William is a passionate globetrotter who has traveled extensively throughout the world while visiting a total of 88 countries. His vision is to put lesser-known destinations on the map and to promote a more adventurous form of traveling. He has a degree in sports biology from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and is certified as a personal trainer by Hedmark University of Applied Sciences. When trying out new activities, or learning new sports, William always combines a theoretical approach with a practical understanding. He strongly believes that this is a key element in ensuring success.
Since 2010, William has spent more than 1000 days abroad, mostly outside of Europe, in his pursuit of the ultimate adventure. He has summited well-known peaks such as Aconcagua (6962 m) and Huyana Potosí (6088 m), in addition to many other mountains in India, Venezuela, Armenia, Peru, Georgia and Nepal. One of William’s most unique trips was when he made the first ever solo ascent of Mt. Binaiya on Seram island in East Indonesia.
In 2018, William drove more than 7000 km across the Indonesian archipelago on a motorcycle, while attempting to be the first European to complete the Indonesian 7 summits. So far, 6/7 mountains have been ascended, with only Carstensz Pyramid left on the list. At the end of the trip, after reaching the far east of Indonesia, William crossed into Papua New Guinea and completed solo ascents of the country’s two highest mountains – Mt. Giluwe (4367) and Mt. Wilhelm (4509 m).
In 2019, after making a solo ascent of Aconcagua in January, he skied across the largest lake in Kazakhstan the following month, and became the world’s first to do so. The solo expedition of 545 km took him 23 days, and was unassisted and unsupported. In 2019, he has also skied 400 km across the Northwestern Passage in Canada, cycled 3300 km across Europe and survived alone for several weeks in a far-flung jungle area in northern Sumatra.
- 2014: Huyana Potosí, Bolivia (6088 m)
- 2014: Sairecabur, Chile (6006 m)
- 2015: Mt. Azhdahak, Armenia (3597 m) – full traverse of the Geghama range
- 2017: Mont Blanc (4810 m)
- 2018: Indonesian 7 summits project – 6/7 completed
- 2018: Mt. Binaiya, Indonesia (3027 m) – first solo ascent
- 2018: Mt. Giluwe, Papua New Guinea (4367 m) – solo
- 2018: Mt. Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea (4509 m) – solo
- 2018: Makalu East Ridge, Nepal (5740 m) – solo
- 2019: Aconcagua, Argentina (6962 m) – solo
- 2019: Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan (545 km / 23 days) – world first, solo/unsupported/unassisted
- 2019: Northwestern Passage, Canada (400 km / 20 days)
- 2019: Across Europe by bicycle (3360 km / 38 days) – solo
- 2019: Sumatra: Alone in the jungle for 18 days
- 2020: Mt. Elbrus, Russia (5642 m) – solo winter ascent
- 2020: Nam Ou river, Laos (250 km) – aborted after 10 days due to Covid-19 pandemic
- 2020: Walked and paddled across Norway (670 km / 26 days)
- 2020: Cycled the length of Norway (2802 km / 28 days) – solo
William Byholt 