Heather Swan is an accomplished businesswoman, mountaineer, rock climber, skydiver, BASEjumper, author, wife, and mother.
In 1999, together with her husband Dr. Glenn Singleman, Heather embarked on a highly ambitious project to attempt to break Glenn’s World Record for Altitude BASEjumping, set in 1992 from The Great Trango Tower in Pakistan at 20,000 feet or 6248 metres high. When she started the project she had never been skydiving or climbed a mountain. However in 2006 they broke the world record for Altitude base jumping with the Wingsuit - jumping from a height of 6604 metres (It took them 22 days to climb to this altitude).
The Australian Film Finance Corporation and ABC Television documentary, ‘BASEClimb 2 – Defying Gravity' screened around the world on National Geographic Channel. It tells the incredible story of how Heather overcame a near fatal training accident and her subsequent terror to develop the physical skill and fitness to take on the world record attempt, all while successfully juggling her family, life and career.
Heather is the author of two books ‘Defying Gravity, Defying Fear’ (ABC Books), which was recently honoured as a finalist in the world’s largest and most prestigious adventure book festival held annually in Canada. Her recent release ‘No Ceiling’ is destined for the same success.
Heather says she is proud that her main ‘claim to fame’ is that she is one of only two BASEjumping mums in the world, and the only BASEjumper in the world who knits!
Defying Gravity (or how to fly even when life is getting you down) Keynote Heather tells her BASEClimb 2 story, which in some ways is even more startling than that of the first BASEClimb project.
Remembering she had no skydiving, basejumping or mountaineering experience, her journey is truly inspiring. She demonstrates that anything is possible. |
