August 13, 2016 | Leave a comment At 29,029 feet, Mount Everest is the world’s tallest mountain. By 1953, despite numerous attempts, no one had successfully scaled the Himalayan peak. That year, a British expedition led by John Hunt, would attempt to become the first to conquer the summit. The team opted to try a route through the Khumbu Icefall and the South Col, and on 29th May, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, using oxygen cylinders and masks, summited at 11.30am. Hillary buried a crucifix, while Norgay similarly interred sweets. Hillary took a photograph of Norgay standing on the summit, holding his ice axe strung with flags from the United Nations, India, Nepal and the United Kingdom. They spent about 15 minutes on the top of the world, before beginning their descent. The success of the British expedition was announced on the eve of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and as you might expect, there was much jubilation in the land! The newly crowned queen knighted Hillary on his return to Britain. Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay However, whilst there is no doubt that Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the fist climbers to successfully climb Mount Everest, by reaching the top and coming back down again, were they really the first human beings to stand on the summit of the mountain? At the time of writing there is no definite answer to this question, but there remains a distinct possibility that they were not. British climbers George Mallory and Andrew (Sandy) Irvine, were part of an expedition that set out to climb the mountain in 1924, almost 30 years before Hillary’s and Norgay’s ascent. On 8th June 1924, armed with a camera and a rudimentary oxygen supply, the pair left high camp to make an attempt at the summit, and were seen by fellow climber Noel Odell on the northeast ridge of Everest, just a few hundred yards from the summit. The following is an excerpt from Odell’s account: “At 12.50…, there was a sudden clearing of the atmosphere, and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow crest beneath a rock step in the ridge; the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.” Sadly, Odell’s sighting was the last time either man was seen alive. That they both died on Everest is a certainty. What is unknown, is whether they were ascending or descending the mountain at the time of their deaths, and if descending, had they reached the summit, or had they been forced to turn back before reaching the top? For many years, the only evidence to go on was Odell’s account, suggesting they were closing in on the summit when last seen. However, on 1st May 1999, the body of George Mallory, wearing a tweed suit, was discovered at the bottom of a snow field on the North Face, at 26,760 feet. His mummified body was sun bleached and frozen, and he had suffered fractures to the right leg. The fatal injury, however, was a large puncture wound to his forehead. A rope tied around his waist led to a broken end, suggesting he and Irvine were together when they suffered an accident. George Mallory But interestingly, it was the contents of his pockets that yielded further tantalising clues. Mallory was known to be carrying a photograph of his wife, Ruth, which he had planned to leave on the summit. There was no photograph on his body, leading many to believe that they had summited, and that he had left the photograph on the top of Everest as intended. Secondly, his snow goggles were in his pocket, suggesting he was descending in fading light when the accident occurred. Given the time of day the pair were spotted by Odell, they would have had more than sufficient time to have reached the summit and begun descending, before the onset of twilight. Unfortunately, Mallory was not carrying the camera, nor was it was not found near to his body. George Mallory’s remains were covered with a cairn, on the spot where he had come to rest 75 years earlier. Expert mountaineer, and conqueror of Everest Chris Bonington, offered the following assessment: If we accept the fact that they were above the Second Step, they would have seemed to be incredibly close to the summit of Everest, and I think at that stage something takes hold of most climbers …And I think therefore, taking all those circumstances in view …I think it is quite conceivable that they did go for the summit … I certainly would love to think that they actually reached the summit of Everest. I think it is a lovely thought and I think it is something, you know, gut emotion, yes I would love them to have got there. Whether they did or not, I think that is something one just cannot know.” Despite a number of searches, the body of Irvine has not been found. Experts from Kodak believe that, if the camera could be found, it should be possible, with extreme care, to develop any images contained on the film inside. Somewhere below that icy peak lies the body of Andrew (Sandy) Irvine, and a camera. If only that camera could be located, what a story it could tell! Andrew (Sandy) Irvine Sources: http://biography.yourdictionary.com/george-mallory http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/7735660/Who-really-was-first-to-climb-Mount-Everest.html http://garethdthomas.homestead.com/malloryandirvine.html