Mel was born and grew up in the quintessential northern English town of Ramsbottom, Lancashire, UK.

After graduating from college, she moved to London, then travelled extensively for a number of years, before buying a farm and settling in rural Ireland.

At the age of thirty-three, Mel transitioned from a settled life on her farm and embarked on a ten-year odyssey, where she travelled the world and did everything, at least once.

From trekking through the jungles of Borneo to horse packing across the wilds of Patagonia, wreck-diving off the coast of the Philippines to skydiving over the fjords of New Zealand, her thirst for adventure was never quenched.

Throughout this time, her second home was (and continues to be) the great Himalayan mountains of Nepal.

Over a seventeen-year period, she developed the skills as a trekking guide and accomplished high-altitude mountaineer with summits on two eight thousand meter peaks to her credit—Mount Everest and Lhotse.

Mel is a veteran of two TPL expeditions to the Himalayas, where she guided and summited with the TPL team on Island Peak in 2012 and Lobuche East in 2018.

Having achieved so much from her years of expeditioning, she understands the power of adventure to change people’s lives.

Mel is experienced, skilled and resilient in extreme conditions, but it’s her gift of enduring good-spirits and people skills that leave a lasting impression on anyone who spends time with her on the trail.

Mel is currently busy finishing her memoir Breathe’.