1957 German Alpine Club Map of Mount Everest and Vicinity

This is the first and most important modern map of the Mount Everest region. This extraordinary map was published in 1957 by the Deutscher Alpenverein (German Alpine Club) and Österreichischer Alpenverein (Austrian Alpine Club) based upon photogrammetric survey work conducted by Erwin Schneider during the 1955 Norman G. Dyrhenfurth Himalaya Expedition. The six-color chromolithograph map depicts the Khumbu, or the south (Nepalese) approach Mount Everest, which appears in the upper right, covering from Tsolatse to Baruntse and from Lingtren to Ama Dablam. The detail throughout, down to stone walls and tiny paths, is an extraordinary representation of the Khumbu's complex terrain. Topography is represented by contours at 20-meter intervals with every 100 meters emphasized.

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 50 pounds and getting to the photogrammetric stations often required intense technical ascents, 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.

The Best Map of Everest

Large and beautifully colored, myriad glaciers, mountains, and villages are identified. Topographical lines wind their way throughout the map, with elevations noted every 100 feet. Summit elevations are given in both feet and meters. Mount Everest is situated above and to the right of center, is labeled both as Mount Everest and as Chomolongma, the might mountain's Tibetan name. A fair amount of information concerning the map's creation, notations, and the origins of the toponomy can be found along the right border in both German and English. A key map of the Mahalangur Himal is also located along the right side, informing the viewer that, along with the map offered here, several more specific maps of the region were also created.

This map is based upon the survey work of Edwin Schneider and was drawn by Fritz Ebster. It was published jointly by the Deutscher Alpenverein, Österreichischer Alpenverein, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (a German research firm) . It was printed by Kartographische Anstalt Freytag-Berndt und Artaria of Vienna in 1957. While the map is present in institutional collections, it is rare to the market and highly desirable.