A TEENAGER is back in Britain studying at university after surviving an avalanche, a landslide and a perilous river crossing.

Mark Walsh's travels in India were anything but a holiday. He swapped his Riverside Walk home in Radcliffe for a six-week Himalayan trek last summer.

Mark, now 19, was selected for the trip to the Lahaul Himalaya in northern India after being interviewed by the British Schools Exploring Society.

At the time he had just finished studying biology, chemistry and maths at Holy Cross College in Bury and he is now reading zoology at Aberystwyth University with hopes of becoming a zoological researcher.

Besides experiencing a completely alien environment, Mark and the other members of the expedition conducted scientific research during the adventure.

Mark spent two nights in Delhi where he met his companions for the expedition and had a look around, before the adventure began in earnest.

After a surprisingly comfortable train journey to Chandigrah, it was an all-day coach journey to Shimla, but the journey was worth it as they stayed in a five-star hotel where the British politicians who ruled India used to spend the summer.

Things could not have been more different the next night when Mark and the others slept in a temple where they were told the Hindu god of strength used to reside.

There was drama the next day en route to the acclimatisation camp. The road was blocked due to a landslide, so dynamite was used to clear it.

"The coaches dropped us just outside the village of Rakcham and we had to hike about 9km to base camp which stood at 3,500m above sea level," said Mark.

"We set up the tents which would be our mobile homes for the next six weeks; we were finally camped in the foothills of the Himalayas."

The first few days were spent carrying out research work into the local plant life, but illness soon struck. Mark escaped, but other members of the party were not so lucky and suffered diarrhoea, vomiting and hallucinations.

The group would be attempting to climb one of the peaks so this meant they had to be trained in communication skills and crossing mountains, glaciers and rivers. They also learned what to do if one of the party fell down one of the many crevasses on the glacier! The next camp was situated by a glacial lake which was used for more research. It was at that camp that the group had a lucky escape.

"There was a mud-slide in the night. We heard a crash like thunder as the slope collapsed and we frantically ran around moving the stores from the path of the mud as it slid down to the lake," said Mark.

A ten-hour trek the next day took them to the foot of the glacier where an uncomfortable night was spent sleeping on hard rock.

"Glacier-fed rivers are safest to cross in the morning when they are not as deep and fast-flowing, but the pony wallahs insisted on crossing in the afternoon. As they had the tents and stoves we decided to follow," said Mark.

"The crossing did not go well and, as the afternoon wore on and we tried to get people across roped together in groups of three, they began to get washed downstream. The rope handlers had to pull them in and we eventually stopped because the people on the other bank who had yet to cross looked frightened."

The other half crossed safely the next morning and, after doing some scientific research into the change in terrain and plant life, the party moved on up to the glacier. During the following days they practised their rope-work, learned how to ice-climb, use crampons and ice axes, and how to carry out crevasse rescues.

Having already witnessed a mud-slide, the party now saw a dramatic avalanche and this time they could enjoy the spectacle in safety from the other side of the glacier.

Their planned ascent of one of the peaks had to be postponed due to bad weather and a shortage of fuel, so they retreated back down the valley to undertake some more research.

Fortunately, the weather improved and Mark, and the other members of the group who were deemed fit enough, trekked back up the glacier for their climb.

"We set off at 2am to reach the top of the peak by sun-rise. This was the best time to do it as the cold temperatures kept the snow hard and therefore made it easier to walk on," said Mark.

"There was a full moon which meant it was easy enough to see and we reached the top of the peak just after 5am, in time to see the sun rise."

They were back at base camp 12 hours later and not surprisingly had the best night's sleep of the whole trip!

The group spent two nights in a five-star hotel after returning to Delhi, and even squeezed in a trip to the fantastic Taj Mahal at Agra before the long flight home.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.