A NORTH Yorkshire mountaineer has told of his fears for friends and colleagues affected by the Nepalese earthquake and Everest avalanche.

Alan Hinkes, from Northallerton, said he had been in contact with some friends in Nepal and Kathmandu – but that many of his Nepalese friends had not yet been in touch.

The earthquake, which happened on Saturday and measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, caused a massive avalanche on Everest.

Mr Hinkes said: “There are a lot of people I know at Everest, people go out every year to lead trips up the mountain.

“Communications are down and I’m sure everyone has more pressing matters to deal with but I am concerned for them.”

The celebrated mountaineer, who has been to Nepal around 30 times, has also been caught up in an earthquake himself in Kathmandu.

He said: “This one was in 1988 – I was woken from my hotel in the middle of the night and in my half-asleep state I wasn’t overly concerned about it at first, more fascinated by it.

“There were a similar number of deaths that time too.”

He said as most people in Nepal live in ramshackle homes, there will be a lot of work needed to help people rebuilt their lives.

He also described avalanches on the mountain as being ferocious and deadly.

“The earthquake triggered a massive avalanche on Everest that you wouldn’t normally get. Base Camp is normally very safe but this could have obliterated it.

“It is like being blown up – then there is snow and ice but it is not fluffy snow, it is filled with rocks and pieces of ice the size of cars.

“The climbers at Camp One are now in a dangerous position – someone will need to climb back from Base Camp to put in more safety ropes.”

County Durham man Nick Talbot, 39, is believed to be safe and well, and making his way down the mountain after one of his teammates was killed in the disaster and two others were injured.

Mr Talbot, from Hamsterley, who works for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, was hoping to be the first person with cystic fibrosis to scale Everest.

Tom Briggs, marketing director for UK-based climbing company Jagged Globe, said the company was in touch with the team via two satellite phones and they are being kept up to date on their progress towards safety.

Mr Hinkes added that the charity he set up to support sherpas, Sherpa Aid UK, will be needed more than ever as it will mostly be sherpas affected on Everest.

Chris Sowton, chairman of the trustees of Global Action Nepal which supports various projects including encouraging gender equality, teaching about sanitation, and helping children through education, said: “It makes it all the more poignant for some members of our team who ran the London Marathon on Sunday in aid of the charity.”

To support the charities visit www.nepalaction.global for Global Action Nepal, or for its Nepal Rebuild fund, visit https://mydonate.bt.com/events/rebuildnepal. For Sherpa Aid UK visit http://www.jagged-globe.co.uk.