Home » About

About

Durban based, Sean Wisedale is the first South African to achieve the “Seven Summits”.  A unique mountaineering prize consisting of summiting the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. He is the first person from Africa and the 79th person in history to have climbed the Seven Summits.

Sean Wisdeal

Sean Wisedale

From his achievements Sean has created a very successful motivational talk, written a best-selling book and produced a series of eight broadcast documentaries. Sean also personally guides expeditions up mountains such as Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Everest Base Camp, Mt Aconcagua and Mt Kenya (please see website for more  information www.seanwisedale.com).

You can experience for yourself what makes this surfer, yachtsman, adventure specialist and international filmmaker a unique individual. Sean’s powerful motivational talk lets everyone experience the essence of high adventure and share the climax of success through his presentation. Sean turns the lessons of Mother Nature into the lessons of life. His corporate presentation shows audiences what it takes for an “ordinary individual” to stand head-and-shoulders above the rest – and why it is totally possible for you to reach the summit of your own Everest. Furthermore, a feature which is unique to Sean’s presentation, is the world-class footage which he took on every mountain.

Sean first book, “Freeze Frame” is a best selling hard cover. It covers his personal story of great adventures to the most inhospitable wildernesses on earth. Linked to the book is the first ever ‘Seven Summits’ series of eight one-hour documentaries – all on a single volume of four DVD’s.

About Sean Wisedale

Sean earned provincial colours for Surf lifesaving, at the same time developing a deep love for the ocean. In 1989 he registered at the Technikon Natal Video technology department where he graduated in 1992 with a National Diploma in Television production.

After graduating, Sean left his home on the South coast of Natal and relocated to Johannesburg to further his career in the television industry.

Since 1992, film-making has seen Sean working on M-Net’s “Carte Blanche”, local SABCTV3, Discovery and National Geographic networks and the production of many of his own adventure-related documentaries. But his fascination with mountaineering was born when he accompanied Derek Watts as a filmmaker and Cathy O’Dowd to Mount Everest.

In 1997, Sean followed Mike Horn’s traverse of South America along the Amazon River from source to mouth on a hydrospeed (a compartmentalised “boogy” board) and in 2000, he filmed “Latitude Zero” – Mike’s traverse of the globe along the Equator unmotorised. During the making of the film, Sean undertook a three-month sailing adventure to Madagascar and the mid Indian Ocean region.

The allure of the mountains combined with his spirit of adventure led to greater challenges. Sean went to Antarctica and became the first South African to climb the highest mountain on that continent – Mt Vinson. The documentary he shot ‘The Mountain of the Midnight Sun’ was an award winner and is still broadcast on the SABC.

In January 2002 Sean reached the summit of Mount Aconcagua, the highest in South America at 6959m. Then in June, he reached the summit of Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska, the highest mountain in North America at 6194m.

On the 30th May 2003, Sean reached the summit of the highest of all mountains, Mount Everest at 8850m. It was a hugely emotional and celebratory moment. The team had struggled for two months against the worst weather seen on the mountain for decades and finally succumbed to defeat. Sean’s last minute decision to take advantage of a very late weather window (and try once more) paid off and he got to the top. Preparation, perseverance, determination and a will to succeed at making a series of films of the ‘Seven Summits’ had become Sean’s trademark.

3 months later Sean went on to climb Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe in the August of 2003 and, only another 2 months thereafter, Carstensz Pyramid, the highest mountain in Australasia and then the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.

Saving the best for last, he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and reached the highest point in Africa on the 19th of February 2004.

Since 2004, Sean has guided groups to Everest Base Camp twice and to Kilimanjaro eight times.

Sean acquired a well-known racing yacht and when not climbing, rebuilt her over three years. Yacht “Kiga” has embarked on many great adventures in the Indian Ocean and around the Cape since then.

  Copyright ©2009 Sean Wisedale, All rights reserved.| Powered by WordPress| Simple Indy theme by India Fascinates