Mount Everest

This text provides a fantastic account of what is known as the Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, which took place in 1921. The account is primarily written by Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, one of the leaders of the expedition assigned by the newly formed Mount Everest Committee, which also funded the expedition. The primary purpose of the expedition was to ascertain if there was a route to the summit from the north side of the mountain. The team consisted of Howard-Bury as leader, Harold Raeburn as mountaineering leader and George Mallory, Guy Bullock and Edward Oliver Wheeler as other climbers. As the expedition progressed, Raeburn's health deteriorated, and George Mallory stepped up as mountaineering leader. It would be Mallory that would also go on the next two expeditions up Everest. The 1924 expedition would claim Mallory's life. It is still unknown whether he and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, summited the mountain before they died, as the circumstances of their death is still largely unknown.