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Lot Essay
A RARE COLLECTION OF SLIDES FROM THE EVEREST 1922 EXPEDITION.
The images include expedition members climbing and in camp, views of Tibet on the approach, the monastery of Shekar Chöte near Shekar Dzong and the Rongbuk Monastery. Led by Brig.-Gen. Charles Bruce, the 1922 Everest expedition set new records in the pursuit of the summit: Mallory, Somervell and Norton reached 26,985ft (8,227m) without oxygen, a high point further increased to 27,300ft (8,323m) by George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce climbing with 'English Air'. On the third and final attempt, an avalanche below the North Col claimed the lives of seven Sherpas, the first recorded deaths on the mountain.
Captain J.B.L. Noel (1890-1989) served as the official photographer of the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions, producing moving and still pictures of the climbs, including, most poignantly, the last images of Mallory and Irvine alive. Noel developed his 1922 film in a specially designed tent at 16,000ft on the Rongbuk Glacier, using yak dung to dry his thousands of feet of 35mm film. His images were used on lecture tours by various expedition members, including Mallory's 1923 American lecture tour on which, in response to a reporter asking him why he wanted to climb Everest, he uttered the infamous response, 'Because it is there'.
The images include expedition members climbing and in camp, views of Tibet on the approach, the monastery of Shekar Chöte near Shekar Dzong and the Rongbuk Monastery. Led by Brig.-Gen. Charles Bruce, the 1922 Everest expedition set new records in the pursuit of the summit: Mallory, Somervell and Norton reached 26,985ft (8,227m) without oxygen, a high point further increased to 27,300ft (8,323m) by George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce climbing with 'English Air'. On the third and final attempt, an avalanche below the North Col claimed the lives of seven Sherpas, the first recorded deaths on the mountain.
Captain J.B.L. Noel (1890-1989) served as the official photographer of the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions, producing moving and still pictures of the climbs, including, most poignantly, the last images of Mallory and Irvine alive. Noel developed his 1922 film in a specially designed tent at 16,000ft on the Rongbuk Glacier, using yak dung to dry his thousands of feet of 35mm film. His images were used on lecture tours by various expedition members, including Mallory's 1923 American lecture tour on which, in response to a reporter asking him why he wanted to climb Everest, he uttered the infamous response, 'Because it is there'.