Norton Couloir

North face of Mount Everest: routes and important points

The Norton Couloir or Great Couloir is a steep gorge high on the north face of Mount Everest in Tibet, China, which lies east of the pyramidal peak and extends to within 150 m below the summit.

Its companion to the west of the summit is the Hornbein Couloir.

Green line	Normal route, largely corresponds to the 1924 Mallory Route, with high-altitude camps at about 7,700 and 8,300 m, today's 8,300 m camp is somewhat more to the west (2 triangles)
Red line	Great Couloir or Norton Couloir
Light blue line	1980 Messner Traverse; in 1924 Norton crossed the north face between the light blue and the green lines
b)	Point on west face of the couloir, up to which Edward Felix Norton ascended in 1924

Origin of the name

The steep gorge was named after the lead member of the 1924 British expedition, Edward Felix Norton, who reached a height of about 8,570 metres (28,120 ft) in this steep valley during an unsuccessful summit attempt on 4 June 1924. He avoided the dangerous windswept ridge and, by traversing the north face, ascended into the gorge which has since borne his name.

Everest solo, Reinhold Messner

The Norton Couloir was the scene of one of the greatest mountaineering achievements when, in 1980, Reinhold Messner entered this gorge to avoid what, for a solo climber, was a dangerous ridge - especially to circumvent the Three Pinnacles - and ascended to the summit, alone and without using supplemental oxygen. The most successful climb to that point by F. Edward Norton in 1924, was Messner's inspiration for this attempt: Norton had also used no oxygen.

Other climbs through the couloir

In 1984 an Australia expedition succeeded in climbing a new route. From the main branch of the Rongbuk Glacier they went directly onto the north face and established their third high-altitude camp at the entrance of the couloir at 7,500 metres. From another camp at 8,150 m Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer reached the summit on 2 October without bottled oxygen, the first Australians to reach the top of Everest.^[1]

In 2001, young French snowboarder Marco Siffredi succeeded in the first snowboard descent of Everest by using the Norton Couloir. He died the following year attempting a new descent via the Hornbein Couloir.^[2]

References

↑ Bartram, Geoffrey: Everest via the Great Couloir. In: AAJO 1985. S. 338
↑ "Everest Snowboarder Vanishes On Second Try". National Geographic. 27 September 2002. Retrieved 22 August 2011.

Sources

Tom Holzel, Audrey Salkeld: In der Todeszone - Das Geheimnis um George Mallory; Goldmann, München 1999, ISBN 3-442-15076-0
Conrad Anker, David Roberts: Verschollen am Mount Everest - Dem Geheimnis von George Mallory auf der Spur; Heyne, München 1999, ISBN 3-453-17711-8
Reinhold Messner: Everest Solo; Fischer, Frankfurt 2001 - ISBN 3-596-15092-2

Mount Everest

Topography and landmarks	Base Camp Geneva Spur Hillary Step Hornbein Couloir Kangshung Face Kangshung Glacier Khumbu Glacier Khumbu Icefall Lhakpa La Lho La North Col North Face Norton Couloir Rongbuk Glacier South Col South Summit Three Pinnacles Three Steps "Green Boots cave" Western Cwm

Expeditions	1921 British reconnaisance 1922 British 1924 British (Affair of the Dancing Lamas) 1933 British 1935 British 1936 British 1938 British 1950–52 British–Swiss–US reconnaissance 1951 British 1952 Swiss 1953 British 1975 British SW Face 1996 Indo-Tibetan Border Police 2006 Philippine 2007 Altitude Everest expedition Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition Timeline of climbing Mount Everest List of Mount Everest guides

Disasters and notable deaths	1970 disaster 1974 avalanche 1996 disaster Green Boots David Sharp 2014 avalanche 2015 avalanches List of people who died climbing Mount Everest

Committees	Joint Himalayan Committee Mount Everest Committee

In media	Beyond the Edge The Climb (book) The Climb (2007 film) Everest (1998 film) Everest (2015 film) Everest (Indian TV series) Everest '82 Everest: Beyond the Limit EverestMax Expedition Everest (roller coaster) Into Thin Air The Man Who Skied Down Everest Mount Everest webcam Paths of Glory Peak The Wildest Dream Wings Over Everest

Mount Everest massif	Khumbutse Lhotse Lingtren Nuptse Pumori

Records	List of Mount Everest records Times to the summit 20th-century summiters

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