No . 132
The Trusty Servant
The 1921 Everest Expedition
On 23 rd September 2021 Winchester College hosted an evening to celebrate the achievements of four Old Wykehamists who were involved in the first exploration of Mount Everest . This date was precisely 100 years after the first Everest ‘ reconnaissance ’ expedition , which ran from 18 th May – 25 th October 1921 ( departure from and return to Darjeeling ). In the course of the evening a new plaque was dedicated in Cloisters to one of the OW climbers .
Stephen Venables , a notable British climber and the first one to reach the summit of Everest without oxygen , which he did in 1988 , spoke to a capacity audience in New Hall about his own experiences on Everest as well as bringing the early expeditions to life .
The exhibition , displayed throughout Cloisters and Chantry , explained the background to and displayed much of the detailed correspondence supporting the three Himalayan expeditions of the 1920s , which were arranged and financed by The Mount Everest Committee . In particular it highlighted the close involvement of four Old Wykehamists in those expeditions . The following is a very condensed summary of that first
Mallory Exhibtion
HM & Stephen Venables expedition of exactly 100 years ago and a brief narrative on the four wellknown and not-so-well-known OWs .
The expedition of 1924 might be the most famous , if only because during it George Mallory ( Coll , 1900-05 ) and his climbing partner , Sandy Irvine were ‘ lost to human sight between Heaven and Earth while attempting to summit Mount Everest ’. But there were two expeditions that preceded it and which achieved monumental feats of endurance and discovery .
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