Everest Pioneer: The Photogrtaphs of Captain John Noel

In 1919, Captain John Noel, a 29-year-old Army officer, suggested, during a presentation of his expeditions to Tibet, that an attempt should be made to climb Mount Everest. The mountain lay in a country rarely seen by westerners, and had never before been climbed. Hidden behind the barrier of the Himalayas, it had retained an almost medieval character.

Taking up his suggestion, the Mount Everest Committee was formed, under the leadership of Francis Younghusband. Due to Army commitments, Noel was unable to accompany the first Reconnaissance Expedition in 1921, but on the two pioneering expedition of 1922 and 1924, Noel was the official photographer. Watching the climbers' brave attempts in hazardous conditions to achieve the summit of the mountain the Tibetans knew as 'Chomolumga', Goddess Mother of the World, he was also witness to Mallory's and Irvine's doomed ascent along the northern precipice, and captured the last haunting images of the two men.

This book draws together his work for the first time. Stunning images capture the drama and tragedy of the expeditions - the first to venture upon the highest mountain on earth - the landscape's extraordinary beauty and the life of the people who inhabited one of the remotest regions on earth. Mothers coat their children in butter to protect them from the cold; men are shown in traditional dress, their pendant earrings defining their rank; nomad shepherds stand beside their yak-hair encampment. On the world's highest mountain, the climbers are seen edging along a dangerous precipice, relaxing at camp, sitting triumphant en route to the roof of the world, and searching in vain for their lost companions.