Adrenaline Junky?

Pictured in December 2005's issue of National Geographic Adventure, Will Gadd (above), in his infamous Red Bull helmet, clings to the side of an iceberg like
a fly on a wall. Only this wall is 10 miles off Canada's frigid Labrador coast and floats above near-freezing water that's so clear it looks tropical. For Gadd, this was a vacation from his landlocked endeavors. Adrenaline junkies are what he and other outdoor extremists are often called. Continually hunting down the sheerest cliff faces, the most volatile rapids, and the furthest distances in the air is what they do. They risk their lives for the thrill of defying mother nature's barriers. It is their way of life.

Gadd, 39, of Alberta, Canada, is the epitome of adrenaline addicts. But Gadd is not an adrenaline junky. "When people throw labels on me it's a label thatworks for them. I don't work on adrenaline or fear," Gadd said in a telephone interview. "I don't wakeup in the morning and say how am I going to kill myself." The wiry, but sculpted, 5 -11 adventurer is addicted to turning life's potential energy into kinetic energy. "My most rewarding challenge is figuring out how to make this life work. It's not perfect, but it's my life and I like it," Gadd said. "If I was looking for adrenaline or fear I could just skip these convoluted steps and play in traffic." But most people would argue that the steps he takes to fly over the Grand Canyon or open the hardest mixed ice climbing route in the world or make the first kayak descent in a raging river are a few steps too many. This is what he gave up a six-figure, shirt-and-tie office job for.

"When I was about 29 I was working in Boulder, Colo., as a yuppie position. When I turned 30 I realized I didn't want to be 40 and doing the same thing," Gadd said. He returned to his roots after leaving the publishing company he worked for. His parents introduced him to mountain climbing when his mother was
pregnant with him. "They were climbers and got me started at a ridiculously early age," Gadd said. Gadd's introduction to on-the-edge hobbies as a kid made him more apt for making a career out of thrill-seeking. According to Lester Keller, the sports psychology coordinator for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, a person's upbringing has a significant impact on them having the itch for thrills later in life. "I'm sure there's a genetic component to it," Keller said. "The whole
nature versus nurture balance has something to do with it." As a child, Gadd began to create an adventure resume that would eventually make Lewis and Clark's look amateurish.

At 3 years old, he was skiing. At 12, he was scaling frozen waterfalls. In high school he was competing in cross-country ski races. Soon after he left the office at 30 he was winning every major ice climbing competition, including the first Ice World Cup in 2000. In 2002, he set the paragliding world record for distance at 263 miles over Texas. "There's always about 10 things that go into a hopper and I try to shake them out and do one or two big things a year," Gadd said. And what does he do to stay fit for all of this action? He goes to the playground. "I spend a lot of time on children's monkey bars. It's the ultimate tool," Gadd said. "Kids usually look at me 'like you don't belong here.'"When he isn't dominating monkey bars or the landscape he's an understated one-man band.

He writes for Outside magazine, records and produces his own films and, oh yeah, is a stuntman. "He's a really hyper, busy guy, but a lot of fun to talk to and well accomplished," Super Fly Inc. paragliding teammate and longtime friend Jeffrey Farrell said. Trying to pin Gadd down to a single occupation is like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. His go-getter but serious demeanor has made him successful across occupations. He works harder now and doesn't make as much money as his old job he says, but that is not an issue or the Red Bull-sponsored adventure fiend. "If I can make a little money and enjoy life, that's all I need," Gadd said. Red Bull pays for his competition expenses. He makes money on his climbing guide book that's published in several languages, an award-winning Banff film, stunt work and lecturing. The soon-to-be 40-year-old has a brazen outlook on how life could be if he always worried.

"If your whole life was to try and stay alive we'd all be riding buses and having other people drive our cars, and eat All Bran," Gadd laughs. He says that his most life-threatening experiences, however, have not been while climbing or flying. His closest calls have been while riding his motorcycle or in a car. He recently had a brush with death while riding in a car on a mountainside road in Norway. "I was in Norway a few weeks ago and a guy came around the corner in a
truck and about f****** killed us," Gadd said. It's when he is flying more than 20,000 feet in the air for 10 hours with an oxygen mask or climbing brittle icebergs offshore when things can go disastrously wrong. The paraglide lines could become entangled or a climbing rope could be defected and snap. "I think anyone that doesn't worry about dying in these sports is an idiot. It's a powerful emotion we have. It's a tool in our lives to help us stay alive," Gadd said.

When Gadd takes on the seemingly impossible he takes all of the precautionary measures unlike some true adrenaline junkies that dive into risky situations blindly. "You have a lot of people that are meticulous with detail and then you have people that are like let 'em rip and see what happens," Keller said. "It's noticeably remarkable of the differences of these people (extreme athletes) rather than the similarities."There are no official numbers on extreme athletes, but experts

in the equipment industry estimate that the numbers in the United States are rising to the tens of thousands. Gadd likes to see what happens next by being thoroughly prepared. His next feat is to tackle is the world altitude record by paraglider. The current record is set at 4470 meters by British pilot Rob
Whittal in 1993.At more than 60 years old, Gadd's father still climbs regularly and gives him hope for being able to cruise into the next couple of decades with the same lifestyle. "My dad is in his early sixties now and he's still climbing. I look at them and think if they can do it I hope that I can too," Gadd said.
"Hopefully, I'll do it then for the rest of my life."