At the age of 19, Ash Dykes boarded a plane and left the UK to explore what was out there. His travels took him to destinations ranging from the Alps through to the Australian Outback and Burma, where he learnt how to survive in the jungle with a Burmese Hill Tribe. Ash spent two and a half years working in Thailand as a scuba diving instructor, where he trained and competed against the locals in the traditional martial art of Muay Thai.
In 2014 Ash became the first person to walk across Mongolia solo and unsupported, where he crossed the Altai Mountains, Gobi Desert and Mongolian Steppe and covered 1,500 miles in just 78 days. He encountered sand storms, snow blizzards, grey wolves, snakes, severe heat exhaustion and battled loneliness, all whilst pulling a 120kg wheeled trailer behind him that contained all the provisions he needed to survive. He became known to the locals as ‘The Lonely Snow Leopard’, due to the wolves keeping a respectful distance from him, as they do the snow leopard.
Ash raised funds along the way, to help locals during the extreme winter conditions due to climate change that is slowly changing the ways of the
Nomadic life, Ash helped to spread awareness on this, not only whilst traversing the country, but also on his UK Theatre Tour.
Not content with setting one world first, Ash achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the first person to traverse the entire length of Madagascar in early 2016. Ash’s 1,600 mile route took him through the interior of the world’s fourth largest island, summiting 8 of the country’s highest mountains and all in 155 days.
The expedition was nothing short of eventful as Ash contracted malaria, was almost swept away by a Nile crocodile infested river and had to avoid bandits, while hacking through close to impenetrable jungle. Ash partnered with the Lemur Conservation Network and supported their incredible efforts to protect and preserve Madagascar’s unique biodiversity.
Ash has been invited to 10 Downing Street on two occasions after his adventures, been named by FHM as “one of the world’s most fearless outdoors men”, was shown social support by Bear Grylls and Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He won UK Adventurer of the Year Award for 2K15 (and nominated for the same accolade in 2016) and Welsh Adventurer of the Year 2K16.
Ash is a fitness fanatic and has recently launched 'Ash Dykes - Fully Reloaded', a training programme that shows how he prepares for his adventures. You can find out more about Fully Reloaded on Ash's YouTube channel on the link above.