George Mallory and Andrew Irvine (photo, left) disappeared while attempting Mount Everest’s summit on June 8, 1924.
They probably didn’t reach the summit, but if they did, they were first to climb Everest by any route, preceding Hillary and Tenzing by 29 years.
They were last seen climbing upward into mists below one of the rock steps that begin at 28,097 feet on the Northeast Ridge; which step is uncertain.
The previous high point was 28,200 feet by a slightly different route across rock slabs below the ridge, and then a short ways into a gully known as the Great Couloir.
The two English climbers never returned. For decades, only scant clues hinted at their fate. Irving’s ice axe was found below their climbing route in 1933. A breakthrough came in 1999 with the discovery of Mallory’s body some distance below the ridge; his injuries and a broken rope suggested a fall. But it didn’t answer the question of whether they reached the summit.
What you’re looking at in the photo below is something climbers have been trying to find for a century. It’s a piece of Andrew Irvine’s body, a boot with a foot in it. There’s no question it’s his; the sock has a label with his name, and it’s the type of boot he wore. Its precise location hasn’t been disclosed, but it seems to be on the glacier below. Read story here.
The rest of his body hasn’t been found, nor the camera he was carrying which might reveal whether he and Mallory reached the top. If he fell all the way down the mountain, or his body was swept off by avalanches, the remains likely are dismembered and scattered. Even if intact after falling, being buried in a moving, grinding glacier would tear them apart.
This discovery doesn’t solve the mystery of whether Everest was climbed in 1924, but may strengthen the case that Mallory and Irvine fell while roped together. If the body is in the glacier below the mountain, that explains why previous searches didn’t find him, but doesn’t disprove reports the Chinese threw his body off the mountain (see story here).
