Norman Hardie

Film of the 1955 British expedition to Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak, led by Charles Evans. The first ascent of Kangchenjunga was made on 25th May 1955 when Joe Brown and George Band stopped just short of the summit, a promise they had made to the Nepalese authorities in respect of local beliefs that it is a sacred place. Norman Hardie and Tony Streather summited the following day. At this time, Kangchenjunga was the world’s highest unclimbed peak.

"Filmed by George Lowe and taken on the New Zealand Alpine Club’s 1954 Expedition to the Barun Valley in Nepal. Ed Hillary was the leader of the expedition. It was a large expedition involving a number of New Zealand’s best mountaineers at the time. Roland Ellis did a great deal of organising for this expedition and I think in the end, as a keen amateur film buff, also financed the movie. He edited it and organised Ed to be the commentator."