1938 British Mount Everest expedition

Led by Bill Tilman, the 1938 British Mount Everest expedition was a low-key, low-cost expedition which was unlucky in encountering a very early monsoon. The weather conditions defeated the attempts to reach the summit. The North Col was climbed for the first time from the west and an altitude of 27,200 feet (8,300 m) was reached on the North Ridge.

After the failure of the 1936 British Mount Everest expedition, the Mount Everest Committee decided not to make another public appeal for funds even after Tibet had approved an expedition for 1938. The press and public were no longer interested and, at a time of austerity, such things were seen as extravagant. However, The Times was willing to provide a limited budget and this matched the small scale, even austere, type of venture advocated by the leading British climbers of the day, Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman – similar to their 1935 reconnaissance. At a meeting in February 1937 Tilman was appointed leader and Tom Longstaff, who had in years gone by been the climber–doctor on the 1922 Everest expedition provided £3,000 on condition that there would be no advance publicity and that, where possible, the climbers would each pay their own way.

Alongside Tilman and Shipton, Frank Smythe, Noel Odell, Peter Lloyd, Peter Oliver and Charles Warren agreed to participate. Ang Tharkay was sirdar and Tenzing Norgay was one of the Sherpas.Jack Longland was invited but he had to decline because his employers would not grant him leave. The team was very strong and were, according to Shipton, "socially harmonious". Tilman considered a party of seven to be unnecessarily large but acquiesced saying "it represents a high margin of safety against casualties". The cost was to be £2,360 compared with £10,000 for the attempt of 1936. Radios were not taken because Tilman regarded them as unnecessary but there was too much pressure on him for him to refuse to take oxygen equipment. As on the 1935 Shipton–Tilman expedition, the provision of food was extremely basic – Tilman included soup and porridge as "goodies".

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