Tim Bowers
Lead Fitness Coach / HikeTrainMove Lead
Find me on: Instagram / LinkedIn
Outlier Ascents collaborates with HikeTrainMove, the fitness and hiking retreat business co-founded by Tim Bower, bringing together two teams built around the same idea: proper preparation makes the difference between a trip that breaks you and one that changes you.
For Tim, it comes back to a simple belief: life is better outside. The mountains are where he switches off from the modern world, and the harder moments up there put everyday life in perspective. Heights have never come naturally to him, either — it’s a battle he’s continually had to push through, and one of the things that keeps it interesting.
Before HikeTrainMove, Tim spent years working across marketing, product development and licensing for major global sports brands, living in Shanghai, Seoul and Mexico City along the way. Ask him for his most epic experience and he points to summiting Kilimanjaro alongside Ben and one of their long-term PT clients, a 64-year-old for whom the mountain had always been a bucket-list goal.
Life these days revolves around fitness and the outdoors: three days a week as a PT in a small Mayfair studio, and the rest as co-founder of HikeTrainMove, organising everything from international hiking retreats to local gym workshops.
“Life is better outside. Being regularly exposed to genuine risk has shown me how comfortable my everyday life really is — it reminds me not to be too affected by the small, day-to-day inconveniences.”
Getting to know Aaron…
Why the mountains?
Life is better outside.
The mountains are where I feel I can switch off from the modern world and spend time on my own in nature.
The more challenging moments in the mountains have a calming effect on my daily life. Being regularly exposed to genuine risk has shown me how comfortable my everyday life really is, and reminds me not to be too affected by the small day-to-day inconveniences.
What’s the biggest challenge you face with the mountains?
I’ve never been a natural with heights. I’ve had to continually push myself outside my comfort zone to become more and more comfortable with exposure.
It’s something I’ll probably always have to work on, but that’s part of what keeps it interesting. The battle never really ends!
What does life outside of Outlier Ascents and Hike Train Move look like for you?
Life very much revolves around fitness and the outdoors at the moment.
I work as a PT in a small studio in Mayfair three days a week, and I’m also co-founder of HikeTrainMove, a fitness and hiking retreat business. That means organising everything from international hiking retreats to local gym workshops.
Between the two, it takes up most of my time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What’s your most epic experience to date?
Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro alongside Ben and one of our long-term PT clients was incredibly special. Our client was 64 at the time, and Kilimanjaro had always been on his bucket list. To be there with him at the summit, after sharing all the ups and downs along the way, is something I’ll never forget.
In my younger days, I also did a number of solo hikes while travelling through Central and South America. One that really stands out was a 35km round-trip hike to Laguna de Otún in Los Nevados, Colombia.
I didn’t see another hiker on the trail and ended up staying at a local farm in a valley surrounded by waterfalls. It was one of those experiences that felt completely removed from normal life, and I still think about it regularly.
