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1933 British Mount Everest expedition
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1933 British Mount Everest expedition
The 1933 British Mount Everest expedition was, after the reconnaissance expedition of 1921, and the 1922 and 1924 expeditions, the fourth British expedition to Mount Everest and the third with the intention of making the first ascent.
Like the previous expeditions to climb the mountain, the 1933 expedition was unsuccessful, although in two separate attempts Lawrence Wager and Percy Wyn-Harris, and then F. S. Smythe, set an altitude record for climbing without supplemental oxygen that was not broken until Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1978. During Wager and Wyn-Harris's attempt, the ice-axe belonging to Andrew Irvine, who disappeared with Mallory on the 1924 attempt while going for the summit, was found on the flanks of the north face.
Following the unsuccessful attempts to climb Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924, the diplomatic Affair of the Dancing Lamas prevented further British expeditions for eight years. In August 1932 the 13th Dalai Lama granted permission for the mountain to be approached from Tibet in the north, on the condition that all the climbers taking part were British. This permission was won by the combined work of the India Office, the government of India and Lt-Col J. L. R. Weir, the British political agent in Sikkim. There was an urgency to their work owing to a British fear that the Germans, who had recently mounted expeditions to Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat, might next be targeting Mount Everest.
It fell to the Mount Everest Committee, the body that funded all pre-war attempts on Mount Everest, to appoint a leader for the expedition. The most obvious choice, General C. G. Bruce, was unavailable; two other suitable men, both of whom – like Bruce – had been on earlier expeditions to Mount Everest, were approached but declined the offer: Brigadier E. F. Norton, who had recently been appointed to a position in Aldershot, and Major Geoffrey Bruce, who was on the point of assuming a post in Quetta. Hugh Ruttledge was chosen as leader, with the proviso that, at forty-eight years of age, he was not to undertake any climbing on the upper reaches of the mountain. His choice surprised everyone, including Ruttledge, who, although a veteran Himalayan explorer, had not done much in the way of cutting-edge mountaineering; he also suffered from a limp as a result of a "pig-sticking accident".
Ruttledge was instructed to recruit the British climbing personnel for the expedition, assisted by an advisory sub-committee of Norton, T. G. Longstaff and Sydney Spencer, with Geoffrey Winthrop Young also giving assistance. Ruttledge was keen on inviting Mount Everest veterans; neither Noel Odell nor T. H. Somervell were available, but E. O. Shebbeare, who had been transport officer in 1924, was again selected in the role, this time also being appointed deputy leader – at forty-nine, he was the oldest member of the expedition; Crawford had also been to Mount Everest, in 1922. Other members of the party had previous Himalayan experience, too, in particular Shipton, who had climbed Kamet (as well as Mount Kenya), Dr Raymond Greene, the expedition senior physician who had also climbed Kamet, and Smythe, who had not only climbed Kamet but had been on the international expedition to Kangchenjunga with Professor Dyrenfurth. Birnie had also been on the Kamet expedition, as transport officer. Notable in their omission were several of the top British rock-climbers of the period – Alf Bridge, Colin Kirkus and Maurice Linnell – reflecting the traditional approach of the sub-committee, as well as Ruttledge himself, who said: "I am coming more and more to the opinion that we must beware of the north British school of rock-climbers if we are to succeed on Everest. Individually they are probably good men, but they are a close corporation, with, it seems to me, a contempt for everyone outside their own clan."
The following sixteen men comprised the British component of the team that attempted the ascent of the mountain, and were, according to Ruttledge, with the exception of himself, Shebbeare and the two wireless operators, chosen "with the definite idea that they were potentially capable of taking part in the final assaults on the mountain".
All members of the expedition who lived in Britain were expected to submit themselves to a physical and psychological test by the RAF Medical Board, followed by a final test by Dr Claude Wilson.
The Mount Everest Committee furnished £5,000 towards the costs of the expedition, which were estimated at £11,000–£13,000. Further funds were secured by means of Ruttledge's book contract with Hodder & Stoughton, a newspaper deal with The Daily Telegraph and a gift of £100 from King George V. Many companies supplied items of equipment free of charge or at a discount.
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1933 British Mount Everest expedition
The 1933 British Mount Everest expedition was, after the reconnaissance expedition of 1921, and the 1922 and 1924 expeditions, the fourth British expedition to Mount Everest and the third with the intention of making the first ascent.
Like the previous expeditions to climb the mountain, the 1933 expedition was unsuccessful, although in two separate attempts Lawrence Wager and Percy Wyn-Harris, and then F. S. Smythe, set an altitude record for climbing without supplemental oxygen that was not broken until Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1978. During Wager and Wyn-Harris's attempt, the ice-axe belonging to Andrew Irvine, who disappeared with Mallory on the 1924 attempt while going for the summit, was found on the flanks of the north face.
Following the unsuccessful attempts to climb Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924, the diplomatic Affair of the Dancing Lamas prevented further British expeditions for eight years. In August 1932 the 13th Dalai Lama granted permission for the mountain to be approached from Tibet in the north, on the condition that all the climbers taking part were British. This permission was won by the combined work of the India Office, the government of India and Lt-Col J. L. R. Weir, the British political agent in Sikkim. There was an urgency to their work owing to a British fear that the Germans, who had recently mounted expeditions to Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat, might next be targeting Mount Everest.
It fell to the Mount Everest Committee, the body that funded all pre-war attempts on Mount Everest, to appoint a leader for the expedition. The most obvious choice, General C. G. Bruce, was unavailable; two other suitable men, both of whom – like Bruce – had been on earlier expeditions to Mount Everest, were approached but declined the offer: Brigadier E. F. Norton, who had recently been appointed to a position in Aldershot, and Major Geoffrey Bruce, who was on the point of assuming a post in Quetta. Hugh Ruttledge was chosen as leader, with the proviso that, at forty-eight years of age, he was not to undertake any climbing on the upper reaches of the mountain. His choice surprised everyone, including Ruttledge, who, although a veteran Himalayan explorer, had not done much in the way of cutting-edge mountaineering; he also suffered from a limp as a result of a "pig-sticking accident".
Ruttledge was instructed to recruit the British climbing personnel for the expedition, assisted by an advisory sub-committee of Norton, T. G. Longstaff and Sydney Spencer, with Geoffrey Winthrop Young also giving assistance. Ruttledge was keen on inviting Mount Everest veterans; neither Noel Odell nor T. H. Somervell were available, but E. O. Shebbeare, who had been transport officer in 1924, was again selected in the role, this time also being appointed deputy leader – at forty-nine, he was the oldest member of the expedition; Crawford had also been to Mount Everest, in 1922. Other members of the party had previous Himalayan experience, too, in particular Shipton, who had climbed Kamet (as well as Mount Kenya), Dr Raymond Greene, the expedition senior physician who had also climbed Kamet, and Smythe, who had not only climbed Kamet but had been on the international expedition to Kangchenjunga with Professor Dyrenfurth. Birnie had also been on the Kamet expedition, as transport officer. Notable in their omission were several of the top British rock-climbers of the period – Alf Bridge, Colin Kirkus and Maurice Linnell – reflecting the traditional approach of the sub-committee, as well as Ruttledge himself, who said: "I am coming more and more to the opinion that we must beware of the north British school of rock-climbers if we are to succeed on Everest. Individually they are probably good men, but they are a close corporation, with, it seems to me, a contempt for everyone outside their own clan."
The following sixteen men comprised the British component of the team that attempted the ascent of the mountain, and were, according to Ruttledge, with the exception of himself, Shebbeare and the two wireless operators, chosen "with the definite idea that they were potentially capable of taking part in the final assaults on the mountain".
All members of the expedition who lived in Britain were expected to submit themselves to a physical and psychological test by the RAF Medical Board, followed by a final test by Dr Claude Wilson.
The Mount Everest Committee furnished £5,000 towards the costs of the expedition, which were estimated at £11,000–£13,000. Further funds were secured by means of Ruttledge's book contract with Hodder & Stoughton, a newspaper deal with The Daily Telegraph and a gift of £100 from King George V. Many companies supplied items of equipment free of charge or at a discount.
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