Attempt of 1933
Members of the expedition were Hugh Ruttledge (leader), Captain E. St. J. Birnie, Lieutenant Colonel H. Boustead, T.A. Brocklebank, Crawford, C.R. Greene, Percy Wyn-Harris, J.L. Longland, W.W. McLean, Shebbeare (transport), Eric Shipton, Francis S. Smythe, Lawrence R. Wager, G. Wood-Johnson, and Lieutenants W.R. Smyth-Windham and E.C. Thompson (wireless).
High winds made it extremely difficult to establish Base Camp in the North Col, but it was finally done on May 1. Its occupants were cut off from the others for several days. On May 22, however, Camp V was placed at 25,700 feet (7,830 metres); again storms set in, retreat was ordered, and V was not reoccupied until the 28th. On the 29th Wyn-Harris, Wager, and Longland pitched Camp VI at 27,400 feet (8,350 metres). On the way down, Longland’s party, caught in a blizzard, had great difficulty.
On May 30, while Smythe and Shipton came up to Camp V, Wyn-Harris and Wager set off from Camp VI. A short distance below the crest of the Northeast Ridge, they found Irvine’s ice ax. They reckoned that the Second Step was impossible to ascend and were compelled to follow Norton’s 1924 traverse to the Great Couloir splitting the face below the summit. They crossed the gorge to a height about the same as Norton’s but then had to return. Smythe and Shipton made a final attempt on June 1. Shipton returned to Camp V. Smythe pushed on alone, crossed the couloir, and reached the same height as Wyn-Harris and Wager. On his return the monsoon ended operations.
Also in 1933 a series of airplane flights were conducted over Everest—the first occurring on April 3—which permitted the summit and surrounding landscape to be photographed. In 1934 Maurice Wilson, an inexperienced climber who was obsessed with the mountain, died above Camp III attempting to climb Everest alone.
Reconnaissance of 1935
In 1935 an expedition led by Shipton was sent to reconnoitre the mountain, explore the western approaches, and discover more about monsoon conditions. Other members were L.V. Bryant, E.G.H. Kempson, M. Spender (surveyor), H.W. Tilman, C. Warren, and E.H.L. Wigram. In late July the party succeeded in putting a camp on the North Col, but dangerous avalanche conditions kept them off the mountain. One more visit was paid to the North Col area in an attempt on Changtse (the north peak). During the reconnaissance Wilson’s body was found and buried; his diary was also recovered.
Attempts of 1936 and 1938
Members of the 1936 expedition were Ruttledge (leader), J.M.L. Gavin, Wyn-Harris, G.N. Humphreys, Kempson, Morris (transport), P.R. Oliver, Shipton, Smyth-Windham (wireless), Smythe, Warren, and Wigram. This expedition had the misfortune of an unusually early monsoon. The route up to the North Col was finished on May 13, but the wind had dropped, and heavy snowfalls almost immediately after the camp was established put an end to climbing the upper part of the mountain. Several later attempts to regain the col failed.
Members of the 1938 expedition were Tilman (leader), P. Lloyd, Odell, Oliver, Shipton, Smythe, and Warren. Unlike the two previous parties, some members of this expedition used oxygen. The party arrived early, in view of the experience of 1936, but they were actually too early and had to withdraw, meeting again at Camp III on May 20. The North Col camp was pitched under snowy conditions on May 24. Shortly after, because of dangerous snow, the route was changed and a new one made up the west side of the col. On June 6 Camp V was established. On June 8, in deep snow, Shipton and Smythe with seven Sherpas pitched Camp VI, at 27,200 feet (8,290 metres), but the next day they were stopped above it by deep powder. The same fate befell Tilman and Lloyd, who made their attempt on the 11th. Lloyd benefited from an open-circuit oxygen apparatus that partly allowed him to breathe the outside air. Bad weather compelled a final retreat.
Golden age of Everest climbs
Reconnaissance of 1951
After 1938, expeditions to Everest were interrupted by World War II and the immediate postwar years. In addition, the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1950 precluded using the northern approach. In 1951 permission was received from the Nepalese for a reconnaissance of the mountain from the south. Members of the expedition were Shipton (leader), T.D. Bourdillon, Edmund Hillary, W.H. Murray, H.E. Riddiford, and M.P. Ward. The party marched through the monsoon, reaching Namche Bazar, the chief village of Solu-Khumbu, on September 22. At Khumbu Glacier they found it possible to scale the great icefall seen by Mallory from the west. They were stopped at the top by a huge crevasse but traced a possible line up the Western Cwm (cirque, or valley) to the South Col, the high saddle between Lhotse and Everest.