Mountain exploration has come a long way in less than eighty years.  A significant milestone was reach on August 29, 1936 when a group of four American climbers and four British mountaineers, including legendary Englishman Noel Odell, reached the summit of Nanda Devi (25,643 ft./7,815 m.).  It would be the highest peak ascended by man until the French reached the top of Annapurna in Nepal.