Inspired by Defying Gravity – Fay Manners

Alumna Fay Manners left Dame Alice Harpur School in 2005 and read Information Management and Business Studies at Loughborough University. A career in Business Intelligence ensued working for prestigious international names including Coca-Cola, Autoglass and Unilever; however, the call of the mountains was never far away and gradually Fay found a way to balance her love of alpinism with her working life. Her intrepid feats are truly inspirational and a real example of resilience, determination and passion.

Have you ever dreamt of climbing up the steep and often precipitous edge of an icy mountain over several days, and perching a tent on a narrow ridge for your night’s sleep, whilst continually anticipating and adapting to whatever nature throws at you, be it avalanches, snowstorms or blazing sunshine?

Most of us would find this difficult to entertain but this is the fascinating life of professional British alpinist, Fay Manners.

It was a chance climb on a bouldering wall in New York that began a love of climbing for Fay. This progressed to the mountainous terrain of North Wales, climbing with friends local to the area, who knew the local mountaineering ‘like the back of their hand’, expertly navigating the rocky streams, grassy paths and wet terrain. These climbs in Wales equipped Fay with a variety of skills, enabling her to have the confidence to be more adventurous in her climbing challenges and eventually led to Fay becoming a professional alpine climber. perseverance, courage and adaptability; to venture beyond comfort and into a beautiful unknown.”

For the last seven years, Fay has been permanently based in Chamonix, France, where she can usually be found high up in the mountains either ski mountaineering or alpine climbing. Aside from her busy climbing pursuits, Fay runs her own data consulting company, BadManners Ltd, and is also working with Unilever as a Business Intelligence Consultant. Fay really is living her dream; based in the mecca of the alpine world and combining what she loves with her day job. She has recently teamed up with outdoor athletic and recreational apparel company, The North Face, to showcase her incredible achievements as an ambassador for their brand, alongside other leading intrepid extreme sport athletes.

Female alpinists are few and far between. There has historically been a perception that females are not strong enough physically and mentally to cope with such harsh and isolated conditions, and Fay feels this has discouraged many women in the past. Fay cites UK climbers Helen Rennard, Katy Whittaker and Emma Twyford for her inspiration. She goes on to say that the latter two have played a huge part in starting a female climbing movement in North Wales.

Fay has traversed some of the most challenging peaks of the world including the Phantom Direct on the south face of the Grande Jorasses; the longest and most serious winter mixed climb of the Mont Blanc massif. She has crack-climbed in Cadarese and skied above the Arctic circle in Norway. Last year, Fay and her fellow alpinist, Michelle Dvorak, climbed Alaska’s famed ‘Bacon and Eggs’ on Mini-Mini-Moonflower summit and the Cassin

Ridge on Denali, in what was the first female ascent of the season. Her long-time ambition is to climb the rock faces of Greenland, but she plans to mix it up a bit and sail there first.

Fay’s aims to inspire women to pursue their passions: “I think it is a good testament for students to chase their dreams and not simply feel like they have to follow one set career path of a 5 days a week job. By sharing my personal experiences, I hope that I might influence young girls across the UK to try mountaineering. I also hope that by spotlighting some current mountaineers who inspire me that there can be more recognised role models at both an elite and grassroots level. I believe mountaineering should be an accessible and equal sport for anyone.”

Fay explains the draw of climbing for her: “I truly appreciate the mountains, both their intrinsic awe-inspiring beauty and the challenge they present to us. I see mountaineering as a physical and mental battle that requires you to be some kind of super-human Swiss Army knife; to have