Whymper tent

The roof is made of a single sheet of unbleached cotton canvas sewn around the four poles.

The floor is a 9-foot (2.7 m) square of mackintosh material, sewn to the roof sheet and the closed end.

The entrance flaps are fitted with tapes and the roofing material is nailed to the poles for strength.

A climbing rope was used to go over the crossing of each pair of poles and along the ridge underneath the roof material.

[3][4] After it had been lying in a barn in Valtournenche in the Italian Alps for over 100 years, the original tent was donated to the Alpine Club in 1965 by Guido Monzino and it has been restored by the Royal School of Needlework.

[8] However, the original size was sometimes found too small for four people and a 7-foot (2.1 m) square version weighing 26 pounds (12 kg) was available.

[10] It was from a small, two-man, 10-pound (4.5 kg) Meade tent at Camp VI that George Mallory and Sandy Irvine left on their final attempt on the summit of Everest on the 1924 expedition.