Corporate history

After many years of private kayaking, climbing and traveling, the young boss Thomas Waibel earned his first spurs before he came of age, learned a lot about group dynamics at the first outdoor company in the Allgäu. After his passion for outdoor sports had only been practiced privately, Thomas now started his first professional training. At that time still at the CEC (Commission Europenne de Canyon), Thomas completed the first recognized canyoning training worldwide after many in-house training courses. Today Thomas is chairman / president of the canyoning training association which meanwhile bears the name CIC (Commission Internationale de Canyon eV).

Two years of learning, practicing and experiencing lead to a firm conviction and passion to continue this profession as a vocation. Thomas uses the rest of the time to gain deeper experience in various outdoor sports, such as canyoning, rafting, kayaking, cave tours and survial, skiing and telemarking. Through his work in various outdoor and team training companies, he was able to build up extensive know-how in the field of coaching and training

Further training over the next few years, such as the state-certified ski instructor, telemark instructor and private location checks throughout Europe, led Thomas to his idea of purelements®.

Thomas spent the winter in Colorado in the USA to deepen his English skills and to gain teaching experience abroad. There he taught, for example, as a volunteer at a weekly Telemark Ski Clinic.

Eight years of outdoor business, many company philosophies and the urge to do something of your own led to the basic idea of purelements®, which at that time was a fundamental conviction: “He wanted to do it better!” But what is better? From today’s perspective, better for us is different, more authentic, more honest. Back then, he set values that have remained with us to this day

Our name came about because he wanted to take our guests with him into a pure, non-faked outdoor world. Our participants and guests should really feel the elements. As the first company in the Allgäu, he defined the safety standards for canyoning that are still valid today. Our canyoning tours were a fundamental building block back then and they are still our most popular business area today. The idea was to take our participants with us to really experience them, away from consumption to actual experience. This conviction also accompanies us to this day.

Another part of the idea was to offer all outdoor tours, especially canyoning tours, at different locations in order to give the guest the opportunity to always go with the same guide, as a friendly and collegial relationship is very important to us in our guide activity. We repeatedly push our guests to their personal physical and psychological performance limits, so it is important and for us a necessity that we know our guests well.

We simply said: “Why should ten guests always come to the guide when the guide can also come to the guests?” Thus, there is the possibility to look after the participants together in the most beautiful gorges for many years.

Right in the middle instead of just being there, quality and conviction were important guiding principles of this idea.

With our private guides, this is still possible today.

As a non-location-based company, we have always been pushed into the far, wide world. After a few location checks, the “Legendary Canyonin Camp Ticino” was born in 2009, we were able to inspire our participants and since then we have been constantly expanding the travel program with our travel division. Only two years after going on the market under its own direction, the first cornerstone could be realized.

purelements® developed rapidly. The trips and tours are named, which is why it became more and more difficult for Thomas in the office to prepare offers in good time in the quality that he demands from purelements® and to cope with everyday life in the office. It was by a happy coincidence that our Heidi, after working on the basic idea of purelements® in 2007, completed her studies and after some time moved back to the Allgäu as a manager in a hotel in Munich and moved from Thomas to the office Management could be won. Heidi is no longer working for us. She is currently dedicated to the next generation.

During the initial phase from 2001 to 2007, Thomas always lived the winter as a ski instructor with his passion to teach others something. In 2007 he finished his training as a state-certified ski instructor and in the same year took over the management of a large ski school in Oberstdorf. After six years of management activity in winter, Thomas finally decided to be there for purelements® guests all year round and expanded purelements® in the winter division to include the private ski school in the Allgäu.

Registered and registered – it’s official, purelements is a protected word mark – Europe-wide!

Our name was created by Thomas and close friends as a new word and in the course of the quality requirements we have officially secured the rights to this word mark.

Unique!

Authenticity, honesty and purism are the new values, but they are not that new at all. They are just clearer, more sharply defined and the company-wide mission statement is reduced and defined.

The trips are increasing, new business areas were waiting for us, after two years of intensive background work we now focused on the business areas summer and winter with day events and our extended travel area travel.

In spring 2014 we decided to implement another goal of Thomas. With the expansion of the business areas, especially as a tour operator, the goal was born years ago to grow and to change the name from the sole proprietorship to a GmbH & Co. KG. This underlines our passion and the quality standards we have for ourselves.

In these two years the company was able to grow, employ more people and discover new destinations. The first individually organized trips for the customer could be realized, for example mountain biking in Cappadocia / Turkey and the trip “Natural Portugal” was carried out for the first time.

Owner Thomas has always dreamed of a location in Ticino, Switzerland. Up to this point in time, purelements had already carried out many trips, short trips and canyoning camps there. Due to its numerous and world-