Mount Everest—Fairytale and Reality Summary and Analysis

Messner continues his history of early attempts on Everest with an account of the second expedition, in 1922, led by Brigadier General Charles Bruce. A member of the party, a Captain Finch, experimented with artificial oxygen in England before the climb. He and Capt. Geoffrey Bruce, a nephew of the general, reached 8,321 with oxygen supplies. Mallory, Norton, and Somervell reached 8,230 meters without oxygen. Another try on that expedition was aborted after an avalanche killed seven porters, which Messner describes with long quotes from Mallory's account. Messner describes the next attempt, in 1924, again led by Bruce, with Mallory, Norton, and Somervell on the team. Norton reached 8,572 meters without oxygen, a record that stood for more than fifty years. Messner discussed what came to be called "fair means," which eschews the use of technical...