Will Gadd: Athlete; Speaker; Guide
Will Gadd, a Canadian, was born on March 8, 1967. He is a prominent Canadian ice climber and paraglider pilot. He has won every major ice climbing title from the World Cup to the Winter X Games, and broke the world distance record on a paraglider not once, but three times. He was also the first person to cross the US by paraglider, and formerly - twice! - held the paragliding world distance record, with a flight of 423 km in Zapata, Texas. He has won both the US and Canadian Paragliding Nationals.
In 2014, he climbed the last ice at the top of Kilimanjaro - ice that has been there since the retreat of the glaciers 12, 000 years ago. “The climbing is very technically challenging,” says Will. “Doing 50 pull-ups at sea level is tough. Doing them at 6,000m is a lot tougher.”
In January 2015, Gadd became the first person to scale the ice-covered rock wall next to the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls. His particular greatness was in the fact that he climbed up the falls, not down. The ascent took place on Goat Island, near Terrapin Point, on the American side of the falls. The climb is graded as WI6+ - as tough as it gets! Concerned with both safety and environmental ethics, Will worked closely the New York State Parks Department, the Governor of New Yok and Parks Police to develop a plan , obtaining the first-ever permit for ice-climbing at Niagara Falls. The process took years of listening, preparation and hard work. Not content with climbing it once, Will went back and made the ascent twice more – to be sure, to be sure….The climb earned him the keys of NYC.
Will has also guided, taught and coached climbers around the world, and speaks widely on the topics he lives, daily: resiliency, seizing opportunity, risk and reward, high performance outcomes and success in hazardous environments. Having also spent time climbing ice cliffs in underground Swedish mines, Will, somewhat unsurprisingly also notes “surviving” as amongst his career highlights
He is the host of the documentary series Fearless Planet, working with regional scientists and traveling with them, or by himself, to various locations that are in the individual episode's focus, and considered some of the most “radical” places on the planet.
Will Gadd has scaled the heights and achieved greatness. It’s also clear that like all achievers, greatness requires support – friends, experts, family. In the IP world, that’s what Tomkins are all about - Supporting Greatness.
Will Gadd has been chosen by us as an example of someone who has achieved greatness in his field; Greatness being a quality we support every day. Will features in our “Defying Nature” collection of inspiring examples of Greatness, the first in a series of examples of Greatness across science, medicine, engineering, design and exploration we will be showcasing here. By featuring individuals such as Will, we hope to illustrate that Greatness comes in many forms. Will Gadd is in no way connected with us, nor does he endorse our firm.