Phil Ashby has faced down armed militias in the jungles of West Africa, polar bears on the Arctic ice and life-threatening illness at home – and walked away from each with a deeper understanding of courage, leadership and resilience. A former Royal Marines officer, Phil was deployed to Sierra Leone... Read more
Phil Ashby has faced down armed militias in the jungles of West Africa, polar bears on the Arctic ice and life-threatening illness at home – and walked away from each with a deeper understanding of courage, leadership and resilience.
A former Royal Marines officer, Phil was deployed to Sierra Leone as a UN peacekeeper during the brutal civil war. When a rebel faction turned against him and his team, he led a daring escape through the jungle – an experience that earned him the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, inspired his bestselling memoir Unscathed, and later became the focus of a TV documentary and feature film (in pre-production).
But Phil’s greatest test came not under enemy fire, but in a hospital bed back home, when injuries sustained on the mission led to sudden and total paralysis from the chest down. Told he might never walk again, Phil began a long and painful recovery. True to form, he filled the months with purpose, earning two Master’s degrees and plotting his next challenge.
That challenge came in the form of the North Pole, which Phil has skied to twice. He retrained as a civilian mountain guide, eventually earning the rare and elite IFMGA certification and founding Elite Mountain Guides. His mission today: to help others reach the summits they never thought possible, whether on a mountain or in life.
Now based in Dorset, Phil speaks around the world on resilience, adaptive leadership, and thriving under pressure. He has addressed audiences ranging from the United Nations to international businesses and charities. His story resonates with anyone facing change, uncertainty, or the limits of their own endurance.
Still driven by challenge and growth, Phil continues to guide alpine clients, volunteers with A Band of Brothers (mentoring young men emerging from the justice or care system), serves as a school governor, and recently began a new battle – against bladder cancer – with the same calm determination that’s defined his life so far.
In his spare time, he sets cryptic crosswords, skis with his wife and two daughters, and plans to DJ commercially at least once before he retires.