This magnificent volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of the world's highest mountain, and chronicles the history of Everest exploration from the early years of the 20th century to the present. It is the first and only book on the subject to benefit from complete access to the Royal Geographical Society's astonishingly rich collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts. Painstakingly selected from over 20,000 subjects, the 400 photographs record the surveying, planning, reconnaissance expeditions, and actual attempts that the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club jointly launched from 1921 - culminating in Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic climb on 29 May 1953.