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| Irvine (L), Mallory (R) |
From that day, Mount Everest has held its secret close. Did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit, 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay did on the Nepalese side in 1953? This enduring mystery has haunted and sparked the imagination of many, including myself.
George Mallory became obsessed with Mount Everest in the 1920's, having been involved with previous Himalayan expeditions. This was an age of spirit, exploration and tweed. During this time, when asked why he wanted to climb Everest he was famously quoted as simply saying, 'Because it is there'. The expedition gripped the imagination of the country and hopes were high.
Mallory chose the 22 year old Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine to be his summit partner, not for his mountaineering skills, but for his engineering knowledge. Irvine remodelled the oxygen tanks and kept them working throughout the expedition. A skillful and strong engineer, he was quite frankly a handy sort of chap to have around.
So here we have two men, Mallory an utterly determined, experienced adventurer with a stark bravery that ran deep through his blood and a visionary for his time. He left his beloved wife Ruth and their 3 young children for this ultimate venture.
Irvine, young, impressionable, a bit of a ladies man it's said, and perhaps got carried away with the adventure and his famous colleague.
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| George Mallory |
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| Andrew Irvine |
On the 8th June 1924, Mallory and Irvine left their camp at 26,700ft on Mount Everest. They were last sighted by fellow expedition member Noel Odell at 12.50pm, close to the summit, before they vanished into the clouds and disappeared forever.
“The entire Summit Ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snowcrest 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 rock step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.”
So, did they reach the summit? No one really knows, but there are some clues. In 1999, 75 years later, Mallory's well-preserved body was found at 26,760ft, on Everest's north slope. His fingers still gripped tightly onto the mountainside, his leg was broken and his clothes were ripped from his back. A rope was tied around his waist with the end cut off, indicating he was tied to Irvine before an accident occured. His snow googles were found in his pocket, to many this suggests that he was decending from the summit in the dark. But, what wasn't found on his body was the photo of Ruth, which he promised he would leave on the summit.
Andrew Irvine's body has not yet been found, though it may just be a matter of time. On him, it is hoped he'll have the camera which they took with them. Kodak have confirmed, that once found, they should be able to recover the photos. Maybe this holds the key. Until then, the romance and mystery of this story will live on.
“So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.” - George Mallory
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