YOUNG explorers will swap Roseberry Topping for the Himalayas as they travel to Nepal to help earthquake-hit communities.

The pupils, aged 13-16 and from Egglescliffe School, near Yarm, are fundraising for the trip to the mountainous country later this year.

The group of 15 pupils and teachers will spend two weeks in Ghunsa and Lapcha in October to camp and trek while carrying out community work.

Egglescliffe School already had connections with Nepal and has been working in partnership with Melamchi School in the north east of Nepal for more than three years, raising more than £2,000 to help fund classroom equipment and resources.

Students also communicated with each other, finding out the similarities and differences of teenage life in different settings.

But in 2015 when the earthquake struck Nepal it destroyed all the buildings at Melamchi School, miraculously with no loss of life.

The learning project was ground to a halt while the school was rebuilt. However, other schools that have not been so well publicised have not been as fortunate.

Egglescliffe School has already raised £11,000 of the £20,000 needed to send the group to two other schools, to both contribute to the community projects and raise awareness of tourism in the region. Tourism was a major industry but has been decimated by the earthquake.

Fundraising activities undertaken so far by the group include an abseil 164ft from the top of Tees Transporter Bridge in December, braving the Boxing Day Dip in Redcar, manning a stall at Stockton Sparkles, making cake bakes, attending car boot sales and organising a race night.

Group organiser Mick McElvaney, Religious Studies teacher at Egglescliffe, said: “Nepal is the sixth poorest country in the world.

“One of the objectives of CAN is to help the mountain people. As a not-for-profit organisation, they aim to empower local communities to help themselves by providing employment for the porters that work alongside them on their treks and provide longer-term sustainable incomes.

“Not only are we undertaking an ambitious and imaginative series of fundraising events, we are also starting to plan our training regime. During our visit we will trek up to six hours a day and climb to heights of over 4,000 metres so we are already in training to increase our fitness levels.

“As a group we’ve already climbed Roseberry Topping, but at 330 metres we need to aim to multiply that height twelve times over, we have also trekked around Carlton Bank and will tackle Scar Fell Pike in the summer. We also aim to go camping as a group, prior to the visit to increase the sense of team building."

A further £9,000 still needs to be raised so the school is looking for donations. It is also looking for raffle or auction prizes from individuals or businesses.

Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/travelnepal