1924 British Mount Everest Expedition - Planned Access Route

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 (28,230 ft), whose difficulty was unknown in 1924. The second step massive is a suddenly steeper strata of rock with a total height of 30 metres. The crux is a 5m 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 if either of them reached the summit before death. The diagonal traverse of the northern face to breech 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.