‘It’s so much easier to say, “I can’t” and believe it, than to ask, “How can I?” And follow through. But for a dream to become a reality, there just can’t be “I can’t” (so get on your feet and climb the mountain).’ Heather Swan’s diary, May 2006.

As a child Heather Swan had dreamed of flying like a bird, but then life got in the way. She married, had kids, found a corporate job and became a single mother.

Heather was a highly successful corporate executive who held senior management positions in Australian and multi-national corporations.Until 1995 she had never planned to climb anything other than the career ladder.

Then, in her mid-thirties, she went to a corporate breakfast and was mesmerised by the speaker, Dr Glenn Singleman. He was a world record holding mountaineer and BASEjumper who spoke about mental mastery to overcome fear.

After his presentation Heather introduced herself and three years later they were married.

Not content to stay at home while Glenn went adventuring, Heather challenged him to teach her to skydive, climb and BASEjump so they could set a new world record together.

She had no idea what she was in for– a six-year-long roller-coaster ride of wins, devastating losses, near death experiences and ultimately the spectacular achievement of her goal to make the world’s highest BASEjump in a wingsuit.

This book is the result of this journey of physical, mental and emotional extremes.

Over those long years, Heather transformed herself from a ‘safe’ corporate mum into a world-class extreme-sport athlete capable of challenging an iconic world record.

As well as reducing her body fat from 36 per cent to 15 per cent, she changed her attitude to life, her attitude to love, her attitude to family, and her attitude to the ‘glass ceiling’ that is supposed to prevent women from achieving their full potential.

She endured setbacks, tragedy, humiliation and pain to ultimately triumph in the most macho of male dominated sports: rock climbing, mountaineering, skydiving and BASEjumping.

‘Throughout the most gruelling of extreme boot camps she never lost touch with her femininity, her emotional balance and her radiant beauty,’ explains her husband Dr Glenn Singleman.

The world record she ultimately achieved shattered conventional wisdom and prejudice about the ‘role’ and ‘limits’ of women (and men!).

No Ceiling is not a book about extreme sport. It is a classic human‘vision quest’ drama set in a world that is foreign to most people, a world of eccentrics, misfits, athletes,scientists, visionaries and breathtaking landscapes

.‘At times Heather’s journey might seem outrageous but the woman taking it is intelligent, funny, vibrant and insightful. Her words speak with a clarity and passion that transport the reader into foreign panoramas and subcultures with sympathy and understanding.

‘I could be accused of bias since I accompanied Heather on much of the journey but the evocative writing inspired me beyond the amazing facts of the story.

‘I couldn’t stop turning the pages even though I knew what happened next. I’m proud that we can add the descriptor author to Heather’s impressive list of talents.

She is truly a woman with “No Ceiling”.’Heather Swan is a dual world record holding wingsuit pilot, a mountaineer,an award-winning writer, an adventure photographer, wife and mother, and popular professional speaker.

She is one of only two female wingsuit Instructors in Australia.Her story has been profiled twice on Australian Story and she and husband Glenn have also been featured in two 60 Minutes segments. She has been featured in countless magazine and news articles and is a recipient of Australian Geographic’s ‘Spirit of Adventure Award’. A feature documentary will also be released worldwide in 2009.

Heather is 46 years old and lives in Sydney with her husband and children.

No Ceiling will be available in August 2009.














Back to Author Profiles