WITH just over a week to go until quadruple amputee Corinne Hutton tackles a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, she has spent some time getting herself ready for the tough conditions she will be facing out in East Africa.

The mum-of-one, from Lochwinnoch, has been using the University of the West of Scotland's (UWS) new environmental chamber at the £110million Lanarkshire campus to prepare for the 11-day hike on the Tanzanian mountain.

Corinne, founder of Finding Your Feet charity which supports amputees and their families, lost both her hands and legs below the knee after suffering from acute pneumonia and septicaemia in 2013. She also had the majority of one of her lungs removed last year due to an infection, making the challenging altitude on Kili that much harder to face.

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But the Great Scot Award winner has always been one for a challenge despite her condition, and she has been finding the cutting-edge facility at the Hamilton campus extremely useful.

Corinne, who is has an honourary doctorate from UWS, said: “Dealing with the altitude on Kilimanjaro has been a worry for both me and my family. The fact UWS can offer this fantastic facility to help me get an understanding of how I’ll deal with the conditions is just incredible.

“UWS has been a great supporter of Finding Your Feet, and I’m delighted they can be a part of my trek up the mountain."

Corinne will begin her 90km trip on Monday, October 1, and aims to reach the summit of on Saturday, October 6, fundraising for Finding Your Feet in the process.

UWS’ environmental chamber is Scotland’s highest-specification chamber - one of only two in the country and the only one in the West of Scotland.

The chamber replicates environmental extremes and can be used by athletes to improve physical performance.

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It controls a number of variables to create extreme conditions, with temperature ranging from 10 to 40 degrees celcius, altitude from zero to 5,000 metres above sea level, and humidity between 10 to 90 per cent.

Professor Craig Mahoney, principal and vice-chancellor of UWS, said: “We will be supporting Corinne all the way, and we hope our environmental chamber will help her prepare for the challenge ahead."