John Porter

More than 100 years on from the tragic events of the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition, Julie Summers, the great niece of Sandy Irvine, and mountaineer and narrator Matt Sharman seek insights into the 1920s Everest expeditions. Along with extensive historical footage, photographs and documents, as well as interviews with Everest scholars and mountaineers, the pair don't just re-tell the story of the three Everest expeditions of the 1920s, but re-examine them, asking what the mountain means for climbers and the people of Nepal 100 years on from the infamous disappearance of Mallory and Irvine.

One hundred years on from the first Everest expedition, the film explores the history of the expeditions in 1921, 1922 and 1924. Julie Summers, the grandniece of Sandy Irvine, guides us through the history with contributions from many distinguished climbers. The film brings the past into the present using John Noel’s original film and many images from the Alpine Club Collection.

In 1955, the world’s third-highest mountain, Kangchenjunga, was climbed to within five metres of its summit by an expedition led by Charles Evans. They stopped just short out of respect for local beliefs that a protective deity lived there, providing the mountain communities with good harvests and wellbeing. This short film recounts the story of this landmark ascent and explores its cultural significance in the development of mountaineering, spotlighting the role of the fully integrated Sherpa team and the contribution of working-class climber Joe Brown.