The 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition set off to explore how it might be possible to get to the vicinity of Mount Everest, to reconnoitre possible routes for ascending the mountain, and – if possible – make the first ascent of the highest mountain in the world. At that time Nepal was closed to foreigners, so any approach had to be from the north, through Tibet. A feasible route was discovered from the east up the Kharta Glacier and then crossing the Lhakpa La pass north east of Everest. It was then necessary to descend to the East Rongbuk Glacier before climbing again to Everest's North Col. However, although the North Col was reached, it was not possible to climb further before the expedition had to withdraw.
Initially, the expedition explored from the north and reached the main Rongbuk Glacier, only to find that it seemed to provide no likely routes to the summit. However, at the time it was not realised that the East Rongbuk glacier actually flowed into the Rongbuk glacier via its meltwater stream – it was thought it descended away to the east.
As a reconnaissance the expedition was a success because it determined that a good route might be to approach the East Rongbuk glacier via the Rongbuk glacier, and then follow the North Col route to the summit. In the following year, the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition took this route and was able to climb above the North Col, although it did not reach the summit.
Charles Howard-Bury led the 1921 expedition and George Mallory, who had never before been to Himalaya, was included in the team. As events were to turn out, Mallory became the de facto lead climber. Howard-Bury wrote a book about the expedition, Mount Everest, the Reconnaissance, 1921, to which Mallory contributed six of the chapters.
Background
In 1856 the Great Trigonometric Survey was able to calculate that the highest peak in the world was not Kangchenjunga, but, rather, the somewhat unnoticed Peak XV, which was measured to be 29,002 feet high.The nearest observation was from a distance of . Modern techniques would have measured the height at that time to be about 29,030 feet. Mountaineering was in its infancy but antagonism and apathy towards it were waning so, by 1907, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Alpine Club, a plan was hatched for a British reconnaissance of Everest. General Charles Bruce, who later on became the president of the club, was chosen to lead the expedition. Entry to Tibet, which had historically refused entry to foreigners, became possible due to Sir Francis Younghusband's imperial and exploratory activities, which culminated in his "Mission to Lhasa" and subsequent 1904 Treaty of Lhasa. Initially, the British Secretary of State for India, Lord Morley, refused permission for an expedition out of "consideration of high Imperial policy". This political delay and World War I, in John Buchan's words, "put an end to these pleasant fancies".
By 1920 the Secretary of State had given approval for an expedition so Colonel Charles Howard-Bury was sent on a diplomatic mission which persuaded the Viceroy of India, Lord Reading, to support that idea. Because Nepal was closed to entry at the time, the expedition's planned approach march would be through Sikkim. The viceroy's agent there, Sir Charles Bell, had been working in Lhasa and he had formed a good relationship with the Dalai Lama, who granted an entry pass for the expedition.Translation at s:Tibetan passport issued to 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition.
In January 1921 the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society (of which Younghusband was now President) jointly set up the Mount Everest Committee to co-ordinate and fund the expedition. Although they initially supported an all-out attempt at the summit, members of the committee eventually agreed that the primary purpose of the mission should be reconnaissance.
The expedition team and the march in
Bruce's military duties prevented him from participating so Howard-Bury was chosen as leader. It was a reconnaissance expedition and at the time was the closest any Western explorer had been to the mountain. The expedition set off in April 1921 – the climbing team consisted of two experienced mountaineers, Harold Raeburn and Alexander Kellas, and two younger men, George Mallory and Guy Bullock, both Old Wykehamists without any Himalayan experience. The expedition team also included Sandy Wollaston, a naturalist and doctor and Alexander Heron, a geologist. Henry Morshead (also an Old Wykehamist) and Oliver Wheeler were surveyors seconded from the army. When George Bernard Shaw saw a photograph (above) of them wearing Norfolk jackets, knickerbockers, puttees and tweeds he quipped that they "looked like a Connemara picnic trapped in a snowstorm".
The expedition, having gathered Sherpas, Bhutias, porters, supplies and 100 Army mules (which later had to be replaced with hill mules and yaks), set off from Darjeeling in British India on 18 May 1921 for the march to Everest. During their march, the climate changed from hot and humid with verdant growth and heavy, frequent rain, to cold, dry and very windy. The route took them through Sikkim – northeast through Tista valley, over the Jelep LaLa is Tibetan for "pass" or "col". into Tibet and on into the Chumbi Valley, passing Phari at , crossing the Himalaya watershed at Tang La and continuing to the Tibetan plateau. Then, leaving the Lhasa road and taking a westward course, the expedition reached Khamba Dzong. Here, on 6 June, Kellas died suddenly of heart failure and Raeburn became sick and had to return to Sikkim. The party followed the valley of the Arun River to the west and at Shiling were first able to see Everest well enough to begin to gauge its topography. Travelling on through Shekar DzongShekar, or Shelkar.Dzong is Tibetan for "fort". they reached Tingri Dzong which became the base for the northern phase of their explorations. By that time, Mallory and Howard-Bury had taken a dislike to each other, with Mallory writing that Howard-Bury was "too much the landlord with not only Tory prejudices, but a highly developed sense of hate and contempt for other sorts of people than his own."
Northern reconnaissance
From Tingri, several valleys could be followed south towards Everest and on 23 June Mallory and Bullock started off to the south with sixteen Sherpas and porters. Two days later, at Chobuk they reached the foot of the Rongbuk valley and were then able to see Everest. Ten miles further was the snout of the Rongbuk GlacierRongbuk, or Rongpu. near where they pitched base camp at , just beyond the Rongbuk Monastery (Mallory called it "Chöyling"). Only familiar with Alpine glaciers, they had difficulty negotiating seracs and retired back at where the West Rongbuk Glacier debouches.
Rongbuk Glacier
Taking six days to acclimatise and recuperate they established Camp II at . On 1 July Mallory with five Sherpas went towards the head of the glacier near the North Face of Everest and at he was able to evaluate the western side of the North Col.The North Col was and is frequently called, Chang La, chang being Tibetan for "north". Now sometimes called Bei'ao There seemed to be no satisfactory way to reach the North Col but above the col, and towards the summit, there seemed to be a feasible route. Everest's west ridge also did not seem encouraging from this location so Mallory decided the West Rongbuk glacier should be explored.
West Rongbuk Glacier
The topography to the west is very complex so on 5 July Mallory and Bullock climbed the Ri Ring to get a better perspective. They were able to examine the upper North Face and the north ridge above the North Col and considered the latter was manageable. However, they formed a wrong impression that a high ridge ran from Everest's North PeakThe expedition also called North Peak Changtse – now sometimes Bei Peak stretching away east to the Arun river. They therefore thought that any approach to the eastern side of the North Col could not be from Rongbuk, never imagining that the glacier on the other side of the North Col would turn back into the main Rongbuk glacier. In fact, where it joins, just above the Rongbuk Monastery, only a small stream is to be seen. Looking more to the west, two routes to Everest looked promising, one over the Lho La at the head of the Rongbuk glacier and one over an unnamed col between Pumori and Lingtren – the hope was that a valley to the south of these cols might provide a good route to the summit. Mallory climbed a peak he called the "Island Peak" (Lingtrennup) from where he attempted to photograph Changtse, Everest and Lhotse, which was just visible. They eventually reached the unnamed col by going west up what is now known as the Pumori Glacier and so by 19 July were able to look down into the Western Cwm and the Khumbu Glacier. They were not able to see the South Col but they thought the Khumbu glacier looked "terribly steep and broken" and anyway the drop from their col to the glacier was a "hopeless precipice". Any approach through the Western Cwm would therefore have to be from Nepal and by a different expedition.
Camps were struck on 20 July with no route having been selected but there remained the possibility of reaching the North Col from the east. Before heading that way, Mallory and Bullock started to investigate the place where, unknown to them, the East Rongbuk glacier debouches. They had to curtail their exploration here because bad news came that the photographs Mallory had taken were all useless because he had been putting the photographic plates in back to front. Photographs were vital as part of the reconnaissance so for two days Mallory and Bullock raced around retaking as many as possible. On this occasion Mallory re-took his photographs from "Island Peak" and Bullock actually reached the Lho La and was able to photograph the Khumbu Icefall. On 25 July they rejoined Howard-Bury's party at Chobuk.
Morshead and Wheeler's surveys and other work
From the Survey of India, Morshead and Wheeler, with the assistance of Indian surveyors Lalbir Singh Thapa, Gujjar Singh, and Turubaz Khan, produced the first accurate maps of the Everest region. They surveyed of difficult unknown territory producing a map of four miles to an inch (1:250,000) and updating the map of Sikkim. Using photo-topographical surveying instruments, Major Wheeler single-handedly completed a methodical and detailed photographic survey of the environs of Everest itself producing a one-inch (1:63360) map. Expedition naturalist and medical officer Wollaston had collected and identified plants, birds and mammals, including new specimens, and Heron had made geological investigations over and produced a geological map. Reports of these activities appeared in Howard-Bury's book along with a description of the scientific equipment and cameras that were used. Wheeler, Heron and Howard-Bury reached Nangpa La west of Everest and on the Nepalese border. Morshead and Wollaston crossed the border further west at Lapche, south of Lapche La (Labuche La), and got as far west as Nyenyam. The geographical and geological surveying reached as far north as the Tsangpo river.
Howard-Bury had been exploring to the east to find a location for a future base camp. Unable to cross a tributary of the Arun, he had come to the district of KhartaKharta, or Karda. where no one knew anything about where their local river came from. Since it was glacial, Howard-Bury presumed it came from Everest and so would be a good place for an eastern base camp, if one was to be necessary. Howard-Bury then returned west for further exploration and to organise the removal of the whole expedition to Kharta on 29 July.
Eastern reconnaissance
Kharta valley to Kama valley