Many people associate Noel Odell’s name with George Mallory and Andrew Irvine on Everest in 1924 because he was the last person to see them alive. That expedition became the most famous mystery in mountaineering history, with Odell’s testimony a key feature.
Odell’s other expeditions are less well-known, but he was a tireless explorer and climber who did his last ascent at the age of 93.
Geology and first climbs
Odell was born on Dec. 25, 1890, on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of Britain. Odell became interested in geology as a teen, attended Brighton College, and then studied geology at the Royal School of Mines.
In the early 1910s, before the war, Odell started to develop his climbing skills in North Wales. In 1916, at 25, Odell joined the Alpine Club and started to test himself in the Alps.
The Tennis Shoe route on Idwal Slabs. Photo: Multi-pitch
In 1919, Odell carried out the first ascent of the Tennis Shoe route (HS 4b) on the Idwal Slabs in Snowdonia, Wales. Odell boldly soloed this now-classic multi-pitch trad route, which stretches 141m up the south-facing slabs in the Ogwen Valley, with minimal gear. This milestone demonstrated excellent climbing skills.
Over time, as other climbers repeated Odell’s line, they started to call it the Tennis Shoe. This is because the route relied on friction and the grippy nature of the Idwal Slabs’ rock. Climbers at the time often wore canvas shoes with rubber soles, similar to old-school tennis shoes.
A climber on the Tennis Shoe route. Photo: Charles Kenwright
Spitsbergen, 1921
In the summer of 1921, Odell joined the Oxford University Spitsbergen Expedition, led by noted ornithologist Francis Charles Robert Jourdain. Its members included Tom Longstaff and Julian Huxley (brother of the famous writer Aldous Huxley). They aimed to complete a biological survey, with particular emphasis on the bird life of Svalbard.
Noel Odell.
As a secondary goal, they attempted to sled across the central ice cap but only reached halfway because of delays and illness.
Odell contributed both as a geologist and as a key member of the sledding party. He was tasked with studying geological features, collecting rock samples, and analyzing the region’s tectonic and glacial history. During their ice cap crossing, Odell showed his endurance.
The 30-year-old also had a growing reputation as a climber.
Mountains in Spitsbergen. Photo: Grida
Irvine and Odell’s first encounter
Odell first met Andrew Irvine in 1919 on Foel Grach, a 975m Welsh peak. That day, Odell and his wife Mona were ascending the mountain when they spotted a teenager riding his motorcycle to the summit. It was Irvine. Irvine’s bold and unconventional spirit impressed Odell.
Their paths crossed again two years later. In the summer of 1923, Odell and Irvine joined another Spitsbergen adventure: the Merton College Arctic Expedition led by Arctic explorer Frederick George Binney.
The Merton College Arctic Expedition team in 1923. Photo: Brage Polar
Odell realizes Irvine’s strength
During the 1923 Spitsbergen expedition, Odell was struck by Irvine’s remarkable strength and endurance and how well he handled challenging tasks. Odell later recommended Irvine for the 1924 Everest expedition despite Irvine’s lack of high-altitude experience.
Andrew Irvine, left, and Geoffrey Milling in Spitsbergen, 1923. Photo: Merton College Archive
Everest 1924
Odell was the oxygen officer for the 1924 British Everest expedition.
On June 8, Odell was ascending the mountain in support of teammates Irvine and Mallory. At around 7,925m, near Camp VI, he caught sight of two tiny figures on the ridge near the summit. The figures were moving up.
This was the last confirmed sighting of Mallory and Irvine, who vanished soon afterward.
Everest from the north, showing the Second Step, where Mallory and Irvine vanished. Photo: Luca Galuzzi
Odell spent 11 nights above 7,000m without supplemental oxygen. Twice, he climbed above 8,200m trying to find his partners.
Odell also found limestone containing fossils from the upper part of Everest, at around 7,770m. These were the first fossils identified on Everest. He later wrote about his findings, noting that Everest’s summit region was once part of an ancient ocean floor, uplifted over millions of years by tectonic forces.
First ascents
From 1928 to 1930, Odell taught geology at Harvard University. He proved a great inspiration to the recently formed Harvard Mountaineering Club.
During his time at Harvard, Odell climbed the ice gully in Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington in winter. The gully was named Odell Gully.
In the summer of 1930, Odell went to Canada. He climbed in the Selkirk Mountains and later, with C.G. Crawford and Terris Moore, made the first ascent of Mount Robson’s difficult and technical south-southwest ridge.
Mount Robson. Photo: Michael Konen
Labrador and Greenland
In 1931, he joined Alexander Forbes’ American expedition to northern Labrador. They aimed mainly to map the area by air, but Odell also made several first ascents in the Torngat Mountains, including Mount Tetragona and Mount Razorback. Rising up to 1,652m, the rugged Torngats have the highest peaks in mainland Canada and the U.S. east of the Rockies.
Noel Odell on the summit of Tetragona in the Torngats. Photo: Alexander Forbes Expedition
In 1933, Odell was a member of an American scientific expedition to Northeast Greenland. There, with Walter A. Wood, he made 10 first ascents near Franz Josef Fiord and also the second ascent of Berenberg on Jan Mayen Island.
Many peaks in the Torngats rise straight from the ocean. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko
Nanda Devi
Odell’s most important Himalayan expedition was to India’s 7,816m Nanda Devi, the ”Blessed Goddess.” This peak is considered one of the most beautiful mountains in the world.
In 1905, Tom Longstaff and the Brocherel brothers attempted Nanda Devi from the east, but they did not succeed. There were a few more attempts, but by the beginning of 1936, the mountain was still unclimbed.
In the summer of 1936, Odell joined Charles Houston’s British-American Himalaya Expedition to Nanda Devi.
“God! It’s good to be back,” Odell exclaimed during the approach trek.
“Odell was accompanied by a great number of scientific instruments whose name I do not know and whose purpose I could not guess,” Houston wrote.
On August 29, Bill Tilman and Odell made the first ascent of the main peak of Nanda Devi via the southwest ridge.
Nanda Devi Massif. Photo: Travelride
According to mountaineer Eric Shipton, this was one of the most important climbs of the era. Odell and Tilman reached the top in good style and without bottled oxygen. Until Annapurna I’s first ascent in 1950, Nanda Devi was the highest mountain ever summited.
Two years after his ascent of Nanda Devi, Odell returned to Everest. Odell reached 7,000m without bottled oxygen.
The first ascent of Mount Vancouver
During the late 1940s and early to mid-1950s, Odell’s mountaineering shifted to North America. He climbed in the Rockies, the Yukon, and Alaska.
In 1947, Odell climbed in the Canadian Rockies. In 1949, Odell went to the Saint Elias Mountains on the Alaska-Canadian border as part of a geological expedition called Project Snow Cornice.
Odell (then 58 years old) and American climbers William Hainsworth, Robert McCarter, and Alan Bruce-Robertson made the first ascent of 4,810m Mount Vancouver. At the time, Mount Vancouver was the highest unclimbed peak in North America.
Mount Vancouver. Photo: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Between 1950 and 1956, Odell was a professor of Geology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. During this time, he made several climbs in the Southern Alps.
Mountaineering clubs
Odell was a member of the Alpine Club and was elected vice president in 1945. He was also with the Himalayan Club and was an honorary member of the American Alpine Club, the Canadian Alpine Club, the New Zealand Alpine Club, and the Norsk Tinder Klub.
He served in the Royal Engineers and later worked for various oil and mining companies. But he continued to climb for his whole life. His last excursion was on the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Swiss Alpine Club when Odell was 93 years old.
Just a few days before his death on Feb. 21, 1987, he attended a memorial organized for Don Whillans at the Royal Geographic Society.
Noel Odell in later years. Photo: PBS
A modest but important mountaineer
As the American Alpine Journal points out, Odell never sought fame. He was more interested in others’ activities than talking about his own.
“He was a gentleman. Generous, mild, modest, and seldom ruffled or angry. He was a lovely companion, never bloody-minded or out of sorts, even when his companions were impatient with his deliberate pace. Although he had a grand store of reminiscences and anecdotes, he was never boring. He was a joy to be with and a loss to generations who may never know someone like him,” Charles Houston wrote of Odell.
Noel Odell during the 1938 Everest expedition in Tibet. Photo: Royal Geographical Society
