Tibet – Himalayas

  • Mallory and Irvine's memorial plaque at Everest Base Camp in Tibet
  • Mount Everest seen on the approach via jeep in Tibet
  • Tibetan Girl
  • A very tired Tom after his Everest attempt in 2004
  • Tibetan Boy
  • Tibetan Boy
  • Tibetan Boy waving bye bye...
  • Tibetan Yak herder
  • Mount Everest seen from the foothills in Tibet

Tibet – Himalayas

In 2004, my brother Ben and I went to Tibet to try and climb Everest from the North. We were attempting the same route as Mallory and Irvine had back in 1924. They famously got lost and no-one ever knew if they ever made it to the summit or not. On May 1, 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world’s strongest mountaineers, discovered Mallory’s body lying facedown, frozen into the scree and naturally mummified at 27,000 feet on the northern face of Everest. Irvine’s body, to this day, has never been found.

We went with a group of friends and some of the Sherpas we knew already having climbed with them on Ama Dablam back in 2000. We were unlucky with the weather and we reached a high point of just under 8000m before making the decision to turn around. Eight climbers from other teams decided to continue on and they lost their lives. Whilst it was a difficult time for us, the Tibetan people and their culture made a great impression on me.