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I am now a
professional climber and have travelled the world participating in adventure
racing, and leading extreme adventure expeditions to remote locations. I am
married and our family live in a conservation village near Cape Point with
plenty of wildlife and plenty of wide open space.

I never imagined I
would get married, let alone become a Mum to a beautiful daughter. This was all
down to one fateful climb in the Swiss Alps. A friend and I set off to climb
one of the big North Faces. An unpredicted storm came in and was so intense
that we were pinned onto the side of a cliff for days with less than minimal
supplies….

Let’s just say that
friend is now my husband, and father to our daughter. I wrote a full account of
the epic in my new book, “In a High and Desperate Place,” and am really pleased
so many people have enjoyed the story. It kind of makes our suffering
worthwhile!

I am very close to
my family. Having a baby has brought us even closer together, which makes me
very happy. I enjoy being able to show my baby the beauty of our world.
 People often asked whether I would I carry on adventuring when I became a
mother. ‘Of course!’ I told them, and planned an expedition called ‘Mountains
of Hope’ It is in aid of a charity which provides care and homes for abandoned
babies, called the Door of Hope.

I decided the
‘expedition’ should be done with my daughter. So we set off together, me
climbing, scrambling and puffing my way up all the mountains from Cape Point to
Table Mountain with baby Rosemary strapped to
my back. So far we have climbed numerous mountains together and raised over R80
000 in donations and support for The Door of Hope.

I love the fact that
rock climbing, and exploring leads you to remote and beautiful natural
locations that require you to be skilled in your sport to get there. You get to
have a view of the world that very few are able to enjoy.

In my capacity as a
public speaker it is a great pleasure to be able to share this view with
others. The audience often aren’t keen to crawl through sweaty jungles, or
climb sheer rock-faces themselves … but they love hearing about the dramas
first hand!

I also love the
gymnastic nature of climbing, and of exploring, the logistics of navigation,
and organising and leading teams. My sports area of mountaineering, and
exploration is very multifaceted, and requires an in depth knowledge of
survival on many levels.

When we were stuck
and nearly lost our lives on that mountain in Switzerland, many times I
thought, ‘Right, this is it!’, and then you would sift through to find a
solution or see a way to overcome the next difficulty.

 
Being fit and strong
enables you to do things that you would otherwise not have the opportunity of.
I learnt quite early on the benefits of exercise. At school I competed in gymnastics
and represented my school in middle distance races. I found you were able to
have a whole set of different friends, and doing sport gave you a chance to
‘rest’ your brain, and take your mind off schoolwork or other things.

It is also quite
nice to be able to eat exactly what you like and not too have to worry too much
about your weight!

Highlights of my
sporting life have included winning the South African National Climbing
Championships, being selected to compete at international level in Borneo for the Eco Challenge 2000, the zenith of tough
multi-day adventure races.

I was also the first
of only a handful of women in the world to go through the British SAS Special
Forces Selection process, and in the UK
was selected as a ‘Superhuman’ finalist in a television series attempting to
find the ultimate ‘Superhuman’ living in Britain!

I think above all of
these though, the most significant for me was surviving our epic climb the Alps, and coming back alive to tell the tale. I won’t say
more about that now, because it is all in my new book!

Through my sports
career I have had many different sponsors. Our current lead sponsors for our
Mountains of Hope Expedition are Calibre Consulting. They have donated a large
amount to Door of Hope to provide formula for babies. They have also supplied
us with good quality equipment.

We have also had
significant sponsorship from The Missing Link who is making a short documentary
film on our expedition. Health 24, Radio 702 and Cape Talk
are covering our event on a weekly basis and we have collaborated with South
African National Parks.  

I am always on the
lookout for new sponsors to partner with. Other than sports clothing and
equipment one of the main needs someone in my position requires is transport. I
would love to own a Landrover and of course if an airline company like SAA were
keen to provide flights, we would make very good use of this!

Whilst climbing and
mountaineering (including the downhill skiing afterwards!) are my passion, the
adventure races I have done introduced me to other sports. I learnt to become
accomplished at canoeing, mountain biking and I love open water (ocean)
swimming. I also enjoy marksmanship, which was a skill learnt through my
military training. One sport I haven’t tried, and would really like to do, is
Kite Surfing. It looks so cool!

My life choices were
quite unusual. I did study alongside competing, so I never had to rely entirely
on an income through sponsorship. This was a more sensible decision that I
don’t regret. You are in a much stronger position to follow your dreams if you
have something solid to fall back on and so it can give you confidence to
pursue things further than you might have.

To be good at
climbing takes a huge amount of dedication and focus. When my friends at university
were going to 21st birthdays, and braais, I had my nose six inches away from a
sheer cliff face.

Climbing is not a
sport where you can train for two hours and then carry on with other things. It
takes the whole day, or whole weekend, then training in the gym during the
‘days off’ to build muscle groups and gain flexibility.

It is really a life
style and either you will want that life, and are filled with passion for the
sport, or you will dabble and just do it occasionally.

Once you have made a
commitment to go down this road it is helpful to have a clear ‘business plan’
of your aims and ambitions to steer you in the right direction. This helps
focus your mind and give you goals to aim for.

Most important of
all though is to enjoy and be passionate about what you do, but for me this
should not be at the expense of family, friends or colleagues. It is about
dedication and balance. For me it helped to have a Christian belief, which has
given me an inner strength to perform in a way that otherwise would not have
been possible.