Born and raised on the south coast of England, near a town called Lewes, Scotty spent the majority of his youth breaking arms as a result ill-fated attempts to climb trees and build go-karts. Both his parents were highly active, his mother water-skied with him in South Africa, whilst his father was a full-time tennis player and later, coach. At the age of 11 Sears decided to take up tennis seriously, and follow in his ‘old-man’s’ footsteps.
After 5 years on the international circuit and 5 years ‘sofa-surfing’, he headed to the USA on a tennis scholarship to Boise State University, Idaho. It was during his time there that his passion for the outdoors developed, with the Pacific Northwest of America becoming his playground. He began Mountaineering with the American Alpine Institute when his tennis commitments allowed.
Following a childhood calling, he decided to leave the life of tennis and join the army. However, due to a lack of UCAS points, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst refused to allow him to attend. Adamant to not take no for an answer, Sears set an alarm for 11:00am every morning, and phoned the review office between lectures at the University of Sussex, where he was completing his GD in Law, to make up the UCAS points. After 7 months, and a total of 11 official rejection letters, they finally decided to let him attend and he was commissioned into the Royal Gurkha Rifles in December 2015. Two years later, he decided to walk to the South Pole in an attempt to be the youngest person ever to do so alone, unsupported and unassisted. Sears claims his mother, was not amused…
