Adrian Hayes is a British record-breaking adventurer, author, speaker, consultant & coach, documentary presenter and sustainability campaigner.
An Arabic and Nepalese speaking former British Army Gurkha Officer, who also spent two years in the Special Forces, his adventuring achievements include trekking to both Poles, summiting Everest and K2, crossing the length of Greenland and the Arabian Desert, setting two Guinness World Records, writing two books, and featuring in three documentaries to date.
One of the few extreme adventurers in the world with a senior corporate background – including six years as an Airbus Middle East Sales Director – Adrian is now a global keynote speaker and professional leadership and team consultant & coach, delivering speeches, seminars, and programs worldwide. He is also an Advisory Board member for the European Mars One project.
In his campaign work Adrian is an ambassador on economic, social & environmental sustainability – the ‘triple bottom line’ of People, Planet and Profit – and a patron of the Population Matters and Chase Africa charities. As a former qualified Paramedic, he is also involved in an ongoing project providing medical treatment and health & hygiene education in the remote areas of the Himalayas.
Adrian has featured in three documentaries: The Greenland Quest in 2011 for the National Geographic Channel, Footsteps of Thesiger in 2013 and In Inner Mongolia in 2017 for the Discovery Channel, and is now an establishing television and documentary presenter. His first book, Footsteps of Thesiger, was published in 2013, and details his 44-day journey across the Arabian Desert. His second book, One Man’s Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2, was published in 2019.
A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he has lived and worked in eight countries in the World, and travelled to more than 100. Outside of mountaineering and expeditions, his interests include most sports (particularly rugby union, athletics and rock climbing), human development, politics & international affairs, medicine, health & nutrition, astronomy, science, film & music, and he is still an occasional singer and guitarist in a rock band.
