The third Everest expedition

George Mallory · 1924 CE · Earth

The third Everest expedition — George Mallory · 1924 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Climb Everest from Tibet by the North Col and the north-east ridge, with or without the new oxygen apparatus.

Historical context

Everest could only be approached from Tibet, through a country the British had entered by force in 1904, and every attempt began with a five-week march across the plateau from Darjeeling. The 1921 reconnaissance had found the North Col, the 1922 attempt had reached 8,320 metres and killed seven porters, and 1924 was meant to finish the job. It ended instead with the two best climbers of the expedition walking into a cloud, and the question of whether they reached the top has been asked for a hundred years.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Darjeeling

    March 1924

    The expedition gathers in the hill station at the end of March: nine climbers, a doctor, a transport officer, seventy porters and the new oxygen sets in their steel frames.

  2. Phari Dzong

    5 April 1924

    On 5 April the caravan reaches Phari, the first Tibetan town on the plateau, at 4,300 metres and reputedly the dirtiest place in Asia.

  3. Rongbuk monastery

    28 April 1924

    On 28 April the expedition passes the highest monastery in the world, at the mouth of the Rongbuk valley, with the whole north face of Everest filling the sky beyond it.

  4. The North Col

    21 May 1924

    After two retreats in blizzards and the deaths of two porters from the cold, Camp IV is established on the North Col at 7,000 metres on 21 May.

  5. Norton's 8,572 metres

    4 June 1924

    On 4 June Norton and Somervell climb from Camp VI without oxygen; Somervell stops at 8,540 metres with his throat blocked, and Norton reaches 8,572 metres in the great couloir before turning back.

  6. Camp VI

    7 June 1924

    Mallory and Irvine reach Camp VI at 8,138 metres on 7 June with two oxygen cylinders each, and send the porters down with a note asking Odell to look out for them on the ridge.

  7. Going strong for the top

    8 June 1924

    At 12:50 on 8 June 1924 the clouds part for a moment and Odell, at about 7,900 metres, sees two black dots move up a rock step on the ridge and vanish; they are the last living sight of Mallory and Irvine.

Outcome

Norton reached 8,572 metres without oxygen on 4 June; Mallory and Irvine were last seen above 8,600 metres at 12:50 on 8 June and never came down. Two porters died of the cold on the way up.

George Mallory

The schoolmaster who went to Everest three times and vanished with Andrew Irvine into a cloud near the summit on 8 June 1924, leaving the oldest question in mountaineering.

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Sources

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