Everest Pioneer: The Photogrtaphs of Captain John Noel

This book uniquely captures the drama and tragedy of the 1922 and 1924 expeditions on Everest - the first to venture upon the highest mountain on earth - using the best of the pictures of Captain John Noel, official photographer to the expeditions. John Noel was a 29-year- old Army officer when, during the presentation of a paper to the RGS, he first suggested that an expedition should be made to climb Everest. He knew Tibet well and was therefore invited on the first Everest Reconnaisance Expedition in 1922 by Francis Younghusband, its leader. His 1922 film, taken with his cine camera, was such a public success that he was invited to return to Everest in 1924. His photographs capture the dramatic beauty of the region and the expedition's travel through the Everest plains, up the north-east ridge, and Mallory and Irvine's final assault on the summit, never to return.

Sandra Noel is a part-time lecturer in Travel and Tourism at a College of Further Education.