When did your passion for mountains begin and who or what do you believe was behind it?
My first love for mountains probably began growing up skiing in the French Alps with my family, but I really became hooked on a school trip to the Everest Base Camp when I was 14. I went to secondary school in Dubai (hence the crazy school trip) and my maths teacher, Neville Hopwood, loved the Himalayas and had dabbled in guiding – so he organised this incredible three-week trip for about 20 of us who had signed up. And that started it all for me.
What was your first-ever experience of climbing and how did it feel?
Everest Base Camp was my first experience, followed soon after by Mt. Kilimanjaro – another school trip the following year because the first had been such a success. Both experiences were completely amazing, and much more difficult than I probably expected.
These were the trips that first opened my eyes to what mountaineering really was – I had no idea beforehand. I had no idea of the feeling of altitude sickness, the amount of water you had to drink in a day, how to pack a rucksack efficiently, that you have to reapply sunscreen every hour…
The list goes on. I learnt the hard way on many occasions on the Base Camp trek; I was the only female student to sign up and hated peeing in the bushes off the side of the trail – so I didn’t drink very much, and so of course I got horrific altitude sickness. I couldn’t eat anything, and barely made it up our final day. But I made some of my best friends on the way, and fell in love with the challenge of putting your head down and concentrating on getting from point A to point B in a day, the escapism of it and the simple life of camping and living out of a rucksack.
How did you come to set yourself the Seven Summits Challenge and how did you set about preparing for it?
In between the EBC trip and Kilimanjaro I was given the book Together On Top of the World by Susan and Phil Ershler, about them becoming the first couple to successfully climb the Seven Summits. So, at age 14, I decided that I was going to climb them too.
I did some preliminary research and then presented my parents with the idea, and to their complete credit they didn’t totally laugh it off – they did laugh, but then responded with “one mountain at a time”. My dad had already decided to come as one of the responsible adults on the Kilimanjaro school trip because I’d talked so highly of EBC, and after Kilimanjaro my dad was hooked too and we did the Seven Summits Challenge together. “One mountain at a time” was the attitude that then prevailed until we were coming up to planning Everest and realised we had to start looking a little further ahead.
What were some of the highs and lows of those climbs and how did you feel when you finally summited Everest, breaking two world records at the same time?
Everest was a life-changing climb in so many ways, and you really don’t realise how much of an impact it would have until years later. The majority of our almost two-month climb was fantastic – stunning scenery, a wonderful team and guides, brilliant climbing, etc. The highs were probably some of the flying descents through the Khumbu Icefall, hanging out at the huge tent village that is the South Side Base Camp, and the euphoria of getting to the South Col.
Our summit day was a different story, and was tumultuous at best. The first summit window in our season was very late and not many windows were predicted, so people were getting anxious and impatient – which meant the first day that it was possible for teams to go up way too many people attempted the summit in one night.
We, instead, took a gamble on the weather the following night in order to avoid the crowds the day before. The gamble paid off in that we made it up and were the only team from the South side to summit that day – but the weather was awful, we had no view from the summit (the skies did clear when we reached the Balcony on our descent), it was too cold in general for stops for food and drink, we had teammates turn back with frostbite and we all had frostnip anywhere the wind could find its way in. It also meant that we were the first team to see, and report, the casualties from the night before where climbers had run out of oxygen and been unable to make it back down. That part of the climb still haunts me.
Reaching the summit of Everest was incredibly special – I summited with my dad and we had a moment on the summit before the rest of the team began to arrive, and to share that with each other is something you just can’t explain. But a combination of the weather, no view, and the stark reminder on our ascent that the summit really is only halfway there meant that we were on the summit for not even ten minutes, and saved any real celebration for when the whole team was safely back down at base camp.
Did climbing with mostly males older than yourself mean you had to adapt quickly and what was the support like in general with those you climbed with?
I definitely think it meant having to adapt quickly. With each expedition taking a week to two months at a time, it was totally imperative that I could get along well with our teammates – not least for company to stave off boredom in the evenings. And so chatting easily to people irrespective of age was a skill I felt I mastered pretty quickly.
I also have vivid memories of being roped up in teams of four in Antarctica and the two teams sitting parallel to each other for breaks during the days, and with it being Antarctica of course there’s NOTHING to hide behind, and you can’t pee on the snow except in dedicated places in the camps – so I quickly learnt a few tricks to hide slightly while having to pee in a bottle and then had to suck it up and accept that modesty is situation dependent.
The support was excellent – everyone was always accommodating and respectful, and I never felt singled out or slighted because of my age or gender. I think how you were treated depended far more on if you had trained well and were capable, strong, and well prepared.
Tell us about the public speaking you offer and the message you try to instill in those you talk to?
I do talks about our Everest climb, with the intention of inspiring even just one person, if I can, to go out and make their dream happen – to take that first step and have the drive to follow it through. Climbing Everest sounds like a huge, crazy challenge that most people think they could never accomplish – but it’s totally possible for almost everyone with the right training and the right attitude (but please do other mountains first, as part of that training!).
Tell us about the Vitiligo Society and why you choose to raise money for the cause? How can our readers also donate?
The Vitiligo Society is a charity that really helped my mum when she was first diagnosed with vitiligo over 30 years ago – vitiligo is an autoimmune depigmentation of the skin, and as a shy, self-conscious, tanned woman in her 20s this was a condition that my mum struggled with. She feels like she owes a lot to the Vitiligo Society for the support and information that they offered her, and so we opted to support them with this challenge. They can be found at their website of the same name (www.vitiligosociety.org.uk).
How are you currently spending your time and what challenges and plans do you have lined up for the months and years ahead?
I’m currently a full time small animal veterinarian living in Brooklyn, New York City, and am working on my Masters in Public Health part time. I attempted to swim the English Channel a couple of years ago and didn’t make it – so my next challenges are going to be open water swimming based! I’m hoping to attempt to swim around Manhattan Island next year and then reattempt the English Channel after that.
Mountaineering wise, at some stage I would love to attempt Ama Dablam in the Himalayas with my dad, and the Eiger in the Alps was one that I couldn’t attempt the last time I was in Switzerland due to the weather conditions – so that’s high on the list. We’ll see. There’s always more I want to do! I’m aiming to publish a book about the Seven Summits in the next few years too – watch this space!
