The 1922 British Mount Everest expedition was the first mountaineering expedition with the express aim of making the first ascent of Mount Everest. It was also the first expedition that used bottled oxygen while climbing Everest. The attempt was made from the northern side of Everest out of Tibet. At the time, Everest could not be attempted from the south out of Nepal as the country was closed to Western foreigners.
The 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition had explored all the eastern and northern surroundings of the mountain. In searching for the easiest route, George Mallory, who would also be a member of the 1924 expedition (and the only person on all three expeditions in 1921, 1922, and 1924), had discovered a route which, in his opinion, would allow an attempt on the summit.
The expedition attempted to summit, unsuccessfully, three times. On the third attempt, seven Nepalese porters died as the result of a group-induced avalanche. The expedition decided to return to the base and not attempt the summit again. The expedition marked the first reported climbing deaths on Everest. The expedition did, however, establish a new world record climbing height of during its second summit attempt. This record was exceeded in the 1924 expedition.
Preparations
A focus of the attempted ascent was an expression of the thinking that was common in the British Empire. As the British were unsuccessful as the first to reach the North and South Poles they tried to go to the so-called "third pole"; to "conquer" Mount Everest.
Cecil Rawling had planned three expeditions in 1915 and 1916 that did not happen due to the outbreak of the First World War and Rawling's death in 1917. The expeditions in the 1920s were planned and managed by the British Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club in a joint Mount Everest Committee.Holzel, Salkeld: In der Todeszone
The surveying activities in 1921 allowed the creation of maps needed for the 1922 expedition. John Noel took on the role of official expedition photographer. He took with him three film cameras, two panorama cameras, four sheet cameras, one stereo camera and five Vest Pocket Kodaks. The latter were small lightweight cameras that could be taken by the mountaineers to great heights. These cameras were intended to allow climbers to document a possible summit success. The expedition also took a special "black tent" for photographic work. Thanks to Noel's efforts, many photographs and one film chronicled the expedition.Breashers, Salkeld: Mallorys Geheimnis
During the 1921 expedition they learned the best time for a summit bid would be April–May before the monsoon season. The expeditions in 1922 and 1924 were planned accordingly.
Bottled oxygen as a mountaineering aid The 1922 expedition can be seen as the start of the enduring question of "fair means" and controversies about using bottled oxygen in the Everest "death zone". Alexander Kellas was one of the first scientists who pointed out the possible use of bottled oxygen for accessing great heights. At this time the available technology (derived from mining rescue systems) were, in his opinion, too heavy to be a help at high altitudes. Kellas was part of the Everest reconnaissance expedition in 1921 but died on the way to Everest. That expedition had taken bottled oxygen with them, but it was never used. Few paid much attention to Kellas' innovative ideas, possibly because his scientific work belonged strictly to the amateur tradition.
More attention was paid to the pressure vessel experiments of Professor Georges Dreyer, who had studied high-altitude problems the Royal Air Force encountered in the First World War. According to his experiments—which he did partly together with George Ingle Finch—survival at great heights could only be possible with the aid of additional oxygen.
As a consequence of this scientific work, the 1922 expedition planned to use bottled oxygen. One bottle contained ca. 240 litres of oxygen. Four bottles were fixed on a carrying frame which had to be carried by the mountaineer. With the additional elements the total weight was 14.5 kg, so every mountaineer had to carry an additional heavy load. Ten of these systems were taken. As well as a mask over mouth and nose, a tube was held in the mouth. Dreyer also had proposed the flow of oxygen: at a flow rate of 2 litres of oxygen per minute, on the summit climb they should use 2.4 litres per minute.West, John; Journal of Applied Physiology The result was a usable time of two hours per bottle. All the oxygen would be used up after a maximum of 8 hours of climbing. Nowadays, 3 or 4-litre bottles are filled with oxygen of 250 bar pressure. At a flow of 2 litres per minute a modern bottle can be used for about 6 hours.
George Finch was responsible for this equipment during the expedition, due to his background in chemistry and his specific knowledge of bottled oxygen. He ordered daily training for his climber colleagues to become accustomed in the use of this equipment. The apparatuses were very often faulty, were of low robustness and were very heavy with a low grade of oxygen filling. There was unhappiness about these bottles among the mountaineers; many intended to climb without use of these bottles. The Tibetan and Nepalese porters nicknamed these oxygen bottles "English air".
Expedition participants The expedition participants were selected not just for their mountaineering qualifications but also for their family background, military experience, and professions.
NameFunctionProfessionCharles G. BruceExpedition leaderSoldier (Officer, rank: Brigadier)Edward Lisle StruttDeputy expedition leader and mountaineerSoldier (Officer, rank: Lieutenant-Colonel)George MalloryMountaineerTeacherGeorge Ingle FinchMountaineerChemist (Imperial College London)Edward "Teddy" F. NortonMountaineerSoldier (Officer, rank: Major)Henry T. MorsheadMountaineerSoldier (Officer, rank: Major)Dr Howard SomervellMountaineermedicineDr Arthur WakefieldMountaineermedicineJohn NoelPhotographer and film makerSoldier (Officer, rank: Captain)Dr Tom G. LongstaffExpedition doctormedicineGeoffrey Bruce (cousin of Charles G. Bruce)translator and organisational tasksSoldier (Officer, rank: Captain)C. John Morristranslator and organisational tasksSoldier (Officer, rank: Captain)Colin Grant Crawfordtranslator and organisational tasksofficer of the British civil colonial government
The mountaineers were accompanied by a large group of Tibetan and Nepalese porters so that the expedition in the end counted 160 men.
Approach to Everest
The journey to base camp primarily followed the route used in 1921. Starting in India, the expedition members gathered in Darjeeling at the end of March 1922. Some participants had arrived one month earlier to organise and recruit porters. The journey started on 26 March for most participants. Crawford and Finch stayed a couple more days to organise transportation for the oxygen systems. These items had arrived too late in Kolkata when the main travel started in Darjeeling. This further Organization went well and further transportation of the bottles was without incident.
For the journey through Tibet they had a travel permit from the Dalai Lama. From Darjeeling the route went to Kalimpong where they visited St Andrew's Colonial Home. Here they were welcomed by the home's founder John Anderson Graham and the schoolmaster and writer Aeneas Francon Williams.National Library of Scotland, Level 15 Special Archives, Kalimpong Papers: Files ACC 6039, Box 15 (1) 'Everest Climbers' 1922, pages 37–40, documents the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition visit to St Andrew's Colonial Home (within the hand-typed biography of St Andrew's Colonial Home). Mr Williams' enthusiasm is mentioned in the account. :https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/19dd2070-a22d-389b-91c8-a144960371bc At the homes they spent a couple of days rest before travelling onto Phari Dzong and further to Kampa Dzong which they reached on 11 April. Here the group rested for three days so that Finch and Crawford could catch up to the team with the oxygen bottles. Then they went to Shelkar Dzong, then north to the Rongbuk Monastery and to the spot where they wanted to erect base camp. To promote the process of acclimatisation the participants alternated their travelling methods between walking and horse riding. On 1 May, they reached the lower end of the Rongbuk Glacier, the site of base camp.
Planned climbing route When this expedition was being planned, Everest was only able to be climbed from the north out of Tibet because the southern side in Nepal was closed to Western foreigners. Mallory had discovered a "makeable" route in 1921 from the Lhakpa La to the north face of the mountain and further to the summit. This route begins at the Rongbuk Glacier, then leads through the rough valley of the eastern Rongbuk Glacier and then to the icy eastern slopes of the North Col, after which the exposed ridges of North Ridge and Northeast Ridge allow an access in direction of the summit pyramid. A severe climbing hindrance, at the time an unknown obstacle, was the so-called Second Step at , one of three breaks in slope on the upper northeast ridge. This step is approximately 30 m high and has a slope of more than 70 degrees, with a final wall of nearly seven vertical metres. From there the ridge route leads to the summit, by lengthy but gentle slopes. (The first official successful climb on this route was the Chinese ascent of 1960). The British also investigated a route via the north wall flanks of the mountain and to ascend by the later so called Norton Couloir to the Third Step and to the summit. (This route was used by Reinhold Messner on his first solo ascent in 1980).
Summit attempts
The base camp area in the Rongbuk Valley and the upper east Rongbuk Glacier were known from the 1921 reconnaissance expedition but the eastern Rongbuk Glacier valley had not been climbed. On 5 May, Strutt, Longstaff, Morshead and Norton tried a first intensive reconnaissance of this valley. The Advanced Base Camp (ABC) was erected on the upper end of the glacier below icy slopes of the North Col at . Between the base camp and the advanced base camp they erected two intermediate camps: Camp I at and Camp II at . The erection and the feeding of these camps was supported by local farmers who only could help for a short time before returning to their own farms. Longstaff became exhausted in managing the organisation and transporting tasks and became so ill that he could not do any real mountaineering activities later on in the expedition.
On 10 May Mallory and Somervell left base camp to erect Camp IV on the North Col. They arrived at Camp II two and a half hours later. On 11 May they set out on the North Col. This camp was at a height of 7000 m and was supported with food. The further plan was to do a first ascent trial by Mallory and Somervell without supplemental oxygen, then followed by a second climb by Finch and Norton with oxygen. However, these plans failed as a majority of the climbers became ill. So it was decided that the (more or less) healthy climbers Mallory, Somervell, Norton and Morshead should climb together.
First: without oxygen This first attempt was made by Mallory, Somervell, Norton and Morshead without oxygen, and supported by nine porters. They started on 19 May from Camp III. They climbed at 8:45 a.m. to the North Col. According to Mallory, the day was nice and sunny. Around 1p.m. they erected tents. The following day, the climbers intended to carry only the bare minimum: two of the smallest tents, two double sleeping bags, food for 36 hours, a gas cooking system and two thermos bottles for drinks. The porters were three persons per tent and they were in good health at this point in time.