Wigan adventurer completes first step in global challenge across all seven continents

Oli France, 32, lives in Standish with his wife and two young children, but regularly travels to far-flung places to experience life off the beaten track.

The former St Peter’s High School pupil studied outdoor leadership at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and began working and travelling overseas on expeditions from the age of 19.

Since then he has been all over the world on his own expeditions and leads other people on adventures after founding his company Wild Edge.

Oli said: “Age 25, I embarked on an 8,000-mile solo expedition from Hong Kong to Istanbul, climbing mountains in every country visited. Along the way I was detained in Uzbekistan for five days, interrogated, spied upon and narrowly missed by an avalanche.

"I've since built a career guiding teams through some of the world's wildest places, such as Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. Expeditions have included climbing the highest mountain in Iraq, summiting Mont Blanc, climbing active volcanoes in Congo, climbing Kilimanjaro four times while guiding teams, and completing a challenging 16-day solo expedition across the frozen surface of Lake Baikal, Siberia in March 2020.

"I have personally travelled to over 75 countries and guided over 500 travellers from all walks of life through over 30 countries. My clients have included a wide range of travellers, including billionaires, ex-CIA officers, terminal cancer patients, reformed criminals and drag queens.”

Oli says he loves the “wildness, intensity and excitement” of these expeditions and finds them “addictive”.

He has now turned his attention to a massive challenge, which will see him travel the world, using only his own power to get from the lowest point in each continent to the highest.

He started in Africa, where he travelled from Lac Assal, in Djibouti, to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Oli, who gives talks about his adventures at events for schools, charities and businesses, said: “I set out from Lac Assal by bike in temperatures of 45°C. A 1,636-mile journey followed, through four countries – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Along the way, I faced thunderstorms, extreme heat, hostility – rocks and knives thrown at me, chased with sticks and by motorbikes – brutal winds, police shakedowns, attempted extortion and wild animals.

"The 18-day cycle involved over 24,000 metres of climbing – equivalent to 2.7 Everests. After reaching Machame Gate on Kilimanjaro, I continued the journey on foot to reach the Roof of Africa while guiding a team of fellow trekkers.

"This is the first major milestone in The Ultimate Seven Project – my world-first quest to journey from the lowest point in each continent to the highest, through jungles, seas, deserts, mountains, war-zones and polar regions.”

Having completed the first step on his challenge, Oli is now planning his journeys through the rest of the continents to complete his mammoth global project.