Johnny Ward | |
|---|---|
 Ward visiting elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2019 | |
| Born | 1983 (age 40–41) Galway, Ireland |
| Nationality | Northern Ireland |
| Citizenship | Irish, British |
| Occupations |
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| Website | onestep4ward |
Johnny Ward (born 1983) [1] is a Northern Irish entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist and travel blogger [2] [3] [4] known for visiting every country in the world. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Ward was born in Galway, Ireland in 1983 to a single mother named Maura. [9] [1] His family moved to Kilkeel, Northern Ireland soon after, and Ward largely grew up there. [10] [2] His family often subsisted on welfare during his childhood. [11] Ward studied international economics at university in England, graduating in 2006. [10] [12]
After graduating from university in 2006, Ward began to travel. He initially flew to New York City [10] and worked as a summer camp counselor in the United States for a brief period. [6] [5] He returned to Ireland and took part in a medical research experiment to earn more money to travel. [5] He then travelled to Thailand where he taught English for a year before moving to Sydney, where he worked as a telephone sales representative. [2]
Dissatisfied with office work, Ward left his job and sought to make a living from travelling full-time. In 2010, Ward started a blog named "OneStep4Ward" to document his travels. [13] [14] During this period, Ward based himself in Bangkok, Thailand, and also began investing in property. [3] [14]
By August 2012, Ward had visited over 80 countries, [14] and over 100 countries by the end of that year. [15] In 2014, Ward was a founding member of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association. [16] By 2015, he had earned a total of around $1 million and had visited 152 countries. [12] Ward has recounted entering several countries through questionable or illegal means; it was reported that he "entered China illegally after a five-day trip up the Mekong River while stowed away in a cargo boat", [3] that he was arrested after paying a smuggler to take him from Liberia to Ivory Coast during the Ebola epidemic, [7] [10] and that he was able to enter Yemen during an ongoing civil war by meeting a dignitary who "bribed Yemeni officials and I ended up hitching there on a cement cargo ship". [5] Shortly after arriving in Angola, Ward witnessed a person being shot only a few metres away from his taxi cab, which quickly left the scene. [2] [10]
In 2017, Ward visited his 197th and final nation, Norway, chosen because its proximity to Ireland made it convenient for friends and family to join him for the occasion. [5] [6] [17]
Ward has since declared his intention to be the first person [18] to visit every country, plus visit the North Pole, South Pole, and climb the Seven Summits. He has since finished 8th in the North Pole Marathon, [19] and summited Kilimanjaro, Puncak Jaya, Aconcagua, Denali, and Mount Elbrus. Alongside this, Ward has also completed multiple long-distance ultra-marathons ranging from 100 km to 260 km, [20] and competed in the Marathon des Sables in 2019. [21]
Ward rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in March, April, and May 2021. [22] He also spent 2 months attempting to climb Mount Everest in April and May and successfully summitted the world's highest mountain on May 17, 2023. [23] [24] [25]
Ward started his travel blog, OneStep4Ward.com, in 2010 whilst living in Australia, and soon began making a full-time income blogging. His blog is often listed as Ireland's leading blog, [26] and one of the world's leading travel blogs. [27] [28]
Ward was nominated for the 11th Shorty Awards [29] [30] for 'Best in Travel'.
Upon reaching the South Pole on the 12 January 2024, [31] Ward became the first person in history to complete the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam (the Explorer's Grand Slam plus visiting every country in the world). [32] [33] Reportedly, around 500 people have climbed the Seven Summits, with 73 people having climbed the Seven Summits and reached both North and South Pole. Reports vary from 250 to 500 people having visited every country in the world, but no-one has yet completed the set. [34] [35] [36]
| Country total | Years |
|---|---|
| 197 Countries | 2007-2017 |
| Mountain | Height | Date climbed | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Everest | 8848m (29,035ft) | 17 May 2023 | Asia |
| Aconcagua | 6,961m (22,841 ft) | 20 January 2023 | S. America |
| Denali | 6190m (20,320 ft) | 29 May 2022 | N. America |
| Carstensz Pyramid | 4,884m (16,023 ft) | 23 September 2019 | Oceania |
| Mount Elbrus | 5642m (18,510 ft) | 26 June 2018 | Europe |
| Kilimanjaro | 5,895m (19,340 ft) | 10 March 2013 | Africa |
| Vinson Massif | 4,892m (16,050 ft) | 7 January 2024 | Antarctica |
| Mountain | Height | Date climbed | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Kosciuszko | 2,228m (7,309 feet) | 31 May 2019 | Australasia (Bass) |
| Mont Blanc | 4,807m (15,771 feet) | 27 August 2019 | Europe (disputed) |
| Mountain | Date climbed | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Everest | 17 May 2023 | Asia |
| North Pole | 17 April 2018 | Arctic Ocean |
| South Pole | 12 January 2024 | Antarctica |
| Year | Award Show | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Shorty Awards | Best In Travel | Himself |
Ward co-founded the non-profit Mudita Adventures (formally the Giveback GiveAway) in 2015 [37] [38] with a view to 'Change Travel. For Good.' Since then, Mudita Adventures has built schools, dormitories, playgrounds and clinics for developing communities in 10 countries, donating over $200,000USD. [39] [40] [41]
In 2019, Ward helped his mother, who had previously been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, raise £14,444 to climb Mount Fuji in Japan, with the funds going towards the Cure Parkinson's Trust. [9]
In Quarter one of 2021, Ward rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, spending 51 days on a rowboat on a meat-free expedition. Raising over $20,000 for men's mental health and animal rights. [42]
In November 2021, Ward took a group of people, including his mother once more, to partake in the Serengeti Marathon in Tanzania, raising $16,000 (£14,000) for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help find a cure for Parkinson's Disease. [43] In June 2023, Ward and his mother, Maura, undertook a 100km tandem cycle through the Jordanian Desert, raising $15,000USD in order to help find a cure for Parkinson's Disease. [44] [45]
Mount Everest(also Mount Sagarmatha or Mount Qomolangma) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal.
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
Benjamin Myer Fogle, is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.
Ajeet Bajaj is the first Indian to ski to the North Pole and complete the polar trilogy which entails skiing to the North Pole, South Pole and across the Greenland icecap. Bajaj and his daughter Deeya Bajaj were the first Indian father daughter team to climb Mt. Everest. He completed the Explorer's Grand Slam on 05 June 2022 while completing the Seven Summits with his daughter Deeya.
Omar Samra is a British-born Egyptian adventurer, entrepreneur and speaker. He is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, the 7 Summits and ski to both the Geographic South and North Pole. He is also the first Egyptian to complete the 7 Summits challenge on 31 May 2013, climbing the highest mountain on all seven continents. Samra was the 31st is person in history to complete the "Explorers Grand Slam" challenge, which include climbing the highest mountain on every continent, the 7 summits, and skiing to both the South and North Poles. Samra has also been selected for the IIAS's PoSSUM program along with 2 other Egyptians, Abdelraouf El Waqad and Ahmed Farid
Maxime Chaya is a Lebanese mountaineer and explorer. On May 15, 2006, he was the first Lebanese to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. On December 28, 2007, Max also became the first from the Middle East to reach the South Pole on foot from the Antarctic coast, after an unsupported and unassisted journey that lasted 47 days. Then, on April 25, 2009, he reached the North Pole also on foot, all the way from Canada.
Pat Falvey is an Irish high-altitude mountaineer, expedition leader, polar explorer, entrepreneur, author, corporate/personal trainer/coach, and motivational speaker. He was the first person to complete the Seven Summits (Bass) twice, with the summiting of Mount Everest reached from both the Tibetan (1996) and Nepalese sides (2004). He was expedition leader of the team that saw Clare O'Leary become the first Irish woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest (2004). Other extreme expeditions that he has made include walking to the South Pole, crossing South Georgia Island, and traversing the Greenland ice cap. He started his first business at 15 years of age and has since had businesses in property development, finance, construction, insurance, tourism, and film production. He has been a motivational speaker since the 1990s.
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Kílian Jornet is a Spanish professional long-distance trail runner and ski mountaineer. Jornet has won some of the most prestigious ultramarathons, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc multiple times, Grand Raid, Western States and Hardrock.
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Tashi and Nungshi Malik are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge.
Wang Jing is a Chinese climber, author, entrepreneur and member of The Explorers Club in the United States. Wang is best known for her feat in becoming the fastest woman in the world to complete the Explorers Grand Slam in 143 days and the fastest woman to climb Seven Summits with an assist from helicopters. The Explorers Grand Slam involves reaching the highest peak on every continent plus at a minimum of skiing the last degree (111 km) to the North and South poles. Wang recorded this adventure in her book Silence of the Summit, which was published in English in December 2018.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.
Drew Goldberg, known by his online alias, Drew Binsky, is an American travel blogger and vlogger who has visited every country in the world. Binsky documents his travels on his YouTube channel and other social media accounts. He holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to pack a suitcase. Until 2021, he also held the record for the Most (12) UNESCO World Heritage Site visits in 24 hours, a record now set at 23.