UTTARAPRADESH: At 23, when most young professionals settle into the predictability of salaried careers, Vijay Pratap Singh walked away from a secure banking job. Driven by a passion for mountains, he decided to place India firmly on the global trekking map.
Now in his early thirties, Vijay is the founder of AdvenThrill, an adventure travel company built around curated trekking experiences and outdoor learning programmes. “AdvenThrill organises treks for college students, working professionals, or anyone interested, along with a few learning- based activities,” he explains.
Vijay’s journey began in a small village in Bulandshahr district of western Uttar Pradesh, where he studied in a Hindi-medium school until Class VIII. In 2005, he moved to Dehradun for further education, a shift that would prove transformative.
Surrounded by the Garhwal hills, he found himself drawn to nature. By his own admission, an average student, he spent much of his time exploring the wilderness, nurturing a connection with the mountains that would later define his life.
After graduating in information technology from Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University in 2012, Vijay secured a job at HCL in Hyderabad. However, adapting to a new culture, food, and language proved challenging. During this time, nature became his refuge.
Weekends were spent escaping into forests. Seeking to strengthen his professional credentials, Vijay enrolled in a master’s programme in international business at Chandigarh University. During his final year, he worked with a leading bank in Pune, gaining first-hand exposure to business strategy and client management.
Yet, despite a promising corporate trajectory, his passion for mountains remained undiminished. Eventually, that passion led him to make a decisive move.
In 2016, he quit his banking job and launched AdvenThrill. He began by bui lding a website and establishing a social media presence, laying the ground work for trek bookings. Support followed from trekkers and local communities in Dehradun and beyond.
His first assignment as a trekking leader came in December 2016, when he led a group of 12 MBBS students from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi to Chopta Tungnath in winter. “It was my first time handling a group,” he says. The journey was not without setbacks.
In 2020, the pandemic brought the travel industry to a halt. “We were four years into the business, with many plans in place, but everything paused,” he says. Refusing to remain idle, Vijay pivoted to organising virtual marathons.
The initiative helped maintain engagement. Over the past eight years, AdvenThrill has organised treks across Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Nepal, generating a cumulative revenue of `10 crore, including `45 lakh in 2024 alone. Vijay now aims to map unexplored routes.