Spirit of Adventure Award

The Spirit of Adventure Award

After 28 days, Rich Potter became the first and only disabled person to complete the snowman trek in Bhutan. He successfully walked into Bunthang with his guide and crew, having just navigated the most difficult trek in the world. What started off as a pipe dream between two friends, ended as a bittersweet victory that covered every emotion known to man.

SNOWMAN TREK IN BHUTAN

2024

The aim of the expedition is to travel the length of the Amazon River from its highest source the Volcan Chimborazo glacier in Ecuador all the way to Belem in Brazil where it thunders into the Atlantic Ocean. The journey will be split into four stages starting in May and finishing in November 2023.

JOHN BATHGATE - THE AMAZON, SUMMIT TO SEA EXPEDITION

2023

From the age of 18, Jack Hampton has been passionate about paddling on some incredible kayaking journeys. His next great expedition is part of a project called Paddling the Margins, and it is one of his most important kayaking challenges to date.

JACK HAMPTON - PADDLING THE MARGINS

2022

The expedition set sail from Carthage, Tunisia on 23rd September 2019 in a replica Phoenician ship and sailed 6000 miles to reach the shores of the Americas with the aim of proving the Phoenicians had the maritime capability and navigational skill to cross the Atlantic 2000 years before Columbus. The expedition route took in in Cadiz, Essaouira and the Canaries. The ship arrived in the Dominican Republic on 31st December 2019, after 39 days at sea, and reached Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on 4th February 2020.

PHILIP BEALE - PHOENICIANS BEFORE COLUMBUS

2019

The main aim of the EAGRE 18 expedition was to conduct the very first cave exploration expedition to the Wegener Halvø peninsula of East Greenland. Potential cave entrances have already been documented by geologists working in the area, but so far have never been explored.

DR GINA MOSELEY - EAGRE 18 EXPEDITION

2018

The team travelled to Chacaltaya Mountain and researched the effects of low blood oxygen on the body – from the body’s clotting response, to how immune cells adapt, how vision and cognition is affected, and how a person’s personality affects their perception of altitude sickness.

REBECCA DRU - HIGH ALTITUDE STUDY IN THE ANDES

2017

Struan Chisholm and Calum Nicholl have become double award winners of the Spirit of Adventure following on from their successful Tajikistan expedition in 2013.
This expedition travelled into the mountains of Djenghi-Djer in southern Kyrgizstan on horseback enabling them to travel deeper into uncharted valleys that could not be accessed by 4x4 vehicles.
The expedition identified prominent routes and opened up the region for pioneering climbing expeditions. First ascents of mountains above 4000m were achieved.

THE DJENGHI-DJER EXPEDITION TO KYRGYZSTAN

2016

A team of five entered the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan to climb mountains and carry out scientific research in the glacial region. The reason for this research is the potential danger being built up by these glaciers and their ability to form glacial lake outburst floods.

OLIVER FORSTER - THE KARAKORAM ANOMALY

2015

The team of 5 set off from Inverness in an old Range Rover to drive 3800 miles through Europe and into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and finally arrive in Gharm Tajikistan to scale unclimbed peaks in the Pamir Range (ranging between 4000m-5000m). Many of the routes tackled were south facing and necessitated early morning starts to avoid sun exposure melting ice and causing rock fall. Besides the mountaineering the team’s success in driving rather than flying greatly reduced their carbon footprint but also made for a much more adventurous expedition.

STRUAN CHISHOLM AND THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY - SILK ROAD TAJIKISTAN EXPEDITION 2013

2013

In July 2012, eight students and graduates of Cambridge University undertook a three week exploratory mountaineering expedition to northern Kyrgyzstan, focusing on the Shamsi Tuyuk Valley in the Kyrgyz Ala‐Too Range. From their base camp they made a series of one day outings to explore the mountains forming the valley watershed, all between 4000m and 4500m high. Over the course of 14 climbing days, expedition members attempted 13 routes on eight peaks. Successful ascents were made on six peaks, via nine routes.

DAVID FARROW - CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY TIEN SHAN EXPEDITION

2012

2011

Stewart led a team of young explorers to Mount Roraima on the borders of Venezuela, Guiana and Brazil which has a 30km2 plateau bounded by 400m sheer cliffs on all sides. The sheer inaccessibility of this rain-drenched plateau accounts for the presence of delicate near-prehistoric flora and fauna much of which is unique to the plateau. It is thought to be the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'The Lost World'. Their adventure was captured on video which has subsequently been turned into a documentary film.

STEWART MCPHERSON – MOUNT RORAIMA EXPEDITION

2010

2009

2008