Although Mount Everest as a mountaineering objective had been on the horizon of British alpinists for some time – Clinton Thomas Dent writing in 1885, had sketched the idea of an ascent and Dr A. M. Kellas's study 'A Consideration of the Possibility of Ascending the Loftier Himalaya' of 1916 had asserted that it was certainly possible physiologically – the initiative to form the Mount Everest Committee came from a talk given to the Royal Geographical Society in 1919 by Captain John Noel about his travels in the Everest region, and the resultant discussion. In 1920, at the behest of Sir Francis Younghusband, Colonel Charles Howard-Bury – the leader of the 1921 expedition – persuaded Sir Charles Bell to use his considerable influence with Tibetan officials to negotiate permission for a passage to Mount Everest from the northern side. Permission was granted by the Tibetan government for the British to proceed in the following year, 1921. To co-ordinate and finance the reconnaissance expedition, a joint body – the Mount Everest Committee – was formed, composed of high-ranking members of the two interested parties – the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society. According to Sir Francis Younghusband: The first serious attempt on the summit was on the 1922 expedition. However, a diplomatic debacle after the 1924 expedition, later known as the Affair of the Dancing Lamas led to expeditions being banned until 1933. The embarrassment to the committee was so great that the affair was covered up for over fifty years.
The Committee began the organisation for the full-scale 1953 attempt in 1951, when it arranged the 1951 reconnaissance expedition. In 1952, the following year, the Cho Oyu expedition was undertaken, which was also to test oxygen apparatus for 1953. But Cho Oyu was not climbed. Members included Edmund Hillary. Hunt had asked earlier Everest climbers for comments on his 1953 plans; Teddy Norton advised him that previous assault camps had been too low, and that in 1953 it should be on or very close under the Southern Summit.
Selecting members
, the leader of the 1953 expedition, decided to recruit British and Commonwealth members rather than an "international" team, and the two New Zealand members not known to Hunt were known to Shipton and others. He wanted climbers experienced in snow and ice and between 25 and 40. A "large" party of ten was required, plus an expedition doctor; so Ward, Pugh and Stobart were added. A few months later Tenzing was invited to join the climbing party. There were five reserve mountaineers also prepared to assist the expedition: J. H. Emlyn Jones, John Jackson, Anthony Rawlinson, Hamish Nicol and Jack Tucker. The various British mountaineering clubs had been requested to submit lists of qualified candidates to be considered by the Committee, "whose responsibility it was to issue the formal invitations".
Financing
According to Hunt, the Committee's responsibility for drumming up funds for the 1953 expedition was not a welcome one: A number of organisations contributed to the Committee, including The Times newspaper, which had also supported earlier expeditions.
Success
On 2 June, four days after the successful ascent, Hunt sent a runner to 'carry messages to Namche Bazar, to go thence by the good offices of the Indian wireless station to Kathmandu. Cables of humble appreciation were sent to the Queen and the Prime Minister, another to the Himalayan Committee saying that I proposed to bring Tenzing and Hillary to England – George Lowe had already planned to come.'
