25/1/2007

Wolfram – GKN’s “Man on the Mountain”

Driveline’s Wolfram Messner will be GKN’s “man on the mountain” when he joins the GKN Mission Everest team aiming to be the first to fly powered paragliders over the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

Wolfram, 33, is currently Director – Controlling, GKN Driveline Bruneck based in Bruneck in the Italian Tyrol. It is his passion for mountaineering which has seen him agree to trek with the GKN Mission Everest team into the Himalayas.

Along with team leader Bear Grylls and fellow paramotor pilot Giles Cardozo, Wolfram will work with the team at their base camp at Synangboche in the foothills of the high Himalayas as they test their equipment in readiness for a weather window. He will also handle all of the communications between the base camp and GKN.

Peter Baillie, Director Corporate Communications, said: “It was always our intention to have a GKN person become an integral part of the Mission Everest team. Wolfram has the experience and the passion to be that person and we’re delighted he has agreed to take part. This will be no picnic for him – but that’s part of the challenge which attracts him.”

Said Wolfram: “It is exciting to be part of a project which will be important to GKN during 2007 – a project which is a huge technical and human challenge. My climbing has taken me all across Europe, to South America and to China but it has always been my dream to go to the Himalayas and at the very least to stand at the foot of Everest.

“However there is another side to this Mission about which I am also enthusiastic and that is the challenge we have been set to raise $1 million to help people around the world and particularly the children of Africa. This is something I know we can do.”

Wolfram progressed from snowboarding, hiking and Alpine skiing to become a highly experienced mountaineer as he pitted himself against higher, more challenging mountains in the Dolomites, South Tyrol, Austria, Switzerland, France, Peru and China. He joined GKN in 1997 as a finance specialist with Driveline Bruneck.

View a gallery of Wolfram's photos in the photo gallery. Wolfram will be posting blogs soon. There will also be a biography appearing soon in the team section.