The 1924 British Mount Everest expedition was—after the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition—the 2nd expedition with the goal of achieving the first ascent of Mount Everest. After two summit attempts in which Edward Norton set a world altitude record of 8,572.8 metres (28,126 ft), the mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine disappeared on the third attempt. Their disappearance has given rise to the long-standing speculation of whether or not the pair might have reached the summit. Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 8,156 metres (26,760 ft), but the resulting clues did not provide any conclusive evidence as to whether the summit was reached. Irvine's partial remains were later found in 2024 by a National Geographic team during a descent of the Rongbuk Glacier by the North Face.
Background and motivation
At the beginning of the 20th century, the British participated in contests to be the first to reach the North and South Poles, without success. A desire to restore national prestige led to scrutiny and discussion of the possibility of "conquering the third pole" – making the first ascent of the highest mountain on Earth.
The southern side of the mountain, which is accessible from Nepal and today is the standard climbing route, was unavailable as Nepal was a "forbidden country" for westerners. Going to the north side was politically complex: it required the persistent intervention of the British-Indian government with the Dalai Lama regime in Tibet to allow British expedition activities.
A major handicap of all expeditions to the north side of Mount Everest is the tight time window between the end of winter and the start of the monsoon rains. To travel from Darjeeling in northern India over Sikkim to Tibet, it was necessary to climb high, long snow-laden passes east of the Kangchenjunga area. After this first step, a long journey followed through the valley of the Arun River to the Rongbuk valley near the North Face of Mount Everest. Horses, donkeys, yaks, and dozens of local porters provided transport. The expeditions arrived at Mount Everest in late April and only had until June before the monsoon began, allowing only six to eight weeks for altitude acclimatisation, setting up camps, and the actual climbing attempts.
A secondary task for the expedition was to survey the area around the West Rongbuk Glacier. The Survey of India sent Hari Singh Thapa, a Gurkha surveyor, with the expedition who was assisted in climbing to the difficult areas to survey.
Preparations
Two expeditions preceded the 1924 effort. The first in 1921 was an exploratory expedition led by Harold Raeburn which described a potential route along the whole Northeast Ridge. Later George Mallory proposed a longer modified climb to the North Col, then along the North Ridge to reach the Northeast Ridge, and then on to the summit. This approach seemed to be the "easiest" terrain to reach the top. After they had discovered access to the base of the North Col via the East Rongbuk Glacier, the complete route was explored and appeared to be the superior option. Several attempts on Mallory's proposed route occurred during the 1922 expedition.
After this expedition, insufficient time for preparation and a lack of financial means prevented an expedition in 1923. The Common Everest Committee had lost £700 (equivalent to £36,598 in 2025) in the bankruptcy of the Alliance Bank of Simla, causing the third expedition to be postponed until 1924.
Like the two earlier expeditions, the 1924 expedition was also planned, financed and organised by the membership of the Royal Geographical Society, the Alpine Club, and a major contribution by Captain John Noel, who thereby purchased all photographic rights. The Mount Everest Committee which they formed used military strategies, with some military personnel.
One important change was the role of the porters. The 1922 expedition recognised several of them were capable of gaining great heights and quickly learning mountaineering skills. The changed climbing strategy increased their involvement, later culminating in an equal partnership of Tenzing Norgay for the first known ascent in 1953 together with Edmund Hillary. The gradual reversal in the system of "Sahib – Porter" from the earliest expeditions eventually led to a "professional – client" situation where the Sherpa "porters" are the mountaineering professionals to clients.
Like the 1922 expedition, the 1924 expedition also brought bottled oxygen to the mountain. The oxygen equipment had been improved during the two intervening years, but was still not very reliable, and there was no clear agreement whether to use this assistance at all.
Participants
The expedition was headed by the same leader as the 1922 expedition, General Charles G. Bruce. He was responsible for managing equipment and supplies, hiring porters and choosing the route to the mountain.
The question of which mountaineers would comprise the climbing party was no easy one. As a consequence of World War I, there was a lack of a whole generation of strong young men. George Mallory was again part of the mission, along with Howard Somervell, Edward "Teddy" Norton and Geoffrey Bruce. George Ingle Finch, who had gained the record height in 1922, was proposed as a member but eventually was not included. The influential Secretary of the committee, Arthur Hinks, made it clear that for an Australian to be first on Everest was not acceptable; the British wanted the climb to be an example of British spirit to lift morale. Mallory refused to climb again without Finch, but changed his mind after being personally persuaded by the British royal family at Hinks's request.
The new members of the climbing team included Noel Odell, Bentley Beetham and John de Vars Hazard. Andrew "Sandy" Irvine, an engineering student whom Odell knew from an expedition to Spitsbergen in 1923, was a so-called "experiment" for the team and a test for "young blood" on the slopes of Mount Everest. Due to his technical and mechanical expertise, Irvine was able to enhance the capacities of the oxygen equipment, to decrease the weight, and to perform numerous repairs to it and other expedition equipment.
The participants were not only selected for their mountaineering abilities; the status of their families and any military experience or university degrees were also factors in the selection procedures. Military experience was of the highest importance in the public image and communication to the newspapers. Quaker-educated Richard B. Graham, b. 1893 (Bootham School, York, 1906–10) was also nominated by Bruce but the committee withdrew the nomination, due to some members of the team not wishing to climb with a conscientious objector.
The full expedition team consisted of 60 porters and the following members:
Journey
At the end of February 1924, Charles and Geoffrey Bruce, Norton and Shebbeare arrived in Darjeeling where they selected the porters from Tibetans and Sherpas. They once again engaged the Tibetan born Karma Paul for translation purposes and Gyalzen for sardar (leader of the porters) and purchased food and material. At the end of March 1924, all expedition members were assembled and the journey to Mount Everest began. They followed the same route as the 1921 and 1922 expeditions. To avoid overloading the dak bungalows, they travelled in two groups and arrived in Yatung at the beginning of April. Phari Dzong was reached on 5 April. After negotiations with Tibetan authorities, the main part of the expedition followed the known route to Kampa Dzong while Charles Bruce and a smaller group chose an easier route. During this stage, Bruce was crippled with malaria and was forced to relinquish his leadership role to Norton. On 23 April the expedition reached Shekar Dzong. They arrived at the Rongbuk Monastery on 28 April, some kilometres from the planned base camp. The Lama of Rongbuk Monastery was ill and could not speak with the British members and the porters or perform the Buddhist puja ceremonies. The following day the expedition reached the location of the base camp at the glacier end of the Rongbuk valley. Weather conditions were good during the approach but now the weather was cold and snowy.
Planned access route
As the kingdom of Nepal was forbidden to foreigners, the British expeditions before the Second World War could only gain access to the north side of the mountain. In 1921, Mallory had seen a possible route from the North Col to go to the top. This route follows the East Rongbuk Glacier to the North Col. From there, the windy ridges (North Ridge, Northeast Ridge) seemed to allow a practical route to the top. On the Northeast Ridge a formidable obstacle blocks the route in the form of steep cliff called the Second Step at 8,605 metres (28,232 ft), whose difficulty was unknown in 1924. The second step massive is a suddenly steeper stratum of rock with a total height of 30 metres (98 ft). The crux is a 5 metres (16 ft) cliff that was first verifiably climbed by the Chinese in 1960. Since 1975 it has been bridged with a ladder. After that point, the ridge route leads to the summit by a steep (45-degree) snow slope, the "triangular snow field" on the summit pyramid, and thence to the summit ridge.
The first men to travel this route to the summit were the Chinese in 1960, along the Northeast Ridge. The British since 1922 had made their ascent attempts significantly down the ridge, crossed the giant North Face to the Great Couloir (later called the "Norton Couloir"), climbed along the borderline of the couloir, and then attempted to reach the summit pyramid. This route was unsuccessful until Reinhold Messner followed it for his solo ascent in 1980. The exact route of the Mallory and Irvine ascent is not known. They either used the natural Norton/Harris route—cutting diagonally through the Yellow Band ledges to the Northeast Ridge or, possibly, following the North Ridge straight up to the Northeast Ridge. It is unknown whether either of them reached the summit. The diagonal traverse of the North face to breach the Second Step strata through the beginning of the Great (Norton) Couloir was a potential alternative to the ridge route, but it is rarely used.
Erection of the camps
The positions of the high camps were planned before the expedition took place. Camp I (5400 m) was erected as an intermediate camp at the entrance of the East Rongbuk Glacier to the main valley. Camp II (about 6000 m) was erected as another intermediate camp, halfway to Camp III (advanced base camp, 6400 m) about 1 km from the icy slopes leading up to the North Col.
Supplies were transported by about 150 porters from base camp to advanced base camp. The porters were paid around one shilling per day. At the end of April, they expanded the camp positions, a job which was finished in the first week of May.
Further climbing activities were delayed because of a snow storm. On 15 May, the expedition members received the blessings of the Lama at the Rongbuk Monastery. As the weather started to improve, Norton, Mallory, Somervell, and Odell arrived on 19 May at Camp III. One day later, they started to fix ropes on the icy slopes to the North Col. They erected Camp IV on 21 May at a height of 7,000 metres (22,970 ft).
Once again the weather conditions deteriorated. John de Vars Hazard remained in Camp IV on the North Col with twelve porters and little food. Eventually, Hazard was able to climb down, but only eight porters came with him. The other four porters, who had become ill, were rescued by Norton, Mallory, and Somervell. The whole expedition returned to Camp I. There, fifteen porters who had demonstrated the most strength and competence in climbing were elected as so called "tigers".
Summit attempts
The first attempt was scheduled for Mallory and Bruce, and after that Somervell and Norton would get a chance. Odell and Irvine would support the summit teams from Camp IV on the North Col while Hazard provided support from Camp III. The supporters would also form the reserve teams for a third try. The first and second attempts were done without bottled oxygen.