Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance, 1921

Charles Howard-Bury’s Reconnaissance of Mt. Everest – the first British expedition of its kind.

There were fewer unmapped spaces in the world than ever before at the dawn of the 20th century, and the summit of the highest peak on the planet was at the top of the British explorer’s priority list (pun intended). In 1921, an expedition to explore and attempt to climb Mt. Everest was organized with the joint support of the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society and led by Colonel Charles Howard-Bury. Though the group wasn’t able to ascend to the summit, it did perform valuable reconnaissance that laid the groundwork for subsequent efforts.

This volume commemorating the expedition was written by Howard-Bury and published in London in 1922. It includes three folding maps that catalog the route of the multinational group and their discoveries across the Himalayas. According to a contemporary book review,

“This is a very attractive book with its wealth of beautiful illustrations, and the interest is great, whether told by Col. Howard Bury himself, or in the introduction by Col. Sir Francis Younghusband, by the surveyors—Major Morshead, Major Wheeler, and Dr. Heron—by other members, Dr. Wollaston and Mr. L. Mallory. The latter’s knowledge of the Alps makes his portion a valuable contribution. The description of the monasteries, the beautiful type of their architecture shown in photographs, will be new to many.

Of the Lamas themselves and their orderly system of government we find the same from one end of Tibet to the other. This will interest and prove instructive; readers will find they are not ignorant savages, but a people highly advanced in arts and education, and in many respects far more practical, united, and sensible than we are. Of course it is not new; much can be seen in Ladak and in the fine monastery of Himis near Leh, but what is new is the degree to which the tameness of wild animals and birds has been brought by the Buddhists living under the shadow of Mount Everest, markedly by those leading a hermit life in the Rongbuk Valley.”

Source: Nature