1965 Research Scheme Nepal Himalaya Map of Mount Everest and the Himalayas

This is a first edition 1965 'Research Scheme Nepal Himalaya' (Forschungsunternehmen Nepal Himalaya) and Erwin Schneider map of Mount Everest and vicinity. As the finest map then available of the Nepalese Everest approaches, this map would have been an essential tool in planning any ascent of the mountain and may have been issued for the 1965 21-man Third Indian Everest Expedition. The map depicts the region from Menlung La to Kangdoshung Glacier and from Palung Glacier to Iswa Glacier and Iswa La. Mountain peaks and glaciers are identified throughout. Dashed lines, twisting and turning their way through valleys and along glaciers, mark paths. Villages and towns are labeled as well, including the celebrated Namche Bazar, known worldwide as a stop on the trek to Mount Everest. Open crevasses and ice walls appear as well, and contour lines present the region's intense topography. Cartographically it is derived from the 1950s mapmaking work of Erwin Schneider and Fritz Ebster, here updated with new information from subsequent expeditions, including the First and Second Indian Everest Expeditions.

Erwin Schneider and Fritz Ebster

This map is a result of a terrestrial photogrammetric survey of the Everest region completed in 1955 by Erwin Schneider. Schneider's work has been called a 'masterpiece of reconnaissance surveying'. The photogrammetric equipment weighted over 50lbs and getting to the photogrammetric stations often required intense technical assents, underscoring Schneider's remarkable fortitude as a climber.

Over the course of some five months of intensive work, Schneider's field sketches and diagrams were turned into relief-like illustrations of bedrock, moraines, glaciers, and more by Austrian cartographic draftsman Fritz Ebster (1901 - 1979). Stylistically it follows in the model of the Österreichischer Alpenverein (Austrian Mountaineering Club) maps, with which Ebster would have been most familiar.

Terrestrial Photogrammetry

Terrestrial Photogrammetry is the science of determining geographical positions and making maps from photographs taken from high-altitude vantage points. It was developed in the mid-19th century with the invention of photography. The essential premise is that the distance between two points that lie on a plane parallel to the photographic image's plane can be determined by measuring their distance in an image, presuming that the scale of the image is known. The techniques were highly refined during World War II and following the war, more scientific uses for the system were embraced - as here.

Publication History and Census

This map was compiled from fieldwork executed by Erwin Schneider and with trigonometric starting points provided by the Survey of India. The whole was edited by Research Scheme Nepal Himalaya (Forschungsunternehmen Nepal Himalaya) and was published and printed by Kartographische Anstalt Freytag-Berndt und Artaria. Three editions were published. The first, of which the present copy is an example, appeared in 1965. The second was published in 1978 and was followed by the third edition in 1985. All appear in institutional collections but are scarce on the private market.