Eighty years after British climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine vanished on Mount Everest, a search party is seeking a camera which may prove whether the pair were the first to reach the summit of the world's highest peak.
In June 1924, nearly three decades before the celebrated 1953 ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, Mallory and Irvine disappeared while attempting to conquer the 8,848m mountain.
Mallory, 37 years old and the premier climber of his day, and Irvine, a strapping 22-year-old Oxford University rowing captain known as "Sandy," were last seen "going strong for the top" by another member of the 1924 British Everest Expedition.
Whether they made it before dying is the most enduring mystery in Everest legend.
Armed with new evidence, a team sponsored by a US climbing Web site, EverestNews.com, hopes to find Irvine's body and the Kodak VPK camera which the climbers are believed to have taken with them when they headed up the mountain on the morning of June 8, 1924.
George Martin, general manager of EverestNews.com, said the black-and-white film in the camera may have survived in the frigid conditions. "The experts believe that it's very developable," he said in a telephone interview.
Martin said the team was searching for Irvine's body on the basis of new information. "We came across what we feel is critical evidence over a year ago," he said. "A climber came across a body not wearing a down suit."
Mallory, who was making his third assault on Everest having joined unsuccessful 1921 and 1922 British expeditions, and Irvine wore layers of cotton and wool clothes for the climb.
The EverestNews.com expedition is the latest dedicated to unravelling the mystery of Mallory and Irvine. Numerous books and documentaries have been devoted to the subject.
Mallory's body -- face down, arms outstretched clinging to the mountain -- was found by members of the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition in 1999 but they were unable to conclusively determine whether he or Irvine had reached the summit.
Mallory, who uttered the immortal words, "Because it's there" when once asked why he wanted to climb Everest, had apparently died as the result of a fall.
His right leg had been broken and he had suffered a severe head injury but it was unclear whether he had died while going up or down. No camera was found on Mallory's body, which was discovered at around 8,182m.
Martin expressed hope the EverestNews.com team could find Irvine's body, "give it a Christian burial" at the request of the family, and recover the camera which could put to rest the question of whether they made the summit.
If the camera is not found or fails to provide any answers, "Sandy may have written a note or something," he said.
"Hopefully we'll be able to solve it," Martin said. "I think a lot of people would like to know whether they made it to the top or not.
"Did someone summit before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? I think it's possible that one if not both of them did," he said.
Martin said the team of "very qualified, expert climbers" was keeping a low profile and had pledged to communicate any findings to Irvine's family before releasing them publicly.
"It isn't about us. It should be about the history of it all," he said. "This should be about these two men. They were fearless. They gave their lives to it."
RSS