat. His book about this adventure, Facing the Frozen Ocean, was shortlisted as the U.K.'s "Sports Book of the Year." Bear was awarded a commission in the Royal Navy in honor of leading this record-breaking expedition.

In June 2005, Bear broke a world record by hosting a dinner party at a table suspended below a hot air balloon at 24,500 feet. He rappelled from the balloon's basket to the table, where in full naval uniform he ate a three-course meal before saluting the queen and skydiving to earth. His goal was to support the work of two charities: the Prince's Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Bear hosted a 2005 television series for the U.K.'s Channel Four, called Escape to the Legion, in which he took a group of young men to the Western Sahara Desert to undergo the French Foreign Legion's infamous basic training. A second Channel Four series, titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, completed its U.K. run in April 2007.

On May 15, 2007, Bear set another world record when he became the first person to fly over Mount Everest by powered paraglider. Supported by the GKN Mission Everest Team, Grylls and fellow pilot Giles (Gilo) Gardozo flew specially developed paramotors. Though a fault in Gilo's machine forced him to abort only 1,000 feet below the summit, Bear continued to ascend until he reached 29,500 feet and was able to look down on Everest as he circled above some of the most famous peaks in the Himalayas. Then his own engine developed problems and he, too, had to glide back to safety — but he had achieved his goal. The mission raised $1 million for the Global Angels Foundation, a charity that supports children in Africa. Filmed by the Planet Earth team, Bear and Gilo's undertaking will be made into a two-hour documentary for Discovery Channel and Channel Four in the U.K.

Bear's most recent book, Born Survivor: Survival Techniques From the Most Dangerous Places on Earth, was released in spring 2007. It is already listed on the Sunday Times Top 10 Best-Seller List.

He has hosted the Discovery Channel's MAN VS. WILD, in which he strands himself in remote locations to demonstrate localized survival techniques, since November 2006.