First view of 'Mother Goddess of the Earth'

17th April 1924

Photo taken by Sandy Irvine

Sandy and Mallory climbed a small hill behind their camp at Jikyop and gained their first, clear view of Everest. They examined the south and east side of the final pyramid very carefully through binoculars, discussing possible routes and sites for camps. It was a thrilling moment for Sandy and although they were still some sixty miles from it ‘the whole mountain, or what of it we could see, gave the impression of tremendous bulk.' It was from here that he took the photograph of Everest that he sent back to Evelyn. That afternoon he was back struggling with the oxygen apparatus with renewed vigour. 

At dinner, the climbers were allotted to their summit parties. Sandy noted in his diary: 'Odell and Geoff (Bruce) to pitch Camp V Norton and Somervell — 1* non-ox climb Mallory and Self — 1"" ox climb Odell, Geoff, Hazard and Beetham — reserve I'm awfully glad that I’m with Mallory in the first lot, but I wish ever so much that it was a non-ox attempt'. The die had been cast and Sandy’s hopes fulfilled. He must have felt confident of his ability to perform on the mountain if he considered he would be happier climbing without oxygen, or perhaps it was just that he knew what the others perhaps did not, that the ‘infernal’ apparatus was hideously unreliable and could not be guaranteed to work, even with his major rebuilds.

On the other hand he told Odell later that if the mountain was worth climbing it was worth doing without the use of adventitious aids. To Lilian he wrote the next day: 'I have provisionally been chosen to do the first Oxygen climb with Mallory. Norton & Somervell doing Non Ox. on same day. It will be great fun if we all 4 get to the top at the same time! I say provisionally because I don’t know that I will be fit at 26,500 ft yet (our kicking off camp). The Non Ox start a day earlier from the North Col stopping at 25,500 & 27,300 while we stop only at 26,500. This gives 3 camps as refuges on the way down in case of exhaustion or bad weather. The weather has behaved in a most peculiar manner so far — no one knows if it is a good sign or not.' He added, ‘It will be a great triumph if my impromptu ox.ap. gets to the top, I hope it does ... If we reach the top it will be probably May 17th'. This date was immediately entered into Willie Irvine’s 1924 pocket diary and later revised, on the basis of the Times dispatches, to 23 May 1924 when Willie noted ‘Top of the Hill ACI'."