São Paulo – Brazilian Fernanda Degow (pictured above) launched in April her first book, “Escalando Gigantes” [Climbing Giants], in which she narrates her journey in the discovery of adventure sports in the UAE – where she has been living for 16 years – her training and climbing four of the seven highest mountains in the world.
The first giant Degow climbed was Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, in 2016, a mountain 5,895 meters tall and the highest in the African continent. In 2017, she went to Mount Elbrus, the highest in Europe, located in Russia, with 5,642 meters. In Alaska, Degow climbed Denali, the highest point in North America, at 6,190 meters, in 2018. The last mountain the athlete climbed was Aconcagua, in Argentina, in 2019. It is the highest peak in the Americas and the tallest outside the Asian continent, with 6,962 meters of altitude.
In 2015, Degow went to Everest base camp in Nepal, at 5,364 meters above sea level, as a training session. Everest’s summit is 8,849 meters high, the world’s highest. The athlete told ANBA she intends it to be her next challenge.
About seven years ago, already living in Dubai, Degow started hiking outdoors, jogging, trekking in the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, in Oman, and other nearby mountainous places. “We used to train inside Ski Dubai, we went early, and it was a good training to have the mountain experience, get used to the cold, the snow, there is a good slope there and it simulates the mountain’s challenge in wearing the equipment, the clothing,” said Degow. Ski Dubai is a ski slope within the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
Before going to the base camp in Nepal, the athlete ran the Dubai marathon. Then she continued to participate in increasingly challenging events, such as Ironman in Dubai and Bahrain, as well as other triathlon competitions and rock climbing.
“I have always been passionate about sport, I played tennis, I liked outdoor activities, but the adrenaline was rushing after living here,” she told. Degow went to live in Dubai to accompany her husband, who is an airline pilot for Emirates. A few years after the birth of her second daughter, Degow claims that she had the desire and restlessness to do something for herself.
She relates falling in love with hiking in the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah. “When you are on the mountain, you meditate, find yourself, have questions, and I fell in love with the mountain. Extreme sports, on the other hand, were coming gradually because the challenge is increasing,” she told.
Degow says rock climbing is another sport that she cannot live without. “It gives you an adrenaline rush, releases the endorphins in your body, which for me is like a medicine, my shot of happiness,” she declared.
The search for self-knowledge and self-realization was what motivated the athlete to start practicing adventure sports. “When you go up a ridge, a mountain top, it is something that you compete with yourself and it is such a great achievement, a sense of accomplishment,” she stated. She says that competitions helped to keep her body and mind active and that she felt improvements in her self-esteem, her marriage, and her health.
The author examines that sport and adrenaline are very much part of Arab culture and praises the structure geared towards sports in the UAE, with running and cycling tracks in the desert, for example. In the book, Degow talks about this overcoming and the challenges along the way. “I want to show with these attitudes that we do not know the potential that we have,” she said.
“I never thought I would write a book, since I was a little girl, I wrote poetry, but I kept everything in a notebook. And I had to relive this experience,” she told. She also made videos and wrote poems – on her phone – during the climbs.
The 174-page book features photos from the trips. The first issue had a 300 copies print run and was written in Portuguese. Degow plans to translate the book into English soon. To purchase a copy, you can contact the author via Instagram, email, or phone. The book is also available on the Amazon website.
Quick facts:
“Escalando Gigantes: O limite que nos leva a alcançar nossos sonhos”
Fernanda Degow
Publisher: Drago Editorial
174 pages
ISBN: 9786586454642
Autobiography, Self-Help, Adventure
How to buy
Instagram: @fernandadegow
Email: fedegow@hotmail.com
Phone: +971507059374
Amazon
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
