Hugh Ruttledge 20 May – was, as a result of disagreements between team members, never established. It was during this expedition that Wyn-Harris found the ice axe which belonged to Andrew Irvine, who had disappeared on the peak on the with George Mallory. One of the men rejected for this expedition was Tenzing Norgay, who made the first ascent of Everest in 1953 with Sir Edmund Hillary. Fortunately, Ruttledge had the foresight to hire Tenzing to come with him to Everest in 1936. In 1934 Ruttledge was awarded a Royal Geographical Society Founder's Gold Medal; his citation read 'For his journeys in
George Band Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. George Band died of natural causes in Hampshire, England, UK, on 26 August 2011, aged 82. George Band George Christopher Band OBE (2 February 1929 – 26 August 2011) was an English mountaineer. He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of the mountain. George Band was born in Taiwan and educated at Eltham College. He did his National Service with the Royal Corps of Signals and read Geology