Everest is now ‘common’, so this is what the super-rich do for kicks instead

Henry Reid had “beasted” the Matterhorn, climbing it and descending again in just six hours, and wanted a new challenge. That’s how the 41-year-old found himself barrelling at 50mph down northern Norway’s Trollfjord in a speedboat, wearing a survival suit, with his ski boots and skis at the ready to chase the fresh powder.

The property developer from Berkshire had trained for weeks for a three-hour, 650-metre ridge ascent – and descent – through virgin snow with a group of friends. “I knew this would be one of the most physically demanding things I’d done to date,” he recalls.

The three hours of kick-turning and zigzagging through the powder with “skins” on their skis to enable them to walk up the slope was exhausting. But, Reid says, it was all worth it when they reached the ice-covered ridge and could “see how the Nords conjured up these mythical tales of valkyries”.

After bumping back down to the boat through powder up to their waist, it was time to head to a local timber-frame lodge, named “Metro” after its origins as a meteorology station.

After a dinner prepared by an Italian chef, Metro’s owner, Matthias, “came over and said to us all, ‘If you have not seen the northern lights, you might want to go outside’”, Reid says. “Watching the sky turn green, streaked with white and blue, was the perfect end to a perfect day.”

‘Luxpeditionists’ can kite ski to the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility – the spot on the continent that is farthest, in all directions, from the surrounding seas - Cookson Adventures

Testing the limits of human endurance, both physical and mental, on extreme holidays, is the norm for a new class of traveller. These are not the adventurers who perished in the OceanGate Titan submarine that imploded in the black, icy depths of the Atlantic in June 2023.

Instead, think the tech bros in Jesse Armstrong’s film Mountainhead, who don matching orange snowsuits and head out to climb to the summit of a Utah peak where they stop to rest and, naturally, compare their net worth. Deep powder and deep power.

As recent reports chart the overcrowding and growing waste on Mount Everest – and such ascents become so popular they are considered “common” by monied global migrants – the prospect of untouched mountain peaks, deep sea dives or even outer space is all the more appealing.

Ask Henry Cookson. He’s made a new career of taking others to the ends of the earth and – with a bit of luck – back again.

“I was an overweight banker who spent far too much time in London pubs, but an invitation to complete the Scott Dunn Polar Challenge changed my life,” he tells me, speaking from the top of an Alpine peak when I finally catch up with him on the phone.

He won the 360-mile race to the magnetic North Pole, taking 11 days, and breaking the course record. He moved on to attempt to walk and kite ski to the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility – the spot on the Antarctic continent that is farthest, in all directions, from the surrounding seas. On Jan 19 2007, 48 days after setting off from Novolazarevskaya Station, he and his three fellow teammates earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the first people to reach the location without a motorised vehicle.

“I had no idea how to do polar expeditions. I had no idea how to cross-country ski, and I certainly wasn’t fit. But if you have the right people around you, it’s amazing what you can do,” he says.

Henry Cookson, pictured at the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility, has made a new career of taking others to the ends of the earth and back again - Cookson Adventures

The company he set up after that trip, Cookson Adventures, can take you anywhere – for instance, skydiving to dinner on the North Pole. Guests drive into the Arctic from Canada when the ice is thick enough, and fly in a Twin Otter “jump plane” to the North Pole where they skydive to a pre-laid out dinner on the ice.

“We have clients who know how to skydive, and those who do not know are strapped to one of our experts for a tandem dive,” Cookson says.

Since the ice around the pole is floating, it takes great skill to work out which way it is likely to drift, so that by the time the camp is set up and guests parachute in, they are on top of the world. “Everyone wants a photo with the GPS confirming they are at the pole,” says Cookson.

After camping out on the ice overnight, Cookson’s team sets up a sauna with a plunge pool to wake the guests up in the morning. The price: “From $1.2 million [£890,000],” he says, with the emphasis on the “from”.

After skydiving to dinner on the North Pole, Cookson Adventures sets up a sauna on the ice with a plunge pool - Louis Waite/Cookson Adventures

This new kind of upscale amateur adventurer travel niche has an awful name: luxpeditions. Research conducted by travel consultancy Grand View, shows that the sector is already worth more than $1.4 trillion globally, and is poised to grow by 7.9 per cent every year.

The number of zeroes on the bill matters less than the promise of the ultimate challenge. “If there’s a price limit, we haven’t seen it yet,” says Kevin Jackson, chief executive of EXP Journeys, who is working with the Navajo Nation to create the first climb up Tower Butte, a 1,000ft tall rock tower in Arizona overlooking Lake Powell, to camp on top.

“It’s your private mountain top,” he says. “No one’s done it before. The views at dawn and sunset are some of the best in the world.”

After a night on a 75-foot Sumerset houseboat on Lake Powell, guests will hike cross-country through canyons to the base of the tower. They will climb its south-east side using fixed ropes and the Jumar technique – rope steps to ascend. Once at the top, they will camp out with chef, Shon Foster, preparing “an elevated Navajo taco” dinner. The following day, they will use the fixed lines to rappel off the tower back down to the base.

The final day is less demanding. It is spent at Amangiri, the Utah outpost of the less-is-more (except the bill) Aman hotel group. The trip costs from $20,000 per person based on a group of 10. Sobering fact: the fatal Titanic expedition cost $250,000 a head.

EXP Journeys offers a climb up Tower Butte, a 1,000ft tall rock tower in Arizona, to dine and camp on a ‘private mountain top’ - EXP Journeys

What’s driving the boom in luxpeditions? Facing potential death and testing their mettle certainly appeals to the tech bro culture of Mountainhead. But Geordie Mackay-Lewis and Jimmy Carroll, both former British Army captains, who founded Pelorus, the firm behind Reid’s Norwegian odyssey, reject bragging rights, detecting a different motivation.

“You grow, develop and learn a lot about yourself when you push and challenge yourself,” says Carroll. “Clients often find that these journeys leave them with a deeper resilience, an appreciation for teamwork under pressure and a sharper perspective on what really matters when life is distilled to its purest form.”

Reid agrees: “For me, it’s not about showing off. Skiing is my favourite way to spend my time with friends. You don’t want to look back at life and think, ‘God, I really wish I’d scratched that itch.’ I’d wanted to do the Norway trip for years. It matters to me and my friends. Not anyone else.” After his ascent on foot he and his companions took the easier option of heli-skiing for the next two days of their Arctic Elements’ ski experience. The vertical drops from the helicopter drop offs were 600 metres to 1,500 metres.

Lauren Ho, travel director of global lifestyle bible, Wallpaper* magazine, agrees that many travellers now crave “the dislocation, discovery and art of being provoked and confronted as they travel”.

En route from London to Saudi Arabia, she explains: “It has never been easier to go somewhere, but, at the same time, it’s also never been so hard to say why. Where we once made journeys of discovery, we now book hotels and restaurants based on their Tripadvisor ratings, curated by algorithms and optimised for convenience.

“We move through the world with few challenges. The places that matter – and we remember – are the ones that provoke, confront and make us think long after the journey ends. What we need is not ease but resonance.”

The White Lotus-inspired trend to visit the newest “it” resort, and share experiences of often contrived luxury on social media is nudging some wealthy travellers to look to new horizons, Ho adds. “Before it became something to document, travel was something to feel. You didn’t go away to check in with the world, but to step out of it. Travel wasn’t performative, it was personal. There were no audiences, just the thrill of being somewhere that didn’t care you had arrived.”

Philippe Brown, the luxury travel consultant who runs Brown and Hudson, agrees that Instagram-famous, over-crowded areas now look “cheap” to many upscale travellers who have been to every bucket list hotel and got the branded baseball cap. He avoids trending experiences, instead opting for “weird, unusual paths, because those are the ones that resonate with people who have everything”.

Jaclyn Charles, the travel agent and founder of Sienna Charles, bemoans “the celebritisation of travel. Look at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez”. The couple had a week-long wedding in Venice, and partied on their $500 million superyacht, Koru.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s week-long wedding in Venice is a prime example of the ‘celebritisation of travel’ - Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

Charles, who counts former US president George Bush and Mariah Carey among her clients, only offers off-the-grid bespoke travel. “We don’t need to go to Mount Everest to create a moment.” Or Venice in a superyacht.

Mackay-Lewis and Carroll point out that improvements in safety make it, if not easy, certainly practical to do almost any kind of adventure, short of going to the moon – but even that is surely only a matter of time. Mackay-Lewis, whose bio photograph on the Pelorus website shows him holding paws with a wolf, says: “With the right guides and preparation, ‘extreme’ environments can be safe for non explorers and non extreme travellers.”

Pelorus offers the opportunity to safely to climb four active volcanoes in Nicaragua in 24 hours - Pelorus

It is now, for instance, possible safely to climb four active volcanoes in Nicaragua in 24 hours, which Carroll describes as “the Le Mans 24-hour challenge, with volcanoes instead of cars. It is one of the least travelled, yet most beautiful regions of the world, with active lava fields”.

For those looking to decompress after their challenge, Pelorus can arrange a few days just off the coast of Nicaragua on the private island of Calala, with wellness and recovery experts and nutritionists on hand. An eight-day adventure, including the 24-hour challenge and a week on the island, starts from $95,000 (almost £71,000) per person based on four people travelling together.

After summiting the volcanoes, Pelorus offers guests accommodation on the private island of Calala, with wellness and recovery experts and nutritionists on hand - Pelorus

Safety – and satisfaction – are all in the planning. When one wealthy family requested to visit the North Pole, Pelorus packed in enough activities for a David Attenborough documentary, including a penguin run for the toddlers, a glacier hike for the grandparents and a polar bear safari by Zodiac boat for the whole party. Lunch was served on the edge of an ice cap, with a grand table lined with fur-throw covered chairs.

A request for a trip to the northernmost point of the Earth is not uncommon for Pelorus, whose tours around the Svalbard archipelago by luxury yacht start at £20,000 per person (not including flights). For those determined to set foot on the North Pole, an alternative visit via an OceanSky airship offers unique views. Guests return for Michelin-starred dining aboard.

One wealthy family enjoyed lunch in the North Pole served on the edge of an ice cap, with a grand table lined with fur-throw covered chairs - Pelorus

Are these extreme trips worth the price, even if they may make only a small dent in a one percenter’s wallet? “Absolutely!” insists Mackay-Lewis (as he banks another big cheque). He points to the level of creativity needed to stand out in the travel experience market.

“If they went to a normal luxury travel company and said, ‘I want to go to Namibia’, most people would be pigeonholed into a circuit of sorts. There would be no narrative. There would be no immersion with tribes or conservation elements to it.”

Cookson agrees that longer term social benefits are a powerful incentive for luxpeditionists. He points out that donations quickly follow adventures, whether to orphanages, the travel companies’ philanthropic foundations, or to pay for the privilege of visiting an otherwise inaccessible site.

To mark their visit to Bhutan’s Royal Manas National Park, where they search for the endangered Royal Bengal tiger and the Asian elephant, and hike new routes in the foothills of the Himalayas, Cookson’s guests have to support a local non-governmental organisation, school or conservation project – on top of the starting rate of £250,000 for 10 days.

“Bhutan’s royal family insists that groups have a sense of purpose, and make a contribution to the country,” explains Cookson.

He wants to go further. “We have plans to create a one-off, world-first eco-camp in an epic glacial location in Greenland, which is one of our destinations that we’re operating more and more in,” he says. The area is developing an international tourism industry – a new airport opened last year, and two more are on the way.

Some wealthy holiday-makers have not got the sustainability memo, though. “Some of them just don’t care,” says Mackay-Lewis. So Pelorus “projects it on to them”, adding a “planet bill” on every invoice, and a one per cent conservation levy.

Luxpeditionists have to go all in – or splash their million-dollar adventure funds elsewhere.

Lead video is courtesy of Cookson Adventures

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