Claire was born at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and moved around with her military family until aged 12 when she settled in her parents home town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. At aged 20 she moved to Bangor and discovered her love of the mountains, whilst there she was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of North Wales, Bangor. After her degree in 2002, she moved to Switzerland where she trained to become a snowboard instructor, then after training in France and Italy she qualified as a BASI Level 1 Snowboard instructor certificate. In 2004 she made Verbier her home. Claire qualified as a TESOL teacher and worked for 5 years at Brillantmont International School in Lausanne and during her time there, achieved a Level 4 Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy and more recently she has completed a Level 3 Teaching assistant (SEN) Diploma.

Claire lives just outside Verbier with her young family and she can often be found chasing her highly energetic boys around the skatepark in Le Châble and walking her dog on the high mountain trails. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, reading and cooking.