A former Cub Scout leader in Ledbury has raised £3,050 for charity by climbing half-way up Everest.

Dorothy Habbits had always dreamed of standing on the summit of the 8,850m (29,035ft) mountain.

Now she has realised at least part of her ambition by trekking to Base Camp and beyond to Kalapatthar at 5,545m (18,200ft), where there was a dramatic view of Everest.

Mrs Habbits, of Brookmill Close, Colwall, was with a party of 30 westerners, plus 55 porters and sherpas, whom she feels are "the unsung heroes of Everest".

Mrs Habbits prepared for last month's three-week expedition by hill walking in Britain. This taught her to take slow and careful steps to save energy.

"The altitude did affect me," she said. "I couldn't sleep and I counted nine avalanches in one night.

"I'm no longer tempted to try and get to the top of Everest. When you get to Base Camp, you realise how the lack of oxygen affects you, and it's even worse at the summit. There are bodies all over the mountain."

In fact, 50 years on from the first successful ascent by Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, there are still an estimated 120 unburied corpses on the slopes.

At night, the temperature fell to minus six degrees Celsius inside the tents and minus 10 degrees Celsius outside.

During the day, the party sometimes had to climb in unexpected snow flurries.

She said: "When we got to the Thyanboche Monastery at 3,867m the monks were playing football and you could see the summit of Everest behind them.

"Some of our party joined them, but because of the thin oxygen they could only manage a few minutes at a time."

In 1999, Mrs Habbits cycled 341km from Jaipur to the Taj Mahal in India, to raise £2,500 for the disabled children's mobility charity, Whizz-Kidz.

The money raised from her Everest trek will also go to Whizz-Kidz.

Mrs Habbits is a charity worker for Ability Net, which uses computers to aid the communication abilities of people with various disabilities.

She chose Whizz-Kidz as a good cause after coming across the charity in her professional life.