RAMSBOTTOM mountaineer Melanie Southworth who survived the Everest avalanche and second Nepal earthquake has arrived home safely.

The 47-year-old has disclosed that she spent her last two weeks in Nepal helping send relief to a remote mountain valley called Tsum, an area just north of the first earthquake epicentre. She said: "All of their houses were destroyed. My particular focus was a community of 35 nuns and 12 young children who live right up in the Himalayas and had no access to aid whatsoever without helicopter support.

"I am pleased to say that, not only did we get a helicopter load of food, shelter and blankets to them, but I have secured the help of a local monk from Lumbini, a village in the south of Nepal where Buddha was born, who will oversea local rebuilding of their communities.

"I am going to spend the summer fundraising for this charity as I know, first hand, that the money is going directly where it's needed. In October, I am going to take a group of trekkers-donors actually to the Tsum valley on a two-week trek, so that they can see first hand where their money has been spent and how essential this aid was in giving these people back their lives."

Commenting on her departure from Nepal, after being forced to postpone her planned Everest climb, Melanie said: "It’s hard to leave a place you care about so much, when it’s in turmoil and chaos. But I’m old enough, and wise enough now, to know that whatever help I could ever give Nepal, will never be enough.