Noel Odell | |
|---|---|
 Noel Odell in 1953 | |
| Born | (1890-12-25)25 December 1890 |
| Died | 21 February 1987(1987-02-21) (aged 96) Cambridge, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | Royal School of Mines,Imperial College andClare College,Cambridge |
| Occupation | Geologist |
| Known for | First ascent ofNanda Devi, last sighting ofMallory onEverest, 1924 |
| Awards | FRSE (1944) |
Noel Ewart OdellFRSE FGS (25 December 1890 – 21 February 1987) was anEnglishgeologist andmountaineer. In 1924 he was an oxygen officer on theEverest expedition in whichGeorge Mallory andAndrew Irvine famously perished during their summit attempt. Odell spent two weeks living above 23,000 feet (7,000 m), and twice climbed to 26,800 feet (8,200 m) and higher, all without supplemental oxygen. In 1936 Noel Odell withBill Tilmanclimbed Nanda Devi, at the time thehighest mountain climbed.
He was born atSt Lawrence, Isle of Wight[1] the son of Rev Robert William Odell and his wife, Mary Margaret Ewart.[2]
He was educated atBrighton College and theRoyal School of Mines,Imperial College. He received a doctorate (PhD) fromCambridge University.
He was an accomplished rock climber, joining theAlpine Club in 1916[3] and famous for his solo first ascent in 1919 ofTennis Shoe on theIdwal Slabs (Rhiwiau Caws) inSnowdonia. Odell Gully in theHuntington Ravine of New Hampshire'sMount Washington is named after Odell, who was the first to accomplish its ascent in winter.[4]After the war, he took part in the1921 Oxford University Spitsbergen expedition withTom Longstaff and others.[5]
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On 8 June 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to climb to the top of Mount Everest via the Northeast Ridge route. Keen-sighted Odell reported seeing them at 12:50 p.m. ascending one of the major "steps" on the North-East ridge, "the last step but one from the base of the final pyramid" and "going strongly for the top."[6] But no evidence thus far has proved that they reached the summit, or that they ascended above the major Second Step. They never returned and perished on the mountain. Odell was the last person to see the pair alive.[7]
In his first two accounts, written between June and November 1924, Odell was certain he had seen Mallory and Irvine climbing the Second Step.[8][a][9][b] But in the expedition account published in 1925, and after mounting skepticism from members of the climbing community as to whether it was the Second Step or the lower First Step, Odell conceded it might have been the First Step where he had seen the pair.[10][c][11][d] After he had been rejected as too old for thenext Everest expedition, he recanted his change of mind and returned to the belief that he had seen the two climbers surmount the Second Step.[12][e] Had they done so, there would have been a fair chance that one of them, at least, might have reached the summit.[citation needed]
In 1936 Noel Odell withBill Tilmansuccessfully reached the summit of Nanda Devi which at the time, and until 1950, was thehighest mountain climbed.[13] Odell returned to Everest with theexpedition led by Tilman in 1938.[14]
Noel Odell had a colourful career outside mountaineering as well, serving with theRoyal Engineers in both World Wars, as a consultant in the petroleum and mining industries, and teachinggeology at a number of universities around the world, includingHarvard andCambridge.[15] He was Professor of Geology at theUniversity of Otago inNew Zealand andPeshawar University inPakistan.
In 1944 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were SirJames Wordie,George Tyrrell, SirArthur Trueman andJohn Weir.[16]
In 1917 he married Gwladys Mona Jones (1891-1977).[17] Mona was also a climber and was a long standing member of theLadies' Alpine Club, having joined in 1921 and remained a member until her death.[3]
