Tori James

Born in Pembrokeshire on 3 December 1981, Tori James received her education at Ysgol Greenhill in Tenby and attended Cardiff University. Her love for adventure grew out of the Welsh wilderness and developed further via the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and British Exploring Society expeditions. She was recognized at school for her perseverance: One of her teachers once said she “never chose the easy option- if there was a harder route, Tori would take it.”

In 2007, Tori became the first woman from Wales and, at the same time, the youngest woman ever from Britain. to successfully climb Mount Everest. This feat came after several years of rigorous training, culminating in her journey to the North Pole where she joined an all-female team, the first to make this expedition from Britain. While climbing Everest, she took along a miniature Welsh flag that had been presented to her by her grandfather, stating that she “wanted to take a piece of home to the highest point on Earth.” The climb to the summit was captured in the BBC documentary ‘On Top of the World’. In addition, she cycled across New Zealand as well as taking part in many other extreme expeditions.

Her list of outstanding successes has inspired girls and women in Wales to start exploring the world around them. She has since gained popularity as a motivational speaker, writer and ambassador promoting youth programmes. She has given speeches to more than 50,000 youths in the United Kingdom, where she usually reminds her audience that she was “not the strongest or the fastest – just the most determined.”

Her involvement with institutions like the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Girlguiding Cymru have made a significant contribution to the lives of young people in Wales. Her groundbreaking accomplishments and dedication to motivating others ensure that she remains one of Wales’s most significant contemporary adventurers.