EVEREST PIONEER    

            The photographs of Captain John Noel

By Sandra Noel

‘My heart shakes when I think of the great man. His zest and energy conveyed me the great spirit of those early days of exploration in the Himalayas, and left me begging for more!

On a sunny afternoon in 1988 he held me close and said with tears in his eyes, ‘If you lived as they lived (Mallory and Irvine), and died in the heart of nature, would you, yourself, wish for any better grave than the pure white snow of Everest?’ Brian Blessed March 2003, Foreword of Everest Pioneer.

In 1919 as a 29 year old army officer who had travelled widely in Tibet, presented a paper to the Royal Geographical Society and suggested an expedition should be made to climb Everest. That man was John Noel who became the official photographer of the 1922 and 1924 expeditions to climb Everest.

His photos and cine film capture the dramatic and stunning beauty of the region, the plains of Everest, the North East ridge and then the final assault Mallory and Irvine made to the never to return summit. In this new book it brings together unpublished photographs to describe Cpt John Noel and his sheer courage to attempt such feats, 80 years ago.

‘Ceaselessly marching week after week and camping by mountain plain, river and lake, we trek on and on making westward to the valleys that lead to Everest’. John Noel from Everest Pioneer talking about his climb in 1922.

John Noel went on to be a very successful lecturer on mountaineering, with stunning primary evidence of the vast and mysterious mountain that 50 years ago saw the first successful ascent.

Sandra Noel is John’s daughter who was fascinated by her father’s incredible life and experiences and after his death a few years ago led her to write this book. She has sole copyright to the photographs. Sandra is openly available for interviews and lives in Kent.

For more information please contact Helen Holness on 01453 732433 or email helenholness@haynes-sutton.co.uk