Rachel Colenso

South African-born Rachel Colenso believes wholeheartedly that people can achieve the seemingly impossible, if they put their mind to it. Although now based in London, Rachel is South Africa's first and currently only certified female Mountain Guide, and is one of only a handful of women in the world to complete the specialist and rigorous SAS training process within the British Army.

She was a 'Super Human' finalist in the UK Channel 4 television series, and has fronted advertising campaigns and acted as a stunt artist for film and television.

As someone who really does walk the talk, other projects have included an Everest Expedition in 2003 in which she was part of the support team that helped Glenn Shaw set a new altitude record for a paraplegic climber. Glenn has suffered from birth with 'Brittle Bone Disease', a simple fall could cripple him for life or kill him outright. The aim of the expedition was for the team to assist Glenn in achieving his ambition of climbing to Base Camp situated at 5500m (18,000ft) on the North Face of Mount Everest in Tibet.

Later that same year, October 2003, Rachel hit world headlines when she was stranded on a sheer face at 3000m during an extreme blizzard in the Italian Alps. After two nights on a tiny ledge with 1000 metre drops each side she was evacuated by helicopter.

Her inspiring book, ‘In a High and Desperate Place’ also provides useful information for business or life on how to survive and succeed in times of extreme adversity. Rachel Colenso’s account of this experience has people on the edges of their seats, and thinking for a long time afterwards about how they can deal with situations in their own lives.

In August 2004 Rachel was at the Yosemite National Park, where she climbed the highest vertical granite face in the world, "The Nose" on El Capitan. The ascent took five days during which time Rachel and her team slept like bats, hanging from harnesses on the sheer rock wall. The rock face is almost a mile high of vertical desert and meant the team had to haul up five days of water and supplies with them!

Rachel Colenso has a natural talent for communicating and has addressed audiences in various countries around the globe as a motivational speaker. She links her adventurous experiences from 20 years of climbing, international adventure racing, and organising expeditions to jungle, desert and snowy regions, seamlessly into a business context.

Motivational Speaking
An extremely well-informed and articulate motivational speaker, Rachel Colenso has an impressive list of clients who have endorsed her as a highly captivating and inspiring storyteller, as well as her adventurous expeditions to promote eco tourism and sustainable development.

She has led numerous expeditions to jungle, desert and snowy regions around the globe as well as having run her own business alongside competing at international level in extreme sports events.

Rachel’s background of guiding in mountains and jungle environments enables her to be at ease talking to corporate audiences, at charity and celebratory functions and to school children alike. One of her greatest achievements must be in making people aware of what can be accomplished despite unforeseen events, or plans that don’t run smoothly.

Rachel Colenso inspires her business audiences to excel despite tight deadlines and demanding situations. Her humorous insight into how teams and leaders operate under stress is a popular after dinner and keynote presentation.

Team Building
Getting people to achieve the impossible is what mountain guiding is about. Team building and Leadership skills are at the heart of the guides work. Over a number of years Rachel Colenso has developed tailor made corporate packages for building and leading effective teams. She likes to work closely with clients to provide an individual service that fulfils all the practical and technical aspects in an ‘enjoyable for all’ environment. This is about a million miles beyond ‘Boot camp’! She will work with select guides and individuals who are able to provide an outstanding service to help you and your team reach your goals. She cover the following areas:

Operating As An Effective Team
You may all have the same goal in mind, but very different ideas on how to get there. Learn to harness your team’s strengths so they can work to create synergy and accomplish more than a group of individuals.
 
Leadership
If a mountain guide is an ineffective leader their clients’ lives are at risk. Strong leadership is at the core of developing a successful team that can survive adversity and prosper. Learn and practice the 10 basic principles of leadership to develop your team, and see the results.
 
Overcoming Obstacles and Exceeding Expectations
How is it some people seem to always come out on top? That some people can happily accomplish things very few would dream of trying? Learn how the brain of the extreme sports athlete works, and put into practice the six steps that extreme sports people use to succeed in achieving the impossible.

Exclusive interview with Rachel Colenso

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.