A tax lawyer is trading her well-worn hiking boots for ice cramps and ropes to climb more than 1,400 metres for charity.

Tax lawyer and keen hiker, Karen Eckstein, 42, pictured, of Menston, has undergone six-months of intensive fitness training and power building ahead of her attempt to conquer Mont Blanc in France.

Miss Eckstein is raising money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and she has raised more than £2,000 so far.

Her only previous mountain climbing experience was a peak in Wales and she admitted the scale of the challenge has only just sunk in.

She said: "I've done a lot of trekking and it's frustrating, you get so far and you can get no further unless you can climb so I decided I wanted to learn and chose this challenge on a bit of a whim. I've never even held an ice crampon before and I've just realised how big a deal this is."

She flies out to France tomorrow before the attempt on the summit next week.