Editing Mount Everest (section)

===Early attempts===
In 1885, [[Clinton Thomas Dent]], president of the [[Alpine Club (UK)|Alpine Club]], suggested that climbing Mount Everest was possible in his book ''Above the Snow Line''.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.billbuxton.com/everest.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.billbuxton.com/everest.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=From First Sight to Summit: A Guide to the Literature on Everest up to the 1953 Ascent |date=5 October 2015|access-date=31 January 2017 |author=William Buxton}}</ref>

The northern approach to the mountain was discovered by [[George Mallory]] and [[Guy Bullock]] on the initial [[1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition|1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition]]. It was an exploratory expedition not equipped for a serious attempt to climb the mountain. With Mallory leading (and thus becoming the first European to set foot on Everest's flanks) they climbed the North Col to an altitude of {{convert|7005|m|ft|0}}. From there, Mallory espied a route to the top, but the party was unprepared to climb any further and descended.

The British returned for a [[1922 British Mount Everest Expedition|1922 expedition]]. On the first summit attempt Mallory, [[Edward Felix Norton|Col. Felix Norton]], and [[Howard Somervell]] without supplemental oxygen reached {{convert|8225|m|ft|-0|abbr=on}}, the first time a human reported to climb higher than {{convert|8000|m|ft|-0|abbr=on}}.
[[George Finch (chemist)|George Finch]] together with [[Geoffrey Bruce]] climbed using oxygen for the first time. They ascended at a remarkable speed—{{convert|290|m|ft|0}} per hour—and reached an altitude of {{convert|8321|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}.

The [[1924 British Mount Everest Expedition|next expedition was in 1924]]. The initial attempt by Mallory and Geoffrey Bruce was aborted when weather conditions prevented the establishment of Camp&nbsp;VI. The next attempt was that of Norton and Somervell, who climbed without oxygen and in perfect weather, traversing the North Face into the [[Great Couloir]]. Norton managed to reach, {{convert|8572.8|m|ft|-0|abbr=on}} though he ascended only {{convert|30|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} or so in the last hour. Mallory rustled up oxygen equipment for a last-ditch effort. He chose young [[Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)|Andrew Irvine]] as his partner.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Norton |first=E.F. |date=1924 |title=The Climb with Mr. Sommerville to 28,000 feet |url= |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=64 |issue=6 |pages=451–455|doi=10.2307/1781918 |jstor=1781918 |bibcode=1924GeogJ..64..451N }}</ref>

[[File:Condor Films 1952.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1952 documentary]]

On 8 June 1924, George Mallory and [[Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)|Andrew Irvine]] made an attempt on the summit via the North Col-North Ridge-Northeast Ridge route from which they never returned. On 1 May 1999, the [[Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition]] found Mallory's body on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of the traditional site of Camp&nbsp;VI. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community whether one or both of them reached the summit 29&nbsp;years before the first confirmed ascent and safe descent of Everest by Sir [[Edmund Hillary]] and [[Tenzing Norgay]] in 1953. Irvine's detached foot, still in a boot and sock, was found in September 2024.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wong |first=Tessa |date=11 October 2024 |title=Family tells of 'relief' after 1924 climber's foot found on Everest |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0g2p47xd5o |access-date=12 May 2025 |work=[[BBC News]] |location=London, UK |archive-date=12 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250512171410/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0g2p47xd5o|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1933, [[Lucy, Lady Houston|Lady Houston]], a British [[millionaire]]ss, funded the [[Houston–Mount Everest flight expedition|Houston Everest Flight of 1933]], which saw a formation of two [[Westland Wallace|aeroplanes]] led by the [[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton|Marquess of Clydesdale]] fly over the Everest [[Summit (topography)|summit]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Crompton|first=Teresa|title=Adventuress: The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston|publisher=The History Press|year=2020}}</ref><ref name=flymicro>{{cite web|url=http://www.flymicro.com/everest/index.cfm?page=docs%2FHistory%2FAeroplanes.htm|title=Aeroplane expeditions to Everest|publisher=flymicro.com|access-date=28 March 2008|archive-date=4 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104062122/http://www.flymicro.com/everest/index.cfm?page=docs%2FHistory%2FAeroplanes.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=k2news_woe>{{cite news|url=http://www.k2news.com/wingsover.htm|title=Wings Over Everest 2003|publisher=Everestnews.com|year=2002|access-date=28 March 2008|archive-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103172008/http://www.k2news.com/wingsover.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Flying Over World's Highest Peak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ScDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20|issue=5|journal=[[Popular Science]]|volume=122|date=May 1933|page=20|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|access-date=17 June 2015|archive-date=5 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005160710/https://books.google.com/books?id=8ScDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Early expeditions—such as [[Charles Granville Bruce|Charles Bruce]]'s in the 1920s and [[Hugh Ruttledge]]'s two unsuccessful attempts in [[1933 British Mount Everest expedition|1933]] and [[1936 British Mount Everest expedition|1936]]—tried to ascend the mountain from [[Tibet]], via the North Face. Access was closed from the north to Western expeditions in 1950 after China took control of Tibet. In 1950, [[Bill Tilman]] and a small party which included [[Charles Snead Houston|Charles Houston]], Oscar Houston, and Betsy Cowles undertook an [[Mount Everest reconnaissance from Nepal#1950 Houston–Tilman exploration of Solu Khumbu|exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal]] along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.<ref name=evhist_timeline>{{cite web|url=http://www.everesthistory.com/time3.htm |title=Everest History Time Line |website=Everest History |year=2003 |access-date=17 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526185812/http://www.everesthistory.com/time3.htm |archive-date=26 May 2010}}</ref>

The [[1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition]], led by [[Edouard Wyss-Dunant]], was granted permission to attempt a climb from Nepal. It established a route through the Khumbu icefall and ascended to the South Col at an elevation of {{convert|7986|m|ft|abbr=on}}. [[Raymond Lambert]] and [[Sherpa people|Sherpa]] [[Tenzing Norgay]] were able to reach an elevation of about {{convert|8595|m|ft|abbr=on}} on the Southeast Ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. Tenzing's experience was useful when he was hired to be part of the British expedition in 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imagingeverest.rgs.org/Concepts/Virtual_Everest/-116.html |title=Tenzing Norgay GM |website=Imagining Everest |publisher=The Royal Geographical Society |access-date=21 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070414143647/http://imagingeverest.rgs.org/Concepts/Virtual_Everest/-116.html |archive-date=14 April 2007}}</ref>  The Swiss decided to make another post-monsoon attempt in the autumn; they made it to the South Col but were driven back by winter winds and severe cold.<ref>Ullman, Tenzing ''Man of Everest''</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Hunt |first= John |title= The Ascent of Everest |year= 1953 |publisher= Hodder & Stoughton |location= London |pages= 51, 52}}</ref>