Have a wish for Santa you want delivered in person to the North Pole? Seattle adventurer launches website to collect and carry children's wishes to the top of the world by ski and sled.
SEATTLE, August 11, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- It was on a cold Christmas morning amidst Antarctica's endless ice that record-setting climber and explorer Andrew Hughes imagined a future expedition while on one as he skied with his team towards the South Pole. Yet this expedition was about so much more than reaching another distant summit or extreme adventure's end…this expedition was an exploration of the wonder of wishes.
This led to the creation of Wishful Expeditions which officially launched in early August 2022. Its purpose is to be a place where children can share a wish for the world along with one of their Christmas wishes. Each wish provided will be carried to the North Pole during Andrew's planned ski expedition in April 2023. Wishes may also be selected to be read, recorded, and shared during the expedition itself on the Arctic ice or at the North Pole so that they may inspire and elevate other's holiday and hopeful spirits.
Andrew also didn't see why the holiday giving spirit had to be confined only to December, which is why Wishful Expeditions will welcome children to submit wishes year-round with one child's Christmas wish each month being selected and helped to come true.
Wishful Expeditions also aims to not only carry Christmas wishes to the North Pole, but carry children's wishes for the world as well. For from young minds can spring humorous perspectives, but also hope for the future and for the planet they will inherit. There are also plans to share these wishes on many expeditions and adventures from around the world, both before and following the North Pole adventure.
Andrew has grown up celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah and also knows that though the North Pole is where Santa's workshop is located, a wishful spirit exists within us all no matter which holidays we celebrate. This is why Wishful Expeditions will always be a forum for all to share their wishes for the world and join in these inclusive adventures and this accepting community.
Professional adventurer, explorer, and mountaineer Andrew Hughes has explored some of the most remote places on Earth and touched summits on each continent, including Everest. But through these expeditions and explorations, Andrew has become focused on something that matters more than summits - that being making meaningful impacts in the world and creating ways for people of all ages to connect and experience them.
While on Everest in Spring, 2021, Andrew created a school outreach program that allowed students from Sydney, Australia to Seattle, Washington to pose questions to him while on the expedition which he responded to with video recordings for each classroom and to each question. Andrew's hope was by providing access to this experience and sharing in this journey would bring a sense of connection and curiosity to the world that awaits all of us to explore - be it near or far - and instill the idea we are all explorers no matter who we are, where we are from, or what our age.
After finding great success with this program and finding such unique perspectives and questions coming from school talks given since returning from Everest, it felt a natural path for Andrew to provide continued opportunities to ignite interest in the outdoors and exploration. This fueled Andrew's idea born on the way to the South Pole in 2019 to create Wishful Expeditions as a place where young views on our world could be shared to inspire others through each unique wish.
Each expedition hopefully will create many more wish-filled memorable moments and opportunities where wishes for the world will be shared from magical, unique places and inspire all ages to commit to greater empathy and advocacy towards one another and to protecting our shared world, one wish at a time.
To learn more about Wishful Expeditions or to share your wishes please visit: https://www.wishfulexpeditions.com/about
About Andrew Hughes
Andrew Hughes is a high-endurance record-setting athlete and adventurer from Seattle, Washington. After facing several unexpected hardships, where the life he had constructed based on cultural ideas of success began to crumble, Andrew found a new path. This path led to the mountains where Andrew relearned to turn discomfort and challenge into growth and gratitude.
Andrew continues on a journey exploring the world and its highest mountains. He has completed the Seven Summits (highest mountains on each continent) and is set to complete the rarely realized Explorers' Grand Slam in April 2023 after the 2022 season was canceled due to the war in Ukraine – a feat just over 70 adventurers have ever achieved.
In 2020, Andrew also became the fastest and first American man and third person ever to complete the Antarctica Trifecta with his climbing partner Roxanne Vogel by consecutively Skiing the Last Degree to the South Pole and reaching the summits of Mount Vinson (the highest mountain) and Mount Sidley (the highest volcano) in Antarctica.
Andrew's expeditions have become focused on something that matters more than summits – that being making meaningful impacts in the world. Fueled by his commitment to sustainability, conservationism, and combating climate change, Andrew continues to raise awareness and funds for Human Rights Watch's work on the Environment and Human Rights.
Advocating for greater inclusivity and diversity in the outdoors is also fundamental to Andrew's view of the future the outdoors must continue to become. Additionally, breaking down social and economic barriers to provide greater access to our natural spaces and places is part of his perpetual purpose beyond the peaks.
To interview or collaborate with Andrew Hughes, please visit: http://www.andrewihughes.com
Media Contact
Andrew Hughes, Wishful Expeditions, LLC, 1 206-228-8670, [email protected]
SOURCE Wishful Expeditions, LLC
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