Phil Wickens

Phil studied biology at Imperial College in London, England. After completing his PhD in plant pathology, he spent two winters and three summers as a field guide for the British Antarctic Survey, working on several major geology projects deep in the heart of Antarctica.

As a keen climber and ski mountaineer, Phil has led numerous climbing and skiing expeditions to remote, often unknown and unclimbed mountains, is a former vice-president of the Alpine Club and a founder of the Polar Tourism Guides Association. He has led numerous successful commercial and private mountaineering and ski mountaineering expeditions to Antarctica, Greenland and Svalbard, and his prolific explorations have led him to climb over 120 Antarctic mountains, including almost fifty that were previously unclimbed. In February 2019, he completed the first ski traverse along the central, and narrowest, sections of the Antarctic Peninsula.

When not conducting his own adventures, Phil is a freelance expedition leader and guide, and lectures about the history of exploration and the geology of the Polar Regions. He is also an accomplished photographer, has a passion for sea kayaking, mountain biking and cooking. He enjoys introducing people to the places that he loves, helping ordinary people to achieve the extraordinary. And he wants his epitaph to be “Why follow footprints when you can make you own”.