A student at the Cumbria University has been killed in a climbing accident in the French Alps just days after achieving a 2:1 in his outdoor  education degree. 

Lawrence Walker had been studying at Cumbria University's Ambleside campus and was climbing with a friend and two French mountaineers.

The 21-year-old, who is a cub leader, suffered fatal head inmjuries from a falling boulder.

The accident happened when his 21-year-old friend, who was climbing with Lawrencer, accidentally dislodged a huge section of rock during the ascent.

The boulder struck Lawrence and sent both men falling more than 30 yards down the glacial mountain face into rocks, ice and snow.

Despite the fall, the second Briton’s injuries were not life threatening, according to mountain police.

The accident was on the north face of the Ailefroide mountain in the Hautes-Alpes, southeastern  France.

Parents Richard, 41, and Janet Walker, 47, of Shelley, Huddersfield, said: 'Our  family are absolutely devastated by our son's accident and are struggling to  come to terms with this tragedy.

'Although we are currently struggling very hard with grief, we do take great  comfort in the fact that he did die doing exactly what he loved - climbing with  his best friend.

'Lawrence was passionate about climbing and the outdoors.  

'He was with his best friend in the French Alps, three weeks into a three-month  long climbing expedition they had been planning for a long time.

'They were both excellent and experienced climbers with the greatest degree of  caution and a high level of responsibility.'

Because of difficult weather conditions, the student's body  remains 13,000 feet up on Ailefroide as French rescue authorities wait for an  opportunity to recover him.

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