Mt Everest skydiver tackles Coast race
The first woman to skydive off Mt Everest is overcoming a fear of water to tackle the Coast to Coast.
Holly Budge, a 41-year-old Briton, adventurer and conservationist said the two-day event would be a very different challenge.
‘‘Until a few months ago I’d never sat in a kayak. I actually had a fear of fastmoving water and . . . I’m not a natural runner so the 30km run over Goat Pass is just going to hurt.
‘‘And I’ve not done much road cycling either so it’s really challenging and taking me out of my normal comfort zones,’’ she said.
While whitewater rafting about 20 years ago, she was flipped out of the raft and became trapped underneath it. She found she couldn’t breathe, and suffering from asthma she admits she ‘‘really panicked’’.
However, as part of her training – which has taken two to three hours a day, up to six days a week – she has made big strides to overcome her fear of rapids including tackling the Waimakariri Gorge in a kayak.
The 33km run, 70km kayak and 140km cycle begins in Kumara at dawn on the West Coast on Friday and ends in New Brighton, Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.
Mental toughness would be key, she said. ‘‘The Coast to Coast is going to be a full-on two days and it’s going to hurt.’’
But experience had taught her that ‘‘when you think you’re done, you’re actually only at 75 per cent’’. ‘‘When your body is screaming you need to listen to that part of your brain that says keep going.’’
Budge’s adventuring began in 1999 in New Zealand when she did her first skydive.
‘‘That 60 seconds of adrenaline and that 60 seconds of sheer terror completely changed the course of my life. I decided there and then I wanted to work as a skydiving camera woman and I put
my heart and soul into getting this dream job of mine, quite a far fetched goal but I did achieve it,’’ she said.
Within six months she was getting paid to jump out of airplanes up to 10 or 12 times a day filming freefalls in Taupo¯ .
‘‘What that did was give me this massive confidence and belief that I could do whatever I put my mind to or I could at least have a go. So that positive mindset has taken me on some pretty crazy adventures around the world including becoming the first woman to skydive Mt Everest and more recently I climbed the summit of Everest,’’ she said.
She has used her adventures to raise more than $600,000 for the charity she founded How Many Elephants, which helps combat and raise awareness of elephant poaching in Africa.
Budge founded the charity after she discovered vegetable ivory, a nut from a South American palm tree, while working on a Masters in Sustainable Design.
Her award-winning necklace made from vegetable ivory symbolises the 96 elephants poached every day in Africa.
She has spent time on patrol with the female anti-poaching teams she helps fund in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
She became the first woman to skydive over Mt Everest in 2008 and bagged another world record completing a 1000km race riding semiwild horses across Mongolia in just nine days.
She conquered Mt Everest in 2017, spending 30 minutes on the summit with her climbing partner Jangbu.
However, they got caught in a storm on the way back down and spent an unplanned night in ferocious winds at 8300m.
Today, she is living a ‘‘simple life’’ in Franz Josef with her helicopter pilot husband Matt.
Although extremely competitive, she aims to just finish the Coast to Coast and her next goal is to climb Mt Cook in January next year.