Tough Girl Podcast Rebecca Ferry - Mum of 5. Ultra runner and high altitude mountaineer - completing the “High Double” Everest and Lhotse, followed by K2.
Aug 4, 2022
44:47
Rebecca in her own words: “First and foremost, I’m a mum of 5. However, I’ve always maintained and embraced sport throughout pregnancies and parenting. My love of the outdoors and especially running, was instilled in me from an early age having grown up with a very sporty family. Many holiday was spent walking and camping in Scotland I started running, ballet and horse riding at a very early age. I grew up in a small village in the north and if I wanted to see friends I’d walk, run, ride a bike or pony ! It wasn’t really until 2014 that the ultra endurance big kicked in with full effect ! I wanted a new, bigger challenge to raise money for a charity which had helped me during one of my pregnancies. I’d heard about a brutal desert race ( the infamous Marathon Des Sables ) and decided that this would be a great challenge. It’s from here that the endurance bug really kicked in. I finished a respectable 10th lady on my first big challenge. What’s better is that I’d found this incredible community of like minded people who loved being outside and running for hours on end ! I competed globally racing in Colorado, Himalayas, Spain, France - picking up the occasional podium on my travels. Yet, it was the mountains which really set my heart on fire. Racing in the Himalayas, I’d often seen this beautiful mountain called ‘Ama Dablam’. I’d think to myself how wonderful it would be to climb it but I’d been told it was for really accomplished climbers only. It is a technical mountain. Unperturbed, I decided ‘why not try?!’ A running friend put me in touch with his climbing friend and we worked together last year climbing in Wales - around the lockdown. I summited Ama almost a year ago and from there, a love of high altitude mountain climbing was ignited. To find myself completing the Everest and Lhotse ‘High Double’ at the beginning of the season and then to summit K2’ was simply a dream!” Learn more about Rebecca and her love and passion for the outdoors. New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode. You can support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast Thank you. Show notes
- Who is Becks
- Being adopted and coming from a sporty family
- Growing up in North Yorkshire on a farm/small holding
- Having sport parents
- Being encouraged to go outside and try new things
- Spending a lot of time with her dad
- Exploring in the Peak District
- Spending 2 months in Australia at 15
- Being active through her teenage years
- Her running journey
- Looking for a running challenge in 2014
- Running the Marathon des Sables (MDS) in 2015
- Being told that it was a stupid idea
- Getting into the ultra running world
- Making great friends in the community
- Training by herself
- Getting to know ultra runner (and previous Tough Girl Podcast guest - 29th December 2015) - Elisabet Barnes
- Continuing to push herself with endurance challenges
- Running the Everest Trail Race, Nepal (2017)
- Feeling comfortable in the hills
- Being inspired by Ama Dablam (6,812 metres (22,349 ft)) and wanting to climb it
- Reducing her risk of injury, doing cross training, stretching, pilates, and gym work
- How the body performs during a multi-stage ultra race
- Nutrition and fuelling
- Making the transition from endurance running to mountain climbing
- Working with a high altitude expedition guide - Jon Gupta
- Climbing Island Peak and Ama Dablam in Nepal
- Having the capacity to endure and keep going
- Going with the flow and wanting to do the things that she enjoys
- Preferring the quieter mountains
- Having the adventure blues after the MDS
- Adjusting back to normal life after expeditions
- Living in the present and making the most of everyday
- How adventures and challenges can evolve
- Climbing for 3 months in Nepal (Everest, Lhotse (4th highest mountains in the world at 8,516 metres) & K2)
- Wanting to climb an 8,000 peak mountain and thinking about the “high double”
- Not summiting Makalu (5th highest mountain in the world at 8,485 metres) and the lessons learned
- Struggling on the mountain and not feeling very well
- Summit night arriving at camp 3 and dealing with too much wind and snow and having to head back down
- Feeling proud of her achievement and never giving up
- Why it’s more than just the summit
- Her children’s thoughts on her climbing
- Having a birthday on the mountain
- K2 - “the savage mountain”
- Being aware of the danger
- Using oxygen
- Being able to move quicker on the mountain and the benefits
- Feeling grateful in having the opportunity to climb such an incredible mountain