After facing death on a mountain peak, a Dubai-based adrenaline junkie tells Eve Dugdale that everything is possible If you need to prepare yourself for blizzard like conditions and sub zero temperatures where would you head to? China, the Alps, maybe even the north of England. What about right here in the middle of the desert? When experienced British climber, Squash Falconer, decided to move to Dubai to work, she thought she'd have to give up her number one hobby - climbing the world's highest mountains. But as it happened the emirate provided Squash, 27, with everything she needed to prepare herself for one of her most dangerous and challenging trips. "I was only meant to be here a few weeks but I ended up being offered more work and decided to stay. I basically put on loads of weight and everyone was saying to me "You've got the Dubai stone!" she recalls. "That encouraged me to start thinking about climbing my next mountain, but I was in conflict, because I thought I need to be in the Alps, I need to be in England, I can't possibly train in Dubai." Squash came to associate Dubai with working hard, having no life, doing no exercise and getting fat. She decided she needed to change her perspective and signed up for the gym. After becoming bored with that she discovered Ski Dubai and before long set up a training regime that involved getting a regular 'cold fix' at the indoor skiing centre. "People were really surprised when I told them I was still doing the mountain climb, because I was based in Dubai. They all thought I needed to be in England or France." Squash found however, that she simply needed to wait for the cooler temperatures in the evening, and then run along the beach or marina in order to train in Dubai. "You have the sea, you have the views and the sail in the background, its like you're running in a picture. "The heat's actually quite good too, because it makes you sweat. I also did wake boarding for strength training in the sea." As well as skiing and boarding at Ski Dubai, Squash also took to walking up the sides of the slope with a pack on her back to imitate being on a steep mountain climb. "You haven't got the altitude, but that's not a problem because even if I trained in England I wouldn't be doing altitude training anyway." Before long Squash was on her way to Cho Oyu on the border of China and Nepal. The 8,201-metre mountain has been skied by fewer than ten people and no British women. But Squash's Dubai training regime set her in good stead to become the first woman to 'bum board' (like a snowboard that you sit on) down the mountain. It wasn't all fun however. Squash's expedition team were caught up in a blizzard which ripped away all their tents in the middle of the night, leaving them clinging to the ground with ice axes. She also came face to face with death on the mountain after developing suspected cerebral edema - a brain swelling condition related to low oxygen levels in the air. "I lost the ability to speak and I couldn't function properly," she says. "I was abseiling down a rock face and the snow was coming in horizontally, so I couldn't see the face I was climbing on. "I was stabbing my crampons (boots with pointed metal parts to stab into the ice) through when I stabbed an old rope." Squash's foot was jammed, the oxygen tank on her back was weighing her down and she was also exhausted from the cerebral edema. She had to let go of her rope and was slipping in and out of consciousness while hanging upside down from her harness. Fortunately, a local mountain guide and fellow climber spotted her and came to the rescue. "The drop was thousands of metres and once you start falling you're dead. "We had a guy fall near where I fell and he died, so I was really lucky," she says. Squash is now putting her life experiences to good use with a company she co-founded - Sanity Management - which helps people become more successful at what they do. The company is global and Squash hopes to remain in Dubai. She adds: "You can do anything here, the opportunities are amazing. "I won't hear of it when people say they can't do something because they're here in Dubai." Squash's next ambition is to climb Everest.
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