Author: Stephen Venables
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 252
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8174362576
Description
On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood atop the highest mountain in the world, where no one had ever stood before. This magnificent volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of their historic climb, and chronicles the history of Everest exploration from the early years of the twentieth century to the present. It is the first and only book on the subject to benefit from complete access to the Royal Geographical Society’s astonishingly rich collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts.
Painstakingly selected from over 20,000 subjects, more than 400 photographs – many never before published – record the surveying, planning, reconnaissance expeditions, and ascents that the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club jointly launched –beginning in 1921 and culminating in Hillary and Norgay’s landmark feat. Among the memorable photographs reproduced here are the first aerial views of Mount Everest; the last known photograph of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who perished soon afterward on the slopes of Everest; Hillary’s iconic photograph of Tenzing Norgay standing triumphant on Everest’s summit; images showing the daily experience of expedition members along with the dangers they faced; portraits of the life and customs of the Sherpas and the other Tibetan peoples; and the spectacular beauty of the Everest massif itself.
These unique and breathtaking images are prefaced by Sir Edmund Hillary and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and are accompanied by chapters written by renowned mountaineer Stephen Venables; the well-know mountain journalist and climber Ed Douglas; Judy and Tashi Tenzing, grandson of the famed Sherpa Tensing Norgay; and noted historian John Keay.
The result is a work of lasting significance that captures as never before the sense of discovery, excitement, achievement, and exhilaration experienced over the years by those who are brave and determined enough to challenge the world’s greatest mountain.
Contents
FOREWORD
Sir Edmund Hillary
A MESSAGE FROM THE DALAI LAMA
Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Joanna Wright, Curator of Photography, Royal Geographical Society
THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD
John Keay
CHOMOLUNGMA: ABODE OF THE GODS
Ed Douglas
THE LONG ASCENT, 1921-1953
Stephen Venables
SHERPAS: TIGERS OF THE SNOW
Tashi and Judy Tenzing
THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE
Stephen Venables with Reinhold Messner
MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION MEMBERS, 1921-1953
Sue Thompson and Mike Westmacott
ASCENTS SINCE 1953
Endnotes, Suggested Reading, and Picture Acknowledgments