Matt Traver began his adventurous career pursuing first ascents and reconnaissance trips to alpine peaks along the Kyrgyz-Chinese border, the Tajik-Afghan border, Arctic East Greenland, the Malaysian jungle and exploratory first descents of caves in Austria, China and Spain.

 

After returning from Mongolia in the winter of 2012, Matt’s focus turned towards creating visual content and stories. His largest project to date is ‘Tales from the Steppe’,  a five part film collection on Central Asia which he produced, directed and edited. Over six months he journeyed across Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia to create five independent documentary films which have since screened in film festivals in the USA, UK, France, Australia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Italy and the Czech Republic. As well as receiving an award for the ‘Best Environmental Documentary’ at the Mountain Film Festival 2015 for his film ‘A Portrait of Orozbek’, he and his colleague (Jamie Maddison) also received an award at the House of Commons for ‘Furthering British-Kazakh Relations’ on behalf of the British-Kazakh Society for a 1100km horseback journey across Eastern Kazakhstan to commemorate the centenary of the much-overlooked Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Charles Howard-Bury’s own travels in the area a century before.

 

His most recent projects include a short film which he directed on ski-mountaineering on Mt. Damavand, Iran commissioned by BMC TV, Trek and Mountain Magazine and Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports. His film ‘The Steppe of Misfortune’ was broadcast on Wild Spirits TV and he is currently in the post-production phase of ‘Crossing Siberia’, which is a web series exploring life from within the world’s largest expanse of wilderness.​

 

In addition to collaborating with forty-five different companies and organisations to realise his projects, he is an Associate Member of the Long Riders’ Guild and is an Ambassadfor for Ripcord Travel Insurance. He is also co-founder of The Adventure Fund grant scheme which, in association with Sidetracked magazine, has provided annual grants for innovative adventures since 2013. He also works as the Expeditions and Trekking Manager for Untamed Borders, which specialises in trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other more offbeat destinations.

 

In addition to film, photography and general content production work, Matthew has also completed a range of expeditions and adventurous trips/projects ranging from a 1100km crossing of Eastern Kazakhstan on horseback; first ascents in the jungles of Malaysia, East Greenland and Kyrgyzstan; various crossings on foot and by ski through the Sierra Nevada, Albania and Montenegro; 750km by river through Siberia’s Republic of Tuva; a ski ascent of Iran’s Mt. Damavand and more.