Limited Edition Everest Photo by Bill Thompson, entitled "Top of the World"

Everest is one of the most revered and most beautiful mountains in the world. And it could be hanging on your wall! This gorgeous photo will be printed to the winner's size specifications, up to 36 inches high.

The second photo is of Bill Thompson on the left and his Lear pilots and crew, from behind the scenes.

The full story of the photo as told by Nat Geo photographer Bill Thompson:

In 1983, an extraordinary event took place - the adventure of many lifetimes. I was assigned by the National Geographic to film the inimitable Brad Washburn as he fulfilled his life-long dream of filming Mt. Everest from the air.

After years of negotiations, Brad and the National Geographic had successfully navigated the myriad of geopolitical intrigues and was awarded by India, China, and Nepal the opportunity to fly completely around Mt. Everest. Brad's dream was close at hand: creating photographs of the tallest mountain on earth, which had never been accomplished at that point in history. The commitment was not only to create the first true accurate photogrammetry map of Everest, but to
also shoot stills of the mountain from every conceivable angle. In 1982, all maps of Everest were created by hand using sightings, triangulation, and a lot of imagination.

All was well as preparation for our flights proceeded, but then tragedy found itself in our midst.

Just before our especially modified Learjet was to arrive from Sweden, Brad's wife, Barbara, became terribly ill. The Washburns had no choice but to evacuate to Boston in order to save her life. This turn of events, of course, was a giant monkey wrench in the years of complicated planning. The editor of the National Geographic, Bill Garrett, was beside himself. With ten years of sensitive negotiations and millions of dollars invested in equipment and crew to place Everest
aerial images in the upcoming 100 year anniversary issue, "Exploring the Earth", stress was high for everyone involved with the project.

Garrett called me in Kathmandu to say Barbara was struggling, and Brad would be staying with her in Boston. I would now be the guy to "get the damned pictures". Beginning with flights in a tiny Pilatus Porter flown to altitudes of 28,000 feet, with the door open, I began filming.

Over the ensuing months, with incredibly clear Himalayan weather, we captured the data for creating a complete and accurate map of Everest. With many flights in the Pilatus, and in the Learjet piloted by a crew from Sweden, I exposed over a thousand rolls of Kodachrome film-36,000 individual images. All of these excursions were dangerous but the very nature of this danger created marvelous adventures, etched in my memory.

In summary, we created a sea of images which truly captured a sense of the magnitude, the beauty and the power of this Mountain called EVEREST. Brad's map was completed in time for the anniversary issue, as were the still images. We fulfilled our commitment.

The images which I am donating to the AAC are limited edition prints from this project, printed on handmade watercolor paper with archival inks. The edition of each of the images is limited to 50 prints and with three artists proofs.