On the 12th May 2011 I reached the summit of Mt Everest and stood on top of the world!...
I believe I was born on a lucky and brilliant day because I’m a naturally happy and very positive person. However, on that day I also believe someone decided to have a laugh and remove the part of my brain that says, ‘You mustn’t do that; it’s impossible!’
From a young age, I was leaping from trees and swinging out of the barn on the farm in which I grew up. Fear didn’t make an appearance in my life until I was three years old when I was attacked by a cockerel; I’ve been scared of birds ever since but I’ve always had an insatiable appetite for adventure.
For many years my plan was simple: I was going to be a farmer and leave school when I was 16. Things don’t always work out as you think they might, though and when I was 12 one of my teachers suggested that if I applied myself, I’d have more academic potential than I realised. So I did and I did. I completed my GCES’s, A-levels & Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and, embracing my love for sport and the outdoors, set off into the unknown.
At 18 I found myself deep in the heart of the French Alps and every morning, as I saw Mt Blanc from my bedroom window, I had no clue that this mountain would come to represent the beginning of one of my greatest passions – big mountain climbing!
a few years of travel, work and a moderate amount of sport, I got involved with endurance adventure racing with a group of friends. It was with those same friends that I climbed my first big mountain in South America. It was 2004 and they were off to climb Aconcagua in Argentina. At 6,975m, it’s the highest peak in the western hemisphere so naturally I wanted to attempt to climb it. It seemed perfectly reasonable that lack of experience could be made up for by the right team, good fitness and a massive dose of the right mental attitude. That mountain led to more mountains and in 2008, I climbed Cho Oyu, which is just 600m lower than Everest. I took my bum board with me on this mountain and became the World’s highest ever bum boarder! Climbing Cho Oyu It made me think that maybe Everest wasn’t out of the question…
As well as climbing mountains I’m a keen skier and snowboarder, paraglider and motorbike rider. In an effort to combine three of the four, last year I hatched a plan to ride a motorbike down to the south of France, climb Mt Blanc and fly from the summit. I managed it and only afterwards discovered that I was the first British woman to fly from the top.
Flying hasn’t been the only method I’ve used to get down from mountains; my first descent was made on foot then after that my snowboard and bum board were very effective and amusing alternatives.
These are some of the things I’ve done and, while I don’t want to be too deep here, I’d like to tell you some other things about myself:
Through my experiences, adventures, work and travels I’ve been lucky enough to meet some amazing people and have a wonderful time. I’m sure it’s down to my family that I developed the confidence to say, ‘yes!’ to opportunities and I think, ‘why not?’, when I suspect other people would think, ‘definitely not!’. My motivation to do things is generally born out of wanting to have a lovely time and a laugh wherever possible, to make a difference and turn possibilities into reality. My aim here isn’t to encourage people to do what I do - unless of course they want to. What I hope I can achieve through sharing my adventures and experiences is entertainment and, more importantly, to send a message to people that whatever your dream or goal or plan is, whether ridiculously big or so small it seems insignificant, it really is worth going for it. The journey there might lead to something quite different and the end result may not be what you envisaged BUT there’s really nothing quite like that feeling of energy, spirit and life that runs through every part in your body when you take action.