An Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue volunteer is raising money for her team by journeying to France in pursuit of the summit of Aneto, the highest peak in the Pyrenees, in July.

This is not the first time Nia Jenkins, who lives in Llandwrog, has decided to take on a European mountain in the name of the Aberglaslyn team. In September 2017 she climbed Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, to raise money for them.

Made up of 35 volunteers, Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team is based in Porthmadog and covers Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula.

Nia, who works for the Welsh Ambulance Service, has been given up her spare time to volunteer with them for five years, and is keen to raise as much money as possible to support the work they carry out in north Wales, especially since they run entirely on donations.

She said: “I’m obviously really passionate about mountain rescue and love all the team members. There’s a great bunch of people there so it’s just nice to be able to raise a little amount of money at the same time.”

Aneto is four miles south of the French border, standing at 3,404 metres tall.

Usually cloaked in snow, summer is regarded as one of the best times of year to explore the mountain’s peak, but “at the moment there’s still a lot of snow on the mountain so we’re predicting winter conditions,” according to Nia.

She will begin her expedition by flying to Toulouse on 24 July, and from there will make the journey to Aneto, in a trip lasting five days.

She has previously scaled the heights of Kilimanjaro and reached Everest Base Camp, both of which – at more than 5,000 metres each - exceed the height of Aneto considerably.

But Nia said this is likely to be a more technical mountaineering challenge: “Aneto isn’t the highest peak I will have done but it is considered a grade 3 technical climb.”

Nia has trained in preparation for the climb by walking extensively – attempting three hikes a week – as well as climbing the local mountains.

“I obviously do all of my training in Snowdonia and take advantage of the beautiful mountains on my doorstep, regularly spending my time on Snowdon, Tryfan, Glyderau and Carneddau,” she said.

She is hoping to summit Aneto on 27 July and will be joined by a group of five other climbers from across the UK.

Over £500 of her £1,000 target has been raised so far, but Nia hopes to generate as much as possible in the run-up to the climb.