1922 MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION - Photographs and Map

Bruce and Mallory - 1922 Mount Everest Expedition

Mount Everest Expedition Reports, Photographs, and Map.

Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1922 (July - December)

Notes & Condition: Geographical Journal. Vol LX. 8vo. viii, 464 pages. In original royal navy blue cloth, titled and tooled in gilt to spine. Royal Geographical Society stamp in gilt to spine and front. Minor wear to spine extremities, otherwise in Very Good Condition. This is the complete volume, in original condition, with the most striking color fold-out map and fold-out photographic plates. These reports pre-date the respective first edition books that were published.

The Mount Everest related papers consist of:
    • The Mount Everest Expedition (3 separate contemporary notices)
    • Byways in Hunza and Nagar, by Brig.-General G.K. Cockerill
    • Outline Map of Mount Everest and its Northern Glaciers
    • The Rocks of Mount Everest, by Dr. A.M. Heron
    • Photographs from the Mount Everest Expedition
    • The Mount Everest Expedition in 1922:
        - Darjeeling to the Rongbuk Glacier Base Camp, by Brig.-General the Hon. C.G. Bruce
        - The East Rongbuk Glacier, by Lieut.-Colonel E. L. Strutt
        - The First High Climb, by George Leigh Mallory
        - The Second High Climb, by Captain George I. Finch
        - Mount Everest Photographs

Absolutely essential to any Everest enthusiast is the compilation of fifteen photographs (one of which is a panoramic view), specifically illustrating the route of the First British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition of 1921. Featuring all members of the expedition, the Serracs, Chang La Camp, base camp and the Rongbuk Glacier, the approach to the Jelep La and to Chang La; the northern face of Everest, and more, accompanied by detailed explanatory text.

Foremost, gripping narrative of the Second British Everest Expedition, in the words of C.G. Bruce, expedition leader, and various other team members, vividly chronicles the momentous expedition.

Climbing leader and deputy expedition leader Edward Lisle Strutt's narrative describes the exploration and surveying of the East Rongbuk glacier, the journey to No. III Camp and subsequent ascent of the North Col accompanied by Morshead, Norton, Somervell, Mallory and ten porters, where he describes the slopes of the Chang La and the attempt by Finch and Bruce of the Col. Mallory's recounting of the 'first high climb; with colleagues Norton and Somervell deals pragmatically with matters of shelter below the North Col; chances of success; capacity of the porters to carry loads above 23,000 feet and the limits of the climbers; difficulties relating to the apparently impassable crevasse on the col; anxiety about the weather; acclimatisation problems and the merits of climbing with oxygen. Captain George Finch, member of Everest's 'second assault' together with Bruce, reports on their ascent progress, offering his opinion on the usefulness of oxygen as a climbing aid and the benefits the two experienced from it whilst ascending the Col; praise for the efforts of the sherpas. A good humoured and anecdotal account.

The Reconnaissance Expedition
In the 1890s British army officers Sir Francis Younghusband and Charles (C.G.) Bruce, who were stationed in India, met and began discussing the possibility of an expedition to Everest. The officers became involved with two British exploring organizations, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the Alpine Club, and these groups became instrumental in fostering interest in exploring the mountain. Once permission had been obtained from Tibet in 1920, in 1921 the RGS and the Alpine Club formed the Mount Everest Committee, chaired by Younghusband, to organize and finance the expedition. A party under Lieutenant Colonel C.K. Howard-Bury set out to explore the whole Himalayan range and find a route up Everest. The other members were G.H. Bullock, A.M. Kellas, George Mallory, H. Raeburn, A.F.R. Wollaston, Majors H.T. Morshead and O.E. Wheeler (surveyors), and A.M. Heron (geologist).

The Second British Everest Expedition, 1922 to the mountain, led by Brigadier General C.G. Bruce, following the same route reconnoitered the previous year. George Mallory returns along with climbers George Finch, Geoffrey Bruce, Henry Morshead, Edward Norton, Howard Somervell, and John Noel as expedition filmmaker. On May 22nd, Mallory, Norton, Somervell and Morshead make the first assault, and climb to 26,800 feet (8170 m) on the North Ridge before retreating. On May 23rd, George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce climb up the North Ridge and Face to 27,300 (8320 meters) feet using oxygen. On June 7th, Mallory leads a third attempt on the summit that claims the lives of seven Sherpa climbers in an avalanche below the North Col, the first reported deaths on Everest. This constituted the last ascent Mallory would make before his disappearance in June 1924.