The Will to discover

It requires a lot of talent, ambition and determination to become one of the best in any given extreme sport. Will Gadd is among the world’s best in at least three of them.

“Nobody ever died wishing they had spent more time behind a desk”, observes Will Gadd. There’s little danger of that happening to him – the Canadian’s workplace has always been far away from offices: on ice walls or rock cliffs, in white water or in caves, and most preferably beneath a parachute. For Will is an outdoor athlete – according to Faces, the special edition of Outdoor Magazine that appeared in September 2005, one of the 20 greatest athletes competing in adventure sports today.

Scaling the Ice

The job description that best fits his profession is adventurer. He’s mastered sports like mountain biking, kayaking, spelunking and skiing (alpine and Nordic) better than about 99.9 percent of humanity.
And he’s no slouch in mountain climbing, paragliding or ice climbing either – especially in the last two, he’s one of the best in the world. From 1998 to 2000, he took home the most important titles in ice climbing, including the Winter X Games (1998 and 1999) and the ice climbing world cup (2000). Will is a specialist for first ascents of the toughest ice walls in the world, but the three-time Canadian climbing champion has also established new trails on mixed routes (ice and rock).

Sailing on the Wind

Pioneer flights, on the other hand, are Will’s favourite activity in paragliding. (Incidentally, Will proved that he’s also extremely competitive in the air with his victories at the 2004 Canadian championships and the 2005 US-American championships.) In 2001, he was the first to paraglide across the USA, completing the trek from Los Angeles to Kitty Hawk in 48 days. In 2003, he was the first to fly over the Andes from Chile to Argentina in a paraglider. In 2004, it was the Grand Canyon’s turn, and it wasn’t just the height above ground (up to 5500 metres) and the dangerous winds that led Will to describe the flight as “the most serious thing I’ve ever attempted in a paraglider.”
Subtle aerial technique coupled with patience were called upon in June 2002, when Will hung from his paraglider for 10 hours and 38 minutes over Texas and covered a distance of 423.4 km – a world record still unbroken to this day.

Successful Second Job

Will isn’t just an accomplished outdoor athlete. He’s also a successful videographer, producer, actor and stuntman as well as a proficient author of TV screenplays, magazine stories and books. And to that end, even Will has to spend at least some time behind a desk.