David Hempleman-Adams

Sir David Kim Hempleman-Adams, (born 10 October 1956) is an English industrialist and adventurer.

He is the first person to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam, by reaching the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climbing the highest peaks in all seven continents, the first person to fly to the North Pole in a balloon, and the first person to make a balloon crossing of the Atlantic in an open basket.

David Hempleman was born in Moredon, Swindon on 10 October 1956.

Following his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to Stoney Littleton near Bath, and, when she remarried, took his stepfather's surname Adams.

He took part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme at school, then pursued business studies at college in Manchester and at Bristol Polytechnic.

At the same time, he started climbing with fellow student Steven Vincent.

The previous record was an eight hours and 12 minutes flight undertaken by American Coy Foster in March 1983.

In 1984, he successfully completed a solo expedition to the Magnetic North Pole without dogs, snow mobiles or air supplies.

Also he led the first team in 1992 to walk unsupported to the Geomagnetic North Pole.

This was described in the book A Race Against Time.

He first summited Mount Everest in 1993, and summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, in 1980, and Mount Kilimanjaro in 1981.

The company was sold to Mason Corporation in 1995.

In 1996, he completed a solo unsupported expedition to the South Pole on 5 January, sailed to the South Magnetic Pole on 19 February, and led a team of novices to ski to the Magnetic North Pole on 15 May.

The book Toughing it Out describes David's first 20 years of adventuring.

In 1998 he joined Norwegian Rune Gjeldnes in an attempt to reach the Geographical North Pole, the final leg of his Grand Slam attempt, which he described in a book called Walking on Thin Ice.

He became the first man to fly a balloon over the North Pole in 2000, a trip that emulated the ill-fated attempt by Salomon August Andrée, a Swede, to fly to the North Pole in the 19th century and which he also described in a book called At The Mercy of the Wind.

He has made thirty Arctic expeditions and has reached the various Poles a record 14 times.

On 22 September 2003 he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open wicker basket Rozière balloon.

The journey was from New Brunswick, Canada to north of Blackpool, UK.

In July 2004 he and co-pilot Lorne White flew a single engine Cessna from Cape Columbia in the north of Canada to Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, covering 11,060 miles and arriving on 23 July after 12 days.

In June 2005, Hempleman-Adams staged the world's "highest" formal dinner party.

Hempleman-Adams, Alan Veal, and fellow adventurer Bear Grylls ascended to 24,262 feet in a hot air balloon.

Grylls and Veal, wearing formal attire, then climbed down to a dinner table suspended 40 feet below the balloon and dined on asparagus, salmon, and summer fruits, and finally parachuted down to earth.

In January 2007, Hempleman-Adams broke the quarter-century old world small sized hot air balloon altitude record, by ascending to 9,906 meters over Alberta, Canada; beating the previous record of 9,537 metres set by Carol Davis in New Mexico.

In July 2007 Hempleman-Adams crossed the Atlantic in the smallest helium balloon to break the record for that particular class of balloon flying this distance.

His aim was to land the balloon in Ireland but he was blown over to England by strong winds.

See Toshiba Challenge website.

On 10 October 2008 Hempleman-Adams, along with co-pilot Jon Mason won the 52nd Gordon Bennett Cup, having flown a helium balloon from Albuquerque, New Mexico eventually landing over 1000 miles later near Madison, Wisconsin.

They are the first British team to win the coveted prize in 102 years.

In September 2009 he broke the endurance record for a flight using the smallest man-carrying helium balloon.

He flew 200 miles from Butler, Missouri, to Cherokee, Oklahoma, in 14 hours and 15 minutes using the class AA-01 balloon.

To coincide with the 100th anniversary of Scott's expedition to the South Pole, The Heart of the Great Alone was published with the Royal Collection.

It brings together a selection of the astonishing photographs taken by Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley with commentary and narration by David.

In September 2010 he competed in the Gordon Bennett 2010 balloon race held in the UK for the first time.

In May 2011 he led the Iceland Everest Expedition on the North Side of Everest.

£1.2 Million was raised for their chosen charity.

In October 2011, along with co-pilot Jon Mason, David won the Americas Challenge Balloon race and in doing so set a new duration record for the race.

They are the only British team to win both the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race and Americas Challenge.

Hempleman-Adams has worked in the chemical manufacturing business.

He joined his father's company, Robnor (later Robnorganic Systems), later becoming managing director.