Unlock Your Adventure Mindset
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Squash Falconer joins us for our last podcast of 2023 and what a way to end the year! Squash was the first British woman to summit Mont Blanc and paraglide from the top, having ridden there on her motorbike.
She’s a record breaking adventurer and speaker, captivating corporate audiences with her daring tales, from reaching the summit of Everest, to becoming the world’s highest bumboarder. Teamwork, resilience, discipline, motivation and adaptability are key elements to her achievements. Using film and TV to share her adventures, Squash has self-shot many of her tips and received accolade for her work.
UNLOCK your adventure mindset
Squash tells us that none of this was planned and she actually went from wanting to be a farmer, to wanting to be a vet! Climbing mountains or becoming an endurance adventurer was the last thing on her mind! It wasn’t until Squash took a gap year and did a ski season that she met some people that were into endurance adventure races and they got her involved in that.
Squash is such a positive person and likes to go for things in life, something that she credits her parents for as part of her upbringing, and she took the opportunities that came her way. She said it was about teamwork and that she had the right attitude and fitness but at that point, not the experience. Squash tells us that sometimes even when you don’t know what you’re doing and you surround yourself with people that do know what they are doing and believe in you, then anything is possible.
So how did Squash turn this into making a living? She spend her 20s figuring it out doing event work and ski seasons and doing a few of the trips in-between and that’s when she met a photographer who wanted her to do some sports modelling. He had told Squash that she couldn’t own the photos but she could use them to go to different brands and sponsors, so that’s what she did. She also shares how one of the films they had shot, did well at the film festivals and she got great feedback about being great in front of a camera and can shoot well.
She became the worlds highest ever bumboarder and that become the hook that told the story. Things were gaining momentum for Squash, and she had ideas that she wanted to put into action. One of them was to ride a motorbike to the south of France - she had learnt to paraglide and she thought this is a great way to get down from a big mountain. Then climb Mont Blanc an paraglide off the top!
Squash tells us that you have these ideas you only need one person to believe in you and work with you. Squash did not have the right paragliding wing or bike or money. So she needed to get creative and armed with the portfolio of photos, she took herself to BMW and said this is who I am and what I’m going to do and the BBC are behind the trip - then she went to see the BBC and said BMW are behind the trip and I’m definitely going to do it. So she was lent a bike by BMW, the right paragliding equipment etc and she did it! That’s when she become the first British woman to summit Mont Blanc and paraglide off the top. The BBC contacted her and asked to purchase the film. Squash recalls it was 2 days up and only 22 mins down from the mountain! That was when the sponsorship came. After that she did Everest and that opened up the speaking world to her.
So some of the lessons Squash has learned along the way includes the importance of being accountable and saying things out loud and finding the right people and right support around you to achieve it. Trust it and believe it and don’t hold it too tightly. A great lesson for us all that absolutely works.
Squash shares that one of her trips, when traveling around South America 1000’s miles on a motor bike for a TV show, gave her an interesting spiritual moment. She was in the Atacama Desert and met one of the elders who blessed the motorbike and Squash by throwing beer and sweets everywhere.
Squash also shares one of her most profound moments on the mountain, when she climbed Everest - summit day was the hardest part. She was pushing to her absolute limits and when she ran out physically and mentally then all she felt was total emotion. She describes it a bit like an out of body experience and just feeling complete love for friends and family and she knew - right I’m getting back down from this mountain! When she has the first glimpse of Camp 4 and she knew she was going to make it, she felt so emotional. This gave her a deep trust of things working out if they’re meant to.
If you want to find out more about Squash Falconer, you can on social media or on her website, www.squashfalconer.com and if you have any questions, Squash will always get back to you, if you get in touch.