THE NOEL ODELL COLLECTION: THE NOEL ODELL COLLECTION: Three...

Hammer

£1,300

THE NOEL ODELL COLLECTION:

THE NOEL ODELL COLLECTION: Three original photographs of the South Face of Nanda Devi from the famous Tom Longstaff Expedition of 1905 with handwritten notation to Noel Odell “To NE Odell in Profound Admiration from Tom G. Longstaff”. Perhaps even greater than Noel Odell’s exploits on Mount Everest in 1924 was his first ascent of Nanda Devi twelve years later in partnership with Bill Tilman. Sustained by Tilman’s notoriously frugal rations, the small team navigated the relatively unknown Rishi Gorge to enter the Nanda Devi Sanctuary from where eventually a route to the summit was found. Odell and Tilman on reaching the summit “so far forgot ourselves as to shake hands on it”. Nanda Devi was to remain the highest peak to be climbed for the next 14 years. In recognition of this outstanding achievement NEO was given this beautiful framed picture consisting of a montage of three photographs of the South Face of Nanda Devi taken by Tom Longstaff on 9^th June, 1905, annotated with the poignant words “in profound admiration”. In 1905, Tom Longstaff and the Brocherel brothers attempted to climb Nanda Devi from the east. They reached a col, later called Longstaff Col, but failed to summit. Longstaff and the Brocherels could see the two summits of Nanda Devi, but according to Longstaff, the descent toward the inner basin was too dangerous. Longstaff fell in love with Nanda Devi. Two years later, he returned to follow in Graham’s footsteps. He didn’t succeed that time, either. In all, he visited the Garhwal Himalaya on six different occasions. On August 29, 1936, Bill Tilman and Noel Odell managed to make the first ascent of the main peak of Nanda Devi (7,816m) via the southwest ridge. When Odell and Tilman climbed Nanda Devi, that — plus those elevations reached on Everest — were the highest points ever attained. Nanda Devi also became the world’s highest summited peak. The team included Charles Houston, who had earlier reconnoitred the route. During the climb, he fell ill and could not join the summit team. ” It was difficult to realize that we were actually standing on top of the same peak which we had viewed two months ago from Ranikhet, and which had then appeared incredibly remote and inaccessible,” wrote Tilman in his book, The Ascent of Nanda Devi. “After the first joy in victory came a feeling of sadness that the mountain had succumbed, that the proud head of the goddess was bowed.” Original exhibition labels for Tom Longstaff on the reverse. A unique piece of exploration history. 53cm x 84cm.