By Filipa Gaspar via SWNS
Meet the world’s most intrepid twins who fly, cycle, climb, row and walk the planet’s most extreme locations.
Ross and Hugo, 35 – known as The Turner Twins – are professional adventurers known for their pioneering expeditions and missions across the globe.
The Dartmoor in Devon-based siblings – best known for their emission free projects in land, air and sea – started their lives of daring-do when at 21 they rowed the Atlantic in just 41 days.
It was a world record as the first twins to row the ocean and were also part of the youngest ever crew to complete that challenge.
Since then they have climbed Mt Elbrus and reached the Australian pole of inaccessibility using paramotors.
They cycled 2500km across South American to reach another pole – through desert, high-altitude plateau and jungle in 45-degree heat.
The pair used bikes to ride 2.6K across North America across mountains and desserts and national parks.
In 2019 the twins successfully also reached the Iberian pole through France, the Pyrenees and Spain on electric motorcycles.
They also attempted a hike across the Greenland and Iceland wearing kit and clothing worn by early polar explorers like Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Another mission saw them take on a 10,000-miles drive from London to China in a red convertible electric sports car.
Now the fearless pair are making their final preparations to attempt a world altitude record in a tandem electric paramotor at 10,000ft (3,050m) in the French Alps.
Ross said: “There is a natural curiosity towards a set of twins.
”Being the only real twins doing the adventures that we are doing is an exciting opportunity for us to go and explore the world using new technology and science.
“The best thing about doing things together when we step back from our expeditions and adventures is being able to reminisce and enjoy the memories that we have created.
“A lot of the projects that we have done are very new to us but also very new to audiences and to the world – some of them are world records, some of them are world firsts.
“It is really rewarding when you come up with an idea about a project you then go off somewhere in the world, come back after a successful project and go ‘that was just an idea last year’ and for us each project is so different.
“We don’t like to do the same project because we think that it will probably dilute and cloud our memories of another project.
“We are proud of every single one of our expeditions whether they were 100 percent success, a 95 percent success – it is all about pushing the boundaries of what we can do and what the technology do.
“I think we will be in a situation in 20 years time when we say ‘that might be our favorite one’ but we hope that our favorite expedition is still to come.
Ross added: “We have turned it into a lifestyle and a job and we are very grateful.”
The brothers explained that their lifestyle stands from growing up with the outdoors right in their doorstep.
Hugo said: “We didn’t have social media or internet really so without those distractions we just had Dartmoor itself, Moorland and the woods.
“It is a beautiful part of the world and we made good use of it – and that is really where our camping experiences started, from lighting fires to building dens – just being boys and teenagers.”
In 2007, Hugo narrowly missed paralysis after breaking his neck in a diving accident.
In the mix of emotions that followed came a drive to follow their passion for exploration and always doing them together.
At the time of their first expedition the twins said they were ‘very green, inexperienced and naive’ but managed to raise enough money to buy a boat and for charity.
Ross said: “With such a long, life-changing trip like that left a hole of ‘what to do next?'”
In between their expeditions they do 12 week studies to compare different ‘myths’ – and to help better understand the genetic and physical make-up.
Ross explained that during these tests there is ‘a bit of rivalry’ between the twins – but not so much on their expeditions because they know they have ‘a job to do’.
He said: “We have done a high fat versus high carb, vegan versus meat, body weight training versus gym weight training – and all of them have uncovered really interesting insights into fitness trends and why people might be doing things wrong.
“The take home that we get from our expeditions and our 12 week studies is new and fresh – it has got a grounding of science and it is the two of us doing things differently.”
Since their first expedition, in 2014 the twins attempted to trek across the polar ice cap of Greenland – which was halted by Hugo’s knee injury, resulting in a helicopter evacuation.
But in 2015, the twins successfully climbed Mt Elbrus in the Caucasus mountain range.
And later on reached several of the world’s continental poles of inaccessibility – while testing technology that is helping to fight climate change.
In September 2018, the twins successfully reached the North American pole of inaccessibility using bicycles – covering a distance of 2600km.
They have used electric motorbikes and more recently have tested a yacht powered by an electric motor and hydrogen fuel cell.
Ross explained that all adventures have their own challenges, whether it is to raise funds to go on an expedition or to produce a product.
He said: “The hardest part of any project is the failure – we wouldn’t say it is failure, it is reaching a limit of a product or project or technology.
“We don’t like the word failure – it is all about finding a line in the sand for others to build off the project and you always have a plan B.”
In 2017, the twins reached one of the center points of Australia, otherwise known as the Australian pole of inaccessibility, using paramotors.
But now the twins are preparing to push aviation battery technology to the limit when they attempt to take a paraglider-style aircraft to 10,000ft (3,050m) in the French Alps.
Ross said: “[In 2017] was very ambitious for us but it certainly pushed the boundaries of paramotors could do and what we could do – it was a great success,” said Ross.
“From there we have always flown around the UK in different locations and we always wanted to scratch the itch of an electric paramotor – what can it do, what are the limitations and what can we learn.”
The aircraft – built by the British manufacturer Parajet – has been in the development stage for five months – and they are now testing it.
While practicing on Dartmoor, the twins said they were well aware that it would be very different at the French ski resort of Val d’Isere.
Ross added: “Over the last few years the battery technology and the duration of the electric paramotor has come down to a level where we think it is possible to make a project feasible that it is going to be ambitious.
“It has been an amazing journey of learning and understanding.
“We’ve flown petrol paramotors for a long time and, to get high, it’s just full throttle and you get that steady rise.
“Whereas the electric paramotor what we are finding is because there is such a huge amount of energy and a very small amount of space it heats up very quickly – so we can’t have full power until the battery runs out.
“We have to go up for 2 minutes maybe keep an eye on the temperature and the battery and then we have to level flight – which means dropping the power – and it allows the battery to cool just enough that the technology on board thinks there is more energy.
“It is going up level flight, going up level flight.”
“If we can reach an altitude above what petrol paramotors can do there is no limit to what the electric paramotor can do – it will be more about the supplementation of oxygen for the pilot.”
The Turner Twins said they hoped to complete the challenge by the end of October.
Ross added: “This is the first step hopefully on an exciting road of projects where we keep going higher and higher in the next few years.
“We will get the world record which is exciting – we just want to know how high we can go.”
He concluded: “We are enjoying our lives as much as we can. Making the most of every day and living where we enjoy which is the great outdoors – away from the cities.”
