IT IS most certainly not a challenge for the faint-hearted.

Anyone with a fear of heights may also want to look away now.

In a feat that has only ever been attempted by professionals before, one Hampshire woman is taking extreme sports to the absolute extreme.

Daredevil Holly Budge is set to go down in the history books as one of the first people to skydive over the summit of the highest mountain in the world.

Wearing an oxygen mask so her lungs don't collapse and a parachute three times the normal size as the air is so thin up so high, the 29-year-old will plunge from an aeroplane at a record-breaking 29,500ft with Mount Everest beneath her.

Her free fall will reach breathtaking speeds of 180mph - 60mph faster than under normal conditions - and she will land on the world's highest drop zone at 12,350ft.

Holly, from Winchester, will also complete a six-day acclimatisation trek to a point on Everest 12 miles shy of the base camp before the jump. This will enable her body to get used to the extremely high altitude and low air pressure, which can cause altitude sickness with symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness and nausea in some people.

She said: "I have never done anything as extreme as this and I've always wanted to go to Everest. It's going to be incredible, really nerve-racking but very exciting. It's hard to find something that you are the first to do these days, so it will be really special."

A seasoned skydiver with more than 2,000 skydives under her belt after working as a skydiving camerawoman filming travellers doing skydives in New Zealand from 1999 to 2004, Holly will also be attempting the jump solo.

She will be joined by 23 other thrill-seekers, including only two other women, from around the world - some jumping solo and others in tandem with an instructor - for the skydive in October. They will be the first people in the world to take on the challenge, being organised by UK adventure company High and Wild.

Holly, who works as a filmmaker and interactive designer, has already embarked on a gruelling fitness regime to get in shape for the challenge.

She said: "I've given up alcohol already and I've got a personal trainer to help me get fit. I'm doing running, boxing and rowing as the altitude is a test of fitness."

Holly, who will be attempting the jump, in the same month as her 30th birthday, to raise £30,000 for the Hampshire Autistic Society, the Himalayan Trust and sports charity Regain.

She is keen to attract corporate sponsorship as well as support from individuals. To sponsor her visit skydiveeverest.co.uk