Will attended Wellington College, where he won a Royal Naval Flying Scholarship, and then won an Exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read history.
He had a career in the city as a banker (Phillips and Drew, Lehman Brothers, Credit Lyonnais, Bear Stearns, WH Ireland) and stockbroker before he saw the light and came to live in Chamonix. He was chairman of Venture Challenge Group, which ran extreme expedition races, such as Polar Challenge. Will is an accomplished climber and skier and has been climbing with Phil Ashby in Europe, the UK and South America for the last fifteen years. He is also a keen windsurfer, kitesurfer, horse rider, tennis player and a qualified aerobatic pilot.