Created as a way to use sport and community to help wounded, injured or sick military veterans heal physically and psychologically, the Invictus Games arrived in Whistler and Vancouver in February 2025.
Founded by Prince Harry in 2014, this 10th anniversary edition of the Games saw 550 competitors from up to 25 nations competing in eleven sports including snowboarding, skeleton, alpine and XC skiing, curling, wheelchair basketball, swimming and more.
While joining Invictus Games leadership team (and Prince Harry) at an après ski event hosted by Kevin Yeung, CEO of Audécious, a born-in-Whistler company making pesticide-free, organic vodka. Mountain Life editor Feet Banks was able to speak to former competitor and mountaineer David Wiseman, who now acts as International Development director for the Invictus foundation.
A soldier who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest while serving in Afghanistan, “Wisey” says he remembers waking up in the hospital back home in the UK with his wife and new child at his side.
“I felt very lucky to still be here and to be healing, but there were mental hurdles to get over as well.”
He says a key moment in his healing journey was when some ex-servicemen who had also been injured in the line of duty visited him and shared their plan to trek to the north pole.
“The leader had also been shot in the chest, and his partners had also been injured—one guy had lost an arm and the other had lost a leg. They set up a laptop so I could follow along from the hospital bed as they walked to the North Pole. It was amazing. When they returned, I said, ‘you’re all mad. And whatever you do next, I’m in!’”
That turned out to be an ascent of the highest mountain in Italy followed by an expedition to summit Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest mountain. When the Invictus Games started in 2014, Wisey competed as a swimmer. He has since won 14 Invictus medals.
“My army career had defined me,” Wisey says. “After the injury I began to define myself in the past, and in the negative—an ex-soldier, a broken soldier. Through sport I found something I could be proud of in the present, and something I could define myself by. I’m an athlete, a mountaineer.”
Kevin Yeung, CEO of Audécious (and father of Mountain Life- featured ski racer/philanthropist Bear Yeung) says hosting the Invictus team for après was an easy decision to make in a town where sport plays such a huge role.
“Après is such a special part of Whistler and ski culture,” Kevin says, “so I really wanted them to experience it. The Invictus athletes are so inspiring. To see them walking around Whistler so happy and excited to be part of these games. You can see some of their wounds and injuries, but like Wisey says, so much of it is invisible and inside, and seeing the power of sport and community to help heal that…it’s incredible.”
With Audécious, Kevin and his team are leading their own charge against a different type of invisible threat— the use of pesticides in agriculture, particularly in the Spirits industry.
“There are an estimated 385 million cases of unintentional pesticide poisoning ever year,” Kevin says. “These chemicals are affecting farm workers, communities, local wildlife species, and the end consumer. Using 100% pesticide-free ingredients, here at Audécious we want to show the world a better way is not only possible, but it tastes better too. Being able to connect with the Invictus team is not only inspiring, we are learning from them as well.”
Good deeds inspire good deeds. And community and resilience are contagious. Whether it’s pushing back against a public health crisis, helping those who put their lives on the line for our freedoms, or collecting toys and tablets for the kids in BC Children’s Hospital, the more we think of others the better a world we can build.
The Invictus Games happen every two years but the Invictus Games Foundation is working to support wounded injured and sick servicemen and women 365 days a year and they are always in need of donations and partnerships. For more info on Audécious and their fight against agrictultural pesticides check out their website.
