She lives in Bristol. She enjoyed hillwalking, but had no experience of climbing. She had walked in the Lake District and abroad in the Pyrenees. She had walked up Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Her experience of walking in winter conditions was limited and was restricted to visits to the Lake District where on one occasion she had climbed a hill with the assistance of crampons. All her previous experience had been in the company of a former boyfriend who was a mountaineer. She had no experience of hill walking in Scotland.