Hilary Parke Is a freelance writer who tries to spend as much of her winter as possible out on the Scottish hills, skiing, snowboarding and stalking the ultimate mountain wildlife shot with her camera. Her travels have taken her to many of the high mountain ranges of the world, where some memorable experiences, including an encounter with a man-eating leopard in Nepal, almost brought a promising career to an end! 
She began skiing as a student at Stirling University and, inspired by some memorable snowy winters, decided to write the first Scottish Skiing Handbook after she and her friends had wondered if the many newcomers to the slopes could be helped to maximise their time rather than spend it in queues or falling off tows! 
Over the last few years, the Scottish snowsports have been revolutionised by the enormous expansion of the skiing areas and the explosion of snowboarding, a new edition of the handbook was called for. Hilary says research for this edition - which, of course, means trying everywhere out on as many different occasions as possible - has been more fun than ever.

Hilary now lives in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, where she teaches her own programme of Yoga Fitness, based on her studies of many ancient and modern disciplines and therapies. She is also an active member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust and is particularly concerned with the task of achieving an intelligent and workable balance between the interests of habitat conservation and Scottish snowsports.