It was not created to package adventure, optimize performance, or sell escape. It grew out of years spent moving through hard landscapes, returning changed, and wanting to offer others access to that same transformation. At its core, Terra Venture is personal.
Charles Triponez
Founder
For as long as Charles Triponez has been moving through the mountains, he has believed that endurance can change people.
Through years of expedition racing and long-form endurance challenges, Charles experienced something rare. Not just physical fatigue or achievement, but a deep internal shift. Perspective sharpened. Ego softened. Confidence rooted itself quietly, rather than loudly. Every race left him altered in ways that extended far beyond the finish.
Terra Venture grew from a simple, persistent idea. What if that experience was not reserved for elite racers? What if it could be shared with people willing to show up, move forward, and stay present through effort?
Charles did not want to create races or tours. He wanted to create journeys that carried the same weight, depth, and personal change he had felt again and again in expedition racing. Journeys where movement mattered. Where days unfolded slowly. Where trust was built not through instruction, but through shared effort.
Terra Venture began as his long-held vision
Mary Kate Maltzan
Co-Founder of Terra Venture, bringing decades of experience in experience design, systems thinking, and leadership.
Her background spans early digital innovation, award-winning design work, and executive leadership building complex products and teams. Over time, her focus shifted from designing interfaces to designing human experiences. What stayed constant was an ability to see structure, rhythm, and emotional flow where others see only logistics.
At Terra Venture, Mary Kate shapes the experience from the inside out. She creates the conditions that allow people to feel genuinely cared for, safe enough to step beyond their comfort zone, and supported through the vulnerability that real effort requires. Her work is guided by a long-held belief that people can do far more than they think, when they feel held rather than pushed.
Her role ensures that Terra Venture expeditions are emotionally intelligent from the first interaction to the final day. The details matter. How people are welcomed. How questions are answered. How trust is built before the journey even begins. Nothing is accidental. Nothing is performative. The experience holds because it has been designed to support people as they stretch into something new.
Jen Segger
Expedition Guide and Coach
Jen Segger brings an uncommon mix of endurance coaching experience and emotional intelligence. She understands how people move through discomfort, both physically and mentally, and she knows how to support that process without controlling it.
Jen is calm under pressure. She reads a group quickly. She knows when to intervene and when to step back. Her presence helps participants feel capable rather than managed, supported rather than supervised.
People trust Jen because she trusts them first.
Juan Aristizabal
Course Director
Juan is deeply connected to the landscapes Terra Venture moves through. His knowledge of terrain, culture, and community shapes routes that feel lived-in rather than imposed.
He works closely with local families, landowners, and support teams, ensuring Terra Venture journeys move through place with respect, permission, and long-term relationships. These are not locations passed through anonymously. They are communities that welcome the expedition because of trust built over time.
Juan is the reason the experience feels real.
Roy Malone
Board Advisor
Roy was part of Terra Venture’s original founding chapter and an early creative partner in shaping the vision. His early conversations and brainstorming with Charles helped lay the groundwork for what Terra Venture has become today. He now supports the company as an advisor.
A different approach to endurance
Our expeditions are designed as complete journeys. Movement is central, but it’s not the only thing that matters. Routes are shaped not just by terrain, but by the context they create and the places they move through intentionally. Effort unfolds alongside moments of pause, interaction, and surprise that arise naturally along the way.
Not a race. Not a tour.
These are not races. There are no start lines, time clocks, or results. The work is managing your own effort, staying present, and moving forward with the group over multiple days.
At the same time, this is not adventure tourism. Experiences are not layered on afterward or staged as tourist attractions. They are encountered as part of the route itself.
Where this comes from
Terra Venture is shaped by a background in expedition and adventure racing, where team dynamics, shared responsibility, and long days in uncertain terrain create change that lasts beyond the experience itself. That influence shows up in how our journeys are designed and in how people move through them together.
How we work with place
Our routes are developed in close partnership with local teams who know these places deeply and are part of the communities that welcome us. These are not corridors we pass through anonymously. They are landscapes we’ve been invited into, shaped by collaboration, trust, and long-term relationships.
This approach allows us to move through areas that aren’t part of conventional tourist circuits, in ways that are considered, respectful, and integrated.
The container
What makes Terra Venture different is the container. The structure is intentional. Support is present but unobtrusive. The experience unfolds over time, allowing depth, trust, and shared rhythm to develop. Comfort is used deliberately, often as contrast, helping mark the transition into and out of sustained effort.
Who this is for
People arrive with different backgrounds. Some come with years of ultra or endurance experience. Others are training for their first expedition of this kind. What they share is a willingness to prepare, to move through discomfort, and to stay open to what emerges along the way.
— Megan Canfield, Terra Venture Ambassador, Ultra Running Hall of Fame inductee, age 62 speaking about her first expedition with us in Colombia
background picture is Meghan and our navigator, Jaime at the finish line in Colombia 2025
© 2026 Terra Venture
