According to Isserman & Weaver (2008) "Nepal's first gesture of a new openness to Western contact was made to the United States. The American chargé d'affaires in New Delhi, George R. Merrell, traveled to Kathmandu in 1946 to discuss the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Nepal, initiated on a limited basis the following year. Chargé d'affaires Merrell was convinced that the Himalaya was a region of vital strategic importance to the United States in the emerging cold war with the Soviet Union and allied Communist nations; in a cable to Washington in January 1947 he argued that
'in an age of rocket warfare,' Tibet might provide a valuable launching pad for American
missiles. He may have harbored similar thoughts regarding Nepal; in any case, he worked
diligently to broaden contacts between the two countries on both the official and informal
levels.[2]Isserman, Maurice; Weaver, Stewart (2008). "The Golden Age Postponed". Fallen Giants : A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN978-0300115017.
Ward & Clark (1992). Ward, M. P.; Clark, P. K. (March 1992). "Everest, 1951: Cartographic and Photographic Evidence of a New Route from Nepal". The Geographical Journal. 158 (1): 47–56. doi:10.2307/3060016. JSTOR3060016.
Ward & Clark (1992). Ward, M. P.; Clark, P. K. (March 1992). "Everest, 1951: Cartographic and Photographic Evidence of a New Route from Nepal". The Geographical Journal. 158 (1): 47–56. doi:10.2307/3060016. JSTOR3060016.
Herzog, Maurice (1952). Annapurna. Conquest of the First 8000-Metre Peak (26,493ft). Translated by Morin, Nea; Adam Smith, Janet. London: Jonathan Cape. Introduction by Shipton, Eric.
Terray (1961). Terray, Lionel (1961). Les conquérants de l'inutile. Des Alpes à l'Annapurna (in French). Paris: Éditions Gallimard.
Terray, Lionel (1963). Conquistadors of the Useless: From the Alps to Annapurna. Translated by Sutton, Geoffrey. Gollancz.
Ballu (1996). Ballu, Yves (1996). Gaston Rébuffat : une vie pour la montagne (in French). Paris: Éditions Hoëbeke. ISBN978-2842300159. Not first-hand but a posthumous biography, published with Rébuffat's approval.