Subsequent Everest Expeditions
In mapping Mount Everest and the surrounding region, the 1921 reconnaissance team
prepared the way for subsequent expeditions. In 1922 and 1924, British teams travelled to Mount Everest.
Neither expedition reached the summit but both suffered tragedies - one of which has entered mountaineering folklore.
prepared the way for subsequent expeditions. In 1922 and 1924, British teams travelled to Mount Everest.
Neither expedition reached the summit but both suffered tragedies - one of which has entered mountaineering folklore.
In all it may be said that one factor beyond all others is required for success. Too many chances are against the climbers; too many contingencies may turn against them. Anything like a breakdown of the transport will be fatal; soft snow on the mountain will be an impregnable defence; a big wind will send back the strongest; even so small a matter as a boot fitting a shade too tight may endanger one man's foot and involve the whole party in retreat. The climbers must have above all things, if they are to win through, good fortune, and the greatest good fortune of all for mountaineers, some constant spirit of kindness in Mount Everest itself, the forgetfulness for long enough of its more cruel moods; for we must remember that the highest of mountains is capable of severity, a severity so awful and so fatal that the wiser sort of men do well to think and tremble even on the threshold of their high endeavour.
George Leigh Mallory assesses the dangers inherent to climbing Mount Everest. The above quote comes from the official account of the 1921 expedition. Mallory and his climbing companion Andrew Irvine would die in 1924 while attempting to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
|
1922: Death on the North Col
The 1921 reconnaissance mission's success in mapping Mount Everest, and in finding a potential route to the summit, created the conditions for a follow-up expedition: one that aimed to reach the mountain's summit. This expedition, which took place in 1922, was led by Charles Bruce and contained two members of the 1921 reconnaissance team: George Mallory and Henry Morshead.
It made three attempts to reach the summit: all unsuccessful. The first attempt, beginning on 19 May 1922, involved a party of four, including Mallory and Morshead. They reached a height of about 8,225 metres before descending. That attempt was made without oxygen. The second attempt took place a few days later during which three members of the team used bottled oxygen. They reached a height of around 8,350 metres before turning back. A third attempt, involving four climbers and fourteen porters, began in early June. Mallory led the group, which was ascending the North Col when an avalanche killed seven of the porters. This tragedy marked the first reported climbing deaths on Mount Everest. 1924: An attempt too far
|
George Leigh Mallory in 1915
|
|
It was two years before the Mount Everest Committee sanctioned another Everest expedition. As in 1922, the 1924 expedition was led by Charles Bruce and he was again accompanied by George Mallory, the only person to have been part of the climbing team in the three expeditions, thus far. Bruce's 1924 expedition followed the same route as the 1921 reconnaissance, arriving at the Rongbuk Valley near the end of April.
The expedition made three attempts to reach the summit: the first two of which were made without the use of bottled oxygen. Mallory and Bruce made the first attempt via the North Col on 1 June 1924, accompanied by nine porters. The group encountered harsh winds at over 7,000 metres and was forced to turn back. A second attempt began the following day with a group comprising Edward Norton, Howard Somerville and three Sherpas. Norton, ascending when Somerville was unable to go any higher, reached an altitude of 8,565 metres but the difficulty of the terrain and sheer exhaustion compelled him to descend the mountain. A third attempt began on 6 June with Mallory and Andrew Irvine accompanied by eight porters. Unlike Mallory, Irvine was a relatively inexperienced climber but he was comfortable with using the oxygen technology that would be deployed in this attempt. The two climbers started out from their camp at 8,170 metres on the morning 8 June. Mallory and Irvine were last seen, through mist, in the early afternoon of 8 June by team-member Noel Odell. He saw two black figures 'nearing the base of the summit pyramid', although it remains uncertain as to where exactly Mallory and Irvine were located when spotted by Odell. They may have been within 150 metres of the summit. Odell's view was quickly obscured by clouds which enveloped the climbers and, at some point thereafter, Mallory and Irvine died on the mountain. Ever since, mountaineers have speculated that the two climbers may have reached the summit before their deaths. The 1924 expedition team lacked the diplomatic savvy that had characterised Howard-Bury's reconnaissance mission. The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan authorities disapproved of the team's decision to use a group of Tibetan monks as a publicity stunt for The Epic of Everest, the official film of the 1924 expedition, made by one its participants, John Noel. Before each screening of the film, the monks - although its not clear how many of the group were actually monks - would perform on stage, chanting and dancing in a sort of parody of Tibetan traditions. The debacle caused the Dalai Lama to withdraw permission for subsequent British expeditions to Tibet during the remainder of the 1920s. |
An image from the 1921 reconnaissance mission. (Marian Keaney/Westmeath Library Services: Howard-Bury Collection) Numerous British expeditions reached Everest during the 1930s but none reached the summit. That feat was not achieved until 1953, when Edmund Hillery and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit via the South Col route.
|
