Everest 2021

Everest leaflet, unfolded and detail photos.























Photos courtesy of Folio_books (Glenn)

Also on the FSD wiki here.

>1 wcarter: excellent. Really curious to hear some reviews on this. It would have been an instant buy for me if it was half the price, but I get it’s an exclusive and 2 books ala ASOIAF justifying $200 US.

I just got mine, have leafed through and it's an extremely impressive production.

>1 wcarter:

That was fast!

Having just read Into Thin Air it is hard for me even to look at this book. Also, I'm still traumatized by my kids dragging me to the movie Vertical Limit years ago. I'm a skiing, snowboarding, bouldering and tidepooling fool but not on that amount of rock. Sea level to 10,000ft of Mammoth Mountain is high enough and dangerous enough for me.

>3 gmacaree: Congratulations! Could you please tell me/us which five expeditions have been chosen for the book?

>6 NLNils: 1921, 1922, 1924, 1933 & 1953, thus leaving out the inglorious expeditions of the late 1930s (which I think makes sense).

An absolute must purchase for me - and it's my birthday next week :>)

Thank you >7 TheEconomist:. Are those all British led expeditions is what I’m curious about. I remember that before Tenzing Norgay succeeded with Edmund Hillary, he got very close to the top with a slightly earlier Swiss expedition. I would have hoped this would have been included as it was the actual prelude to the successful ascension the next year.

This is what I mean, in a blurb from Wikipedia:

“1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition

In 1952, he took part in the two Swiss expeditions led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant (spring) and Gabriel Chevalley (autumn), the first serious attempts to climb Everest from the southern (Nepalese) side, after two previous US and British reconnaissance expeditions in 1950 and 1951. Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay were able to reach a height of about 8,595 metres (28,199 ft) on the southeast ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. The expedition opened up a new route on Everest that was successfully climbed the next year. Norgay and Raymond Lambert reached on 28 May the then-record height of 8,600 metres (28,215 ft), and this expedition, during which Norgay was for the first time considered a full expedition member ("the greatest honour that had ever been paid me") forged a lasting friendship between Norgay and his Swiss friends, in particular Raymond Lambert. During the autumn expedition, the team was stopped by bad weather after reaching an altitude of 8,100 metres (26,575 ft).”

>8 NLNils: Yes, they were all British-led expeditions. I have only just ordered my copy. so I don't know what reference will be made to the 1952 Swiss expedition(s). I have read the official account of the 1952 expeditions - this was published after the 1953 expedition had reached the summit, and includes a section by (Sir) John Hunt affirming how important the Spring 1952 expedition was to the success in 1953 (the Swiss found a way through the Khumbu icefall, which is the greatest technical challenge when climbing from Nepal). However, the Spring 1952 expedition was itself highly dependent on a 1951 reconnaissance expedition to Nepal (which was British-led), so I don't think it warrants a whole section to itself.

The Autumn 1952 expedition is perhaps best described as over-optimistic, and deserves a footnote at best; it was extremely unlikely that conditions would be suitable after the monsoon was over for the first successful summit attempt. Even today, autumn expeditions are unusual.

Hi,

A late follow up on this discussion to those that bought the book
A liitle expensive for me but I am really tempted as it does look impressive.
(Maybe I can also justify it as a birthday present to myself , didn't get a leaflet)

I too would be interested in any reviews.
After reading the Wikapedia article on Everest after reading the extract above,
I would also be interested in what references or photographs (given the photographs are from the Royal Geographical Society)
to the 1952 Swiss expedition, if any, are in the book. (I didn't realise , until now, how important this may have been to the succsssful attempt)

>10 peto11:

The eyewitness texts, and photographs, are all from the five British expeditions of 1921, 1922, 1924, 1933, and 1953: it's a co-production with the Royal Geographical Society. I have bought it to give away, so have not pored, or pawed, over it to any great extent, but it is a handsome production and a wonderful photographic record. It's certainly expensive, but the production values are high. I think the key interest lies in the access to the RGS archives.

>10 peto11:
There is certainly mention of the 1952 Swiss expedition in the text, and acknowledgement of the trail blazing the Swiss did for the British expedition, but the photos, diaries and first hand accounts are only for the British expeditions.

I was an eight year old Londoner in 1953 and well remember learning of the "Conquest" of Everest on the same day as the Coronation of Elizabeth II. Post war years were very dreary in Britain, and the combination of these two events generated enormous pride.
So I bought this as soon as I got the leaflet and am delighted by the content and the quality. I am allowing myself just a few pages a week of each volume, to make the pleasure last.
As an adjunct I thoroughly recommend Into the Silence by Wade Davis. It concentrates in great detail on the tragic 1924 expedition, when Mallory and Irvine disappeared into a cloud and were never seen again. The book does an excellent job of setting the background of World War I, and the role it played in shaping the individual members of the expedition. Probably the best mountaineering book written by a non participant that I have ever read

>13 scunliffe: Thank you for sharing your experience. I added Into The Silence to my books of interest, as an avid ‘couchaineer’.

'Couchaineer'....definitely the safest way, and much less need for woolly underwear