By Liana Jacob
MEET the glamorous adventurer who came close to death in her mission to become a mountain guide.
Adventurer, mountain guide and model, Melissa Miller (31), from Brolange, Sweden, grew up with ‘nature as her playground’.
One envy-inducing picture shows the bikini-clad adventurer gliding smoothly through the clear-blue sea in Bali, Indonesia, and another showing off her stunning figure standing on a swing on the glistening beaches of Thailand.
Other pictures illustrate her standing in a black bikini beneath a waterfall in Bali with her arms stretched out and standing triumphantly in between the icy walls of the Solheimajokull glaciers in Iceland.
After travelling the world, Melissa went to Norway to become a mountain guide and attended a tough winter expedition in the Norwegian mountains, which led to her contracting hypothermia.
“At the time, I was studying to become a mountain guide and it was the first winter I had experienced in seven years. Well, you can say that I learned my lesson,” Melissa said.
“Me and the group I was with were traveling by touring skis with skins and sleds, going uphill a lot. A few days in to the expedition we got caught in a white out, we could hardly see our hand in front of us.
“The wind was hard and the temperate dropped quickly. This forced us to stop and orientate a lot, checking the map and compass to make sure we didn’t go in circles.
“At the time, I wasn’t used to this cold and rough weather conditions, as I had spent seven years abroad in warm countries, which resulted in me doing my first mistake. I didn’t temperate adjust.
“I became sweaty when we skied uphill with our heavy sleds, and when we stopped to navigate I became cold due to the wet clothes. Then I made mistake number two, I didn’t change my sweaty clothes to dry ones.
“Eventually we had to stop and dig emergency pits to wait out the storm in. As I was sitting in the pit with my friend, with the red tarpaulin shaking from the wind over us, my body started to shut down.
“I remember how scared I was. I couldn’t get warm. Suddenly my shivering and shaking stopped, which is a late sign of hypothermia. I thought about my mum, my dad and strangely I started to feel better, almost warm.
“I started to open my jacket, leaning back. My friend told me that my last words before losing consciousness was that I was getting hot and that I was going to sleep a little.
“Luckily my friend reacted to this and immediately took action. He shook me, dragged me out of the pit, dressed me with all the clothes he would find and the whole group started the rescue.”
Melissa now works in an abandoned mine, as a model, an influencer, a blogger and is currently studying fitness and health and has worked in eleven countries.
On her travels, she’s taken part in a range of adventurous activities including, river rafting, sea kayaking, diving with sharks, snorkelling, bungee jumping and has even driven a quad bike on a volcano.
“I feel very grateful, blessed and lucky. But also, I know that I’ve worked hard to get to where I am today, for everything I’ve accomplished and done, so I’m also proud of myself,” she added.
“I feel rich in the way money can’t compete with and I’m so grateful for my family and my amazing friends.
“Well, I’ve done and experienced a few things so when meeting new people, I don’t lay it all out there at once.
“But the things I tell people about usually inspire them, I hope.
“I want to inspire people to live their life fully and completely, the way they want to, whatever that may be.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/melissamaja/