Who Climbed Everest First? The Search for Sandy Irvine
On May 29, 1953, at 11:30 am, New Zealander, Edmund Hilary and Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, reached the previously inaccessible summit of Mt. Everest – the highest place on earth. News of their accomplishment echoed across the world, garnering them due praise for their immense bravery, professionalism and daring. But, hanging over their extraordinary achievement, was the mysterious legacy of George Mallory and his climbing partner, Sandy Irvine.
In 1924, a member of the Mallory expedition, Noel Odell, saw the audacious dyad of English climbers “going strongly for the top”, less than a thousand feet below Everest’s elusive apex. His vision of his teammates was suddenly blighted by a passing cloud and the two adventurers vanished beyond the enveloping squall. They were never seen alive again.
The well-preserved body of Mallory was discovered seventy-five years later by a team of climbers who set out to search for the missing pair. They found numerous papers, receipts; bills and bits of equipment (including a rope tortuously tied around his degraded waist), but failed to find the Kodak camera Irvine and Mallory reportedly carried to document their ascent. The same team scoured the surrounding landscape for any sign of Irvine but to no avail. If found, this missing mountaineer and his camera may reveal whether he and Mallory reached the summit first, almost three decades before the acknowledged date.
It was Mallory’s third attempt to climb the unclimbable mountain in 1924. He was thirty-seven and knew this would be his final chance to make history. He took part in earlier record-setting expeditions like the venture of 1922, when a band of English daredevils became the first climbers to reach 26,980 feet. Unfortunately, on that occasion, they were forced to give up their historic trek when bad weather made any further progress impossible. Of all the team members from the two earlier English undertakings, Mallory was the most experienced member to return for the third attempt. He assembled an impressive squad of world-class climbers with whom he hoped to finally overcome the monster of Everest.
Among his companions was a young, tall, athletic rower called Andrew “Sandy” Irvine. Sandy had won the Henley Regatta for Oxford in 1919 and soon after became enamoured with the Herculean challenge of climbing dangerous mountains. To the surprise of many present at Everest in 1924, Mallory chose this relatively inexperienced member of his crew to accompany him to the heavenly heights of the tallest mountain in the world. It was expected that Mallory would choose the veteran mountaineer, Noel Odell (the last man to see the duo alive), but Irvine’s technical knowledge of how to work the primitive yet precious oxygen canisters proved more valuable than having another expert climber in tow.
They are said to have set off late on the 8th June and were last seen somewhere near the top of either the first or second step – steep and lethal milestones any climber had to master to rise to the highest ground. Debates on whether Mallory and Irvine managed to meet the end of their ambition still divides the mountaineering community. The cold case of these revered dreamers has become the mystery of Everest, a mystery every climber of the world’s most famous mountain wishes to solve. Though Mallory’s fate and final moments have been convincingly adumbrated since the discovery of his body by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition in 1999, the whereabouts of Sandy Irvine remains an enigma. As the camera was not with Mallory, or anywhere near the site of his fall, it must lie with or close to Irvine.
In 1975, a Chinese Climber claimed to have seen a pre-war body stuffed into a hole with its feet pointing to the top of the mountain. The Chinese climber died in an avalanche before a thorough interview could be conducted. Might this be the body of Irvine?
Clues as to the fate of Irvine are scattered across Everest’s unassailable slopes. In 1933, an ice-axe was found at 27,760 feet. Since the make of the axe was used on the third, fateful English expedition, and no other members of that venture made it as high, researchers have concluded that the axe must belong to Mallory or Irvine. In 1991, an oxygen tank dating 1924 was collected 200 feet closer to the first step than the ice-axe was located. The finding of this kit at 27,820 feet marks the minimal elevation Mallory and Irvine achieved on their unfortunate excursion. Experts from Kodak have said repeatedly that if the famous camera is unearthed, there is still a serious chance of its film being developed. Imagine the photograph of a weary but happy Mallory surveying the vast vista of the Himalayas. It would change the history of Everest forever.
Though the equipment in 1924 was comparably basic to today’s efficient tech, there are several reasons to believe the doomed duo did in fact find themselves looking over the world from the zenith of Everest. For one thing, Mallory carried a photograph of his wife with the intention of depositing his keepsake on the summit. No photograph was found on his person. For another, Mallory’s unbroken snow goggles were found in his pocket, suggesting the pair had gone for the top and were descending after sunset. There is no guarantee that they descended after reaching the summit, but it seems likely they died as they came down.
The only proof of their potential achievement is probably still frozen in snow some 26,000 feet above the sea. Those noble explorers chased the ecstasy of their strange addiction as high as was humanely possible. They possessed a courage and temerity only heroes have the heart to bear. Whether they made it to the top or not, is ultimately unimportant. Their inspiring persistence and unforgettable fearlessness has made them immortal.