A record-breaking adventurer, ultra-endurance athlete, published author, brand ambassador and charity founder from Cheshire who has never taken the conventional path to the top.
At the age of 26 he has already attempted Mount Everest twice – but Alex is not your typical Everest speaker.
After climbing Mont Blanc at 17 and single-handedly raising over £35,000 in corporate sponsorship whilst still at school, his first attempt to climb to the summit of Mount Everest in 2014 was abandoned following a tragic avalanche that took sixteen lives. Aged just 19, he returned a year later and survived an avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall, triggered by the Nepal earthquake, which trapped his team on the mountain for two days.
However his biggest challenges have been much closer to home. Alex is no stranger to adversity, after overcoming epilepsy, bullying, anxiety, mental ill health and a stammer since childhood. Discovering the outdoors empowered him to achieve through adversity and take advantage of his stammer by speaking to audiences across the UK and Europe.
In 2016 he returned to the Himalayas and reached 7,125 metres on Cho Oyu, the sixth highest peak in the world. In 2017 he became the fastest person ever to climb all 100 UK county tops by bicycle, foot and kayak, covering over 5,000 miles in 72 days.
He has raised over £120,000 for charities, carried the London 2012 Olympic Torch through Chester and won a Pride of Britain Fundraiser of the Year award in 2017. He published his first book Icefall in 2016, endorsed by Bear Grylls, with his second title Another Peak was published in July 2019, endorsed by Mark Beaumont.
In 2020 Alex co-founded Mind Over Mountains, a national charity to restore mental well-being and resilience through outdoor experiences. He also ran the National Three Peaks Challenge, climbing and running 452 miles (17 marathons) between the UK’s three highest peaks in just 9 days 12 hours, and won TGO Magazine Silver ‘Campaigner of the Year’.
Now based in Kendal, the Lake District, he serves as an ambassador for Ordnance Survey, Inov-8, Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports and Rubicon RAW.
Challenges in life are inevitable, and this has never been so true in the pandemic landscape. Resilient individuals and teams are better equipped to weather the storms and keep moving forwards through times of high stress, change and uncertainty. But high performance isn’t sustainable without putting our well-being first.
At just 26, Alex Staniforth is already an expert in overcoming challenges, having survived the two biggest disasters in Mount Everest history as a teenager. However, his biggest challenges have been much closer to home, suffering with epilepsy, stammering, bullying and mental ill health since childhood. He is a now a record-breaking adventurer, published author, charity founder and much sought-after motivational keynote speaker for businesses and conferences, helping hundreds of businesses across the UK and Europe to embrace challenges and achieve their peak.
Alex combines high achievement with a humbling vulnerability in the typically invulnerable world of adventure and sport, so others can connect at a human level with their own daily challenges; whatever the context.
Through extreme adventure, ultra-endurance and personal lived experience, Alex shares unique insights of resilience to help teams adopt an adventure mindset and build the tools to:
He has already helped teams at Rolls-Royce Submarines, Bank of America Merrill-Lynch, Shoosmiths, FedEx, Smurfit Kappa, Reckitt Benckiser, Heineken and more achieve their peak. Why settle for Base Camp?