What is the TROPEAKS Project
I am Alex but you can call me Tropicalex I am from Belgium, a country known for it massive mountain . I decided to embark on the craziest challenge of my life : Be the first person to summit the highest peak of each country of our planet. 197 summits across the globe , putain c’est beaucoup fieu !
I’ve already started this year I climbed 16 summits yet in Congo , Morocco , Uganda , Andorra, Spain, Slovenia or even here in Belgium with its astonishing 694m. Signal the Botrange ! There will be massive peaks in the Alps , the Andes , the Himalayas but also some 200m high huuuuge mountain 😂 or not so high mountains but super difficult to reach in some country difficult to go to like Syria , North Korea , Turkmenistan
PHASE 1 : CROSSING THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
In October , I will be leaving my home country to start for real this challenge. My first step will be some summits in South America such as the Aconcagua and its almost 7000m. I will go there hitchhiking and I will cross the Atlantic Ocean on sailing boat after South America I should be heading to Oceania once again hitchhiking on a sailing boat crossing the pacific. I am trying to reduce as much as i can my carbon footprint, the idea is not to fly around everywhere all the time although it would be a lie to say i will never take it anymore.
I don’t how long this project will take , it doesn’t really matter.
UPDATE JANUARY 2025 :
I crossed the Atlantic Ocean successfully from Europe until Brazil. I spent 45 days on the sailing boat i sailed with until South America.
It has been now a month I am in South America and I reached the summit of Paraguay and Uruguay. I am currently in Mendoza, Argentina to attack the Aconcagua, highest peak of South America with its 6962m.
WHAT IS THE GOAL ?
I want to see the world from above , to see how the world is in all environments and how much it changes , how much we affect it and I want push my limits and inspire to do so, people I know or people from every country i will meet during this journey.
To complete an enormous challenge and adventure, break some records under the Belgian and Carolo ( Charleroi city) flags MANNEKE ! 🇧🇪🦓
I am still trying to find ways to make this project useful in different fields such as environment, sciences, human development and health, world heritage, etc. This is not at all only about mountains. It is also about going everywhere in the world and put the lights on specific situations, places and people. For that, i am open to any idea to become an ambassador of any project you may have and that has a great purpose.
I would like to develop a project that would be called : "MOUNT'AIN'T NO DUMP" that would deal with the garbage issue that we encounter in the nature and in the mountain. I could notice this horrible statement as a I was going up mountains, no matter where I was in the world, wome countries being really worse than others concerning that topic. I would want to raise awareness across the Globe regarding the situation and try to bring a vision and a proposition to people from every country on our planet. I'd like to set up a kind of international team, a community around this project that would take care of cleaning up the mountains around the world of plastic and other waste and then put this plastic to good use.
I'm still thinking and gradually trying to find the best way to create this project in the years to come.
I want to understand and visit the limits of human body and mind through determination and dedication.
Have fun, learn from everywhere and everything in the world and live my life at its fullest hoping to inspire people to do so in a world that is often grey.
PARTICIPATE TO THE ADVENTURE !
For this project I will need your help , what you can first do is to follow and share a maximum this video and the ones of this journey! I am also trying to find some sponsor and partners to accompany me on this massive adventure , so If you want to reach all the summits of our planet and plant your banner on top with me i would be super honored
Another thing is that i will try to make this project a common project and involve everyone that wants into the adventure. I will organize several Expeditions, Missions and challenges through my travel company TROPICALEX. You will be able to join and ascent some summits with me, of course always in an original way so it is not only just climbing peaks all the time hehe !
The goal of that is to bring you guys into this adventure and out of the comfort zone feeling to open up your eyes on your own capacities and needs in life. You are capable of so much more of what you think and I can guarantee you that the expeditions with TROPICALEX.EU plant the seeds of your greatest life you didn't even think about before.
You can also support the project through donations via : (wait fieu i still have to set this up 😂 )...
Ciaooo amigos and see you soon on top of the world !
The Peak Bagging Map
UPDATE : 16/197 summits
by clicking on the on the different mountains buttons you'll see a picture and some infos about the different mountains. You'll also find little stories and informations on the summits i have climbed !
Legend :
Gold : 7 summits Volcano Gold : Volcanic 7 summits
Green : Country highpoints done
Orange : Still have to climb that baby
Purple : Extra cool mountains to climb or visit
Red : Have to start again
CONTENDERS
Long story short. The idea of visiting every country in the world rose into my head since i was a 5 years old kid as i was spending most of my time in Atlas, maps and geographic encyclopedias. My free time consisted of learning every capitals, countries, cities, rivers, mountains and flags of the world, together with being outside with what Belgium could offer me. As i grew up my thirst of discovering the world, adventure and sports developed too.
My main sport was rugby, i was lucky to be able to reach quite a good level, reaching the national teams in Rugby 15 and 7's of Belgium. I even played in 1st division of Spain at FC Barcelona 😂. Although i loved the game, one of my favorite part was to test how long and far i could stay in the red zone during the effort. I loved the physical tests during our trainings and be the first at them : V02 max, WOD, HIITs. Then I started to develop real interest towards adventure sports. My first love was skiing, then i enjoyed more and more being outside and trekking and sort of trailing even if with my rugbyman body i am not the skinniest mountain goats flying over the ridges effortlessly. As i was growing up i started testing and wanting to get into 4 main sports that for me could unlock a huge potential in their ability to discover the world : Skydiving for which I passed my AFF licence, Scuba diving for which I passed my PADI OW and Advanced until now, Sailing and Alpinism. I am not at all good yet at any of these sports but the goal is to learn and become better and better.
The interest for the mountains was always there. Since i am kid i had the dream to become an adventurer, discover the planet ant its secrets, do the 7 summits and Adventurer Grand Slam to testify it alongside other adventure challenge in all kind of environments and countries. I always already enjoyed going to the top of things or places i would visit without already having this purpose clear in my mind.
BUT, i wanted to find a real project that had never been done before. One day, I ended up at the 3 borders point between Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. There was standing gently a milestone saying : Vaalserberg 322m, highest point of The Netherlands. At this very specific moment the idea of the TROPEAKS Project was born. BECOMING THE FIRST PERSON EVER TO SUMMIT EVERY COUNTRIES' HIGHEST POINT. The first thing I did when I got home was to do some research about it and its feasibility. And there i had it. No one ever achieved this before and surprisingly it was not at all in the mind of a lot of people although these kind of projects have been booming lately : Visit every country in the world, run a marathon in every country, the 7 summits, the 8000ers, etc. All of these projects are being chased more and more.
I love this project because it leaves so much place for fun, adventure, creativity and freedom. I like the idea of being on top of everything and having a 360° view on the world at a giver point and use this as a metaphor for beautiful messages. I also enjoy the humour part of the project with some really not impressive summits soundtracked by a broken flute but i will always try to make every summit interesting and entertaining in some way !
Doing my research 2 names often came up with the same interest than me in completing this life quest. Let me present them to you. These 2 guys have many records and successes achieved.
WHO TO BEAT ?
GINGE FULLEN
This guy had climbed 174 summits so far and has the record of countries' highpoints climbed. Unfortunately from what i read he had to stop the project for health conditions. I don't know if he will be able to pursue it !
There is a really interesting article about him and his journey so if you feel like knowing more : THE ARTICLE
WHO TO FEAR ?
THE GILBERTSON BROTHER, especially ERIC (left)
Eric Gilbertson has climbed 143 summits already and he is only 38 years old. Eric and his brother are MIT graduated in mechanical engineering and completed all sorts of peak bagging challenge, this one being the graal. Eric also measures carefully the altitude of the summits he reaches with the right material to collect data and also find the true highest point of some countries with several contenders that compete within few meters sometimes. They made first ascents of countries highpoint as well.
Here is his WIKIPEDIA PAGE and also the link to their WEBSITE that i found out recently and is following their project.