For the past 12 years, Dave Williams has called Raglan home.
An educator by trade, Dave began his career in secondary education before transitioning into tertiary teaching, where he now lectures in the Bachelor of Sport Science programme at Wintec. During a sabbatical, he also served as Head of Physical Education at Raglan Area School for a year before heading back to Wintec again, which allows him a little more flexibility to be present with his young family during these precious early years. Beyond the classroom Dave is also an accomplished extreme adventurer and high-altitude mountaineer, taking on some of the world’s most demanding challenges.
In 2013, Dave set himself the extraordinary goal of becoming the first person to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents at pace, completing each journey from sea level to summit. Known as the Seven Summits challenge, this involves climbing the highest mountain on each continent and in doing so pushing the limits of endurance, resilience and mental strength.
So far, Dave has successfully completed four of the seven climbs across Africa, Europe, South America and Australia, with three peaks still remaining – including the ultimate challenge of Mount Everest.
The next stage of his journey will be one of his greatest tests yet, with the Everest expedition expected to involve running the equivalent of 32 marathons before beginning almost 60 days of climbing in one of the world’s harshest environments.
At times during his Seven Summits journey, Dave has pushed his body and mind to extraordinary limits, including running the equivalent of 10 marathons in nine days before beginning demanding mountain ascents. For Dave, his mental health is at an all time high when on these adventures because he has a strong purpose and drive. Of course there are hard days and low days in the mix but the epic days can only be described as a runners high. That cocktail of pride, euphoria and vulnerability is what it is all about. The biggest struggle is actually navigating post-expedition blues, coming back home to everyday life and routine after such emotional extremes and adventure. For this reason Dave considers allowing some decompression time after such missions as key to being able to adjust back into everyday life well.
But for Dave, the mountains are about much more than personal achievement. Every kilometre travelled, every mountain climbed and every challenge overcome is connected to a bigger purpose: creating conversations, reducing stigma and helping people understand that they do not have to face their own struggles alone.
In 2013, Dave lost two close friends to depression. Their deaths inspired him to use his adventures as a platform to raise awareness of men’s mental health and support people experiencing mental health struggles.
Dave’s mission is to raise $100,000 for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, helping support the vital work of providing education, resources and support for people across Aotearoa.
Currently this Sea to Summit mission is on hold as Dave and his wife grow their young family. Dave has also embarked on the challenge of completing his Doctorate, to promote how students can display their intelligence more practically in assessments, to better prepare them for life after study, and to help combat AI saturated assignments. Once Dave’s youngest child heads off to school, and his current study is complete, he will cast his eyes back towards adventuring, as it requires a guilt free 100% commitment.
You can listen to more detail about Dave’s Sea to Summit challenge on the Between Two Beers podcast (found on Spotify), where he discusses failure, near-death experiences, surviving 100km-per-hour winds, a confronting gunpoint situation, as well as conquering ego, recognising that true strength is not about doing everything alone, and having the courage to ask for help.
www.betweentwobeerspodcast.com
