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Conquering Chomolungma
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A History of climbing Mount Everest R
on Camp 4
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Source: Swiber Holding Limited

North
Glacie
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CH
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Panoramic view of Mount Everest (2009) N A Camp 5
EP
"Into thin air"
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Base
The early 20th Century had seen exploration reach year after year. A team led by John Hunt Camp
all the corners of the Earth, all areas except the established base camp at the foot of the infamous

28°0'0"N

28°0'0"N
mighty Mount Everest. Known to the Sherpa’s of Khombu Icefall in the Western Cwn, on the south
Nepal as “Chomolungma”, Mount Everest began side of Everest. Finally, a new route to tackle the e ge
id
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ac
to be climbed in the 1920’s. The first duo to summit had been found and gave new hope to R
attempt the giant of the Himalayas was British Everest expeditions for years to come. Two parties 700
0 F Camp 6
climber George Mallory and technician Andrew were selected to try and reach the summit, the
Irvine in June of 1924. Although Mallory had second and, most notable, party included New
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st
No
previous experience on the British expeditions of Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese
K a
Everest, Irvine was brought along as a specialist climber Tenzing Norgay. As the first party failed h Camp 2 E
um W e
with the oxygen tanks and had no climbing
experience. The team led by Lt. Col. Edward
to reach the summit of Everest, both Hillary and
Norgay were poised to be the first men to climb bu #
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th
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Norton had promoted Mallory to climb leader and Everest. d g

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or
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on June 6th both Irvine and Mallory set off from 850

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the North Col attempting to reach the Everest
summit three days later.

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Mt Everest

ef
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8850 m

750
6500

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Camp 3
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Photo: Noel Odell

Camp 9

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Camp 4

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Mallory and Irvine prepare for their ascent up Everest (1924)
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However during their ascent to the summit,

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sudden snow squalls blasted the slopes of the

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Photo: Edmund Hillary

North Face of the mountain. A geologist, Noel

Odell, had been following the pair and last spotted w
the pair nearing the base of the summit but upon #
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n
arriving at the duo’s high camp found oxygen Camp 8
tanks and tents scattered across the mountain.
Mallory and Irvine were now declared lost, and to
this day no one knows if the two men ever reached
the “top of the world”
Norgay at the Everest summit (1953)

Early on May 29, 1953 Hillary and Norgay left

Nuptse #
VCamp 5
7861 m
27°58'0"N

27°58'0"N
their high elevation camp (Camp #9, 8503 m), and
finally reached the summit of Mount Everest at
Camp 7
"View from the top!" approximately 11:30 that morning. The two took
some photos and buried a small cross into the
Camp 6
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peak, and Hillary exclaimed, “…to my great
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delight I realized we were on top of Mount

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75 8501 m
Everest and that the whole world spread out below 00
700
us.”

Projection: Transverse Mercator

1953 Camps #
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Datum: WGS84
Route Source: National Geographic 1924 Route
Photo: Alfred Gregory

Magazine (2003)
Data Source: Imaging Everest
(http://imagingeverest.rgs.org) 1953 Route
Hillary and Norgay during their Everest expedition (1953) NOVA Online
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/lost/
Sir Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgary atop Everest (1953)
mystery/) (2000) Contours (500m) 0 1 2
6500
3
Almost thirty years prior to the 1953 expedition, Date: September 29, 2010
two climbers had vanished into the thin air of Created by: Cam McKellar
Mount Everest. But ever persistent, the British, Disclaimer: This map has been created as a student Border Kilometres
Swiss and Nepalese climbing teams continued to project and should not be used as a reference or
make the treacherous journey up the mountain reproduced in any way.
86°52'0"E 86°54'0"E 86°56'0"E