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BEAR GRYLLS |
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.
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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 enteredThe 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.
