Photograph of Mount Everest as taken from the west Rongbuck Glacier. In the foreground is a snow coverd plateau.
This photograph was principally taken to asses the viability of an ascent of the mountain via the south east ridge which Mallory concluded offered the easiest route to the top. Unfortunately, Mallory was unable to put this theory into practice since Nepal to the South was out of bounds to the British; a geographical boundary that remained until after the Second World War. Mallory's theory proved to be a highly educated guess since it was South East Ridge that Edmund Hillary crossed on his way to the first ascent of the mountain in 1953.
Presented to King George V by the Royal Geographical Society's Mount Everest Committee and the Alpine Club, May 1922
