The Rangers Trader, From growing up in the Dandenongs to preparing to tackle Mount Everest: Jen Willis’ story

Born in Upper Ferntree Gully and attending high school in Monbulk, Jen and her family would take an annual trip for a week each summer to Thredbo, a ski resort in NSW, and for a week each winter to Falls Creek.

When Jen was about eight years old, her grandpa gifted her a brooch with an ice axe and mountaineering boot; the beginning of her love of climbing. Despite enjoying the forest near her family home, Jen said she wasn’t a “sporty” child, and went through adolescence with low confidence after being bullied in primary school.