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NEWS:
[top]
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Julie
Summer's acclaimed biography of her great uncle Sandy Irvine is again
available in the UK. It has been published by independent publishing
house RippingYarns.com, and is available here. |
Want to keep
up on the latest Everest happenings? Then visit the blog Everest
is Ours. The writer is a friend of mine who writes under the moniker
Renee; she describes her blog as "Where we talk about Mount Everest
history, histrionics and anything else we like. Come on in. We don't bite
hard." Highly recommended!
Jake
Norton has posted videos
from IMG's 2004 search for Irvine that are fascinatng to watch, as
well as giving perspective on the extreme difficulties of mounting searches
at high altitude unless the conditions are just right. There's also a
video on YouTube of him searching through the remains of the old British
Camp 6 from 1938.
Spring 2007 - Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding free-climb
the 2nd Step
Conrad
Anker sucessively free-climbed the Second Step, and he and Leo Houlding
then made the summit! For safety reasons, the pair decided not to try
it in period clothing, but used modern gear instead. According to the
official press releases, this is the first confirmed free ascent of the
2nd Step since the Chinese first climbed it in 1960. Apparently they either
haven't heard, or don't believe the recent reports that Oscar
Cadiach free-climbed it in monsoon conditions in 1985, or that Theo
Fritsche free-soloed it in 2001, both reports based on research done
by Jochen Hemmleb.
According
to the official
UEverest website,
Conrad Anker is returning to the North side of
Everest, leading an expedition to search for traces of Mallory
& Irvine. Anker will be joined by
ace climber Leo Houlding, as part of a new Mallory
and Irvine movie being filmed by Altitude
Films. Anker is going to play Mallory's part, and Houlding will tag
along as Irvine. Reports indicate that the pair
will attempt to free-climb the Second Step, giving Conrad a
second chance to free the route, and perhaps give it a revised rating
from his 1999 rating of 5.10 AO (one step of aid off the ladder). How
will this compare to Theo Fritsche's - who free-soloed the 2nd Step in
2001 - rating of 5.6 to 5.7? (See next section)
Fall 2006 - Report that
the Second Step has been Climbed Free
Jochen Hemmleb reported in
the 2006 American
Alpine Journal that Austrian Theo Fritsche was able to free-climb
the 2nd Step in 2001, without using the ladder like Anker had to in 1999.
Hemmleb reported that Fritsche rated the climb as in the 5.6-5.7 range.
This seems doubtful, but reportedly Fritsche was able to layback the offwidth
and mantle over the chockstone above without any artificial aids, or even
a belay! Hemmleb wrote that he would leave it to the reader to decide
if this has any bearing on the Mallory and Irvine mystery, but of course
it does. It certainly seems to contradict Anker's opinion that the route
was beyond Mallory's abilities.
Sping 2006 - Hoyland Dresses up in "Tweeds"
Graham Hoyland was on the North
side last Spring wearing replicas
of 1924 clothing developed by Prof.
Mary Rose at Lancaster University. Her excellent research has demonstrated
that Mallory's clothing wasn't as bad as previously thought. Hoyland found
the clothing to be warm and wind resistant as reported in
this article put out by Lancaster University, and in
this article posted by the BBC. There was no searching for Irvine
and the camera higher up.
Sping
2004 - Searches for Irvine
EverestNews.com
unsuccessfully searched for Irvine in the Spring of 2004 when his body
wasn't found at a secret location given to them by a secret source. So
far they haven't proven that anything they found was directly related
to Mallory and Irvine, including fibers and a prewar oxygen bottle. Nevertheless,
they have a theory that you can read on their website.
For detailed criticism of the
EverestNews.com theory and an alternative theory, see a five-part
series of articles written by Pete Poston and Jochen Hemmleb on MountEverest.net.
Jochen Hemmleb has also made critical
remarks on the EverestNews.com 2004 interview of Xu Jing.
You can read further critiques
(Part
1 and Part
2) of their unsupported claim that somehow Mallory climbed the rotten,
vertical prow of the 2nd Step instead of the standard route, as well as
Conrad
Anker's comments on the unlikeliness of this alternative route. Jochen
Hemmleb analyzed
the only known photo of the 2nd Step taken at the time of Mallory
and Irvine's attempt, revealing that a large cornice was overhanging the
Prow of the 2nd Step, making it highly doubtful that any direct route
would have been feasible at that time.
IMG had their own mini-search
on the mountain at the same time. You can read Eric
Simonson's report online at the American Alpine Club. Jake Norton
and Dave Hahn were able to cover large parts of the Yellow Band, as well
as the area beow the Northeast Shoulder, for traces of Irvine. During
this expedition, Jake Norton discovered yet another
1960 Chinese camp halfway up the 1st Step. From his perspective, Norton
believes Mallory and Irvine could have climbed the NE Ridge directly up
the 1st Step to where it intersects the normal route.

Introduction
[top]
Photo obtained
under the "Fair Use" clause of copyright law from Wikipedia.org
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"I'm quite doubtful
if I shall be fit enough. But again I wonder if the monsoon will
give us a chance. I don't want to get caught, but our three-day
scheme from the Chang La will give the monsoon a good chance. We
shall be going up again the day after tomorrow. Six days to the
top from this camp!"
--from George Mallory's
last letter to his wife prior to disappearing on Mt. Everest with
his partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine in 1924
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"George Mallory"
28 x 40 in. oil on canvas
Original Portrait by Craig
Orback
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Mallory's last
written words to his wife reveal a man torn by doubts, but still determined
to make one last attempt on the summit of Mt Everest before his strength
and the good weather ran out. On his third and last expedition to the
mountain, Mallory and his partner Andrew Comyn Irvine climbed up to their
last camp at 26,700 feet high up on the North Ridge of Everest. On the
next day - June 8, 1924 - they were briefly seen by fellow expedition
member Noel Odell about 1000 feet below the summit, before the monsoon
clouds moved in and they disappeared forever.
Few clues as to
the fate of the pair were uncovered in the 75 years between their disappearance
and the discovery of Mallory's body by members of the 1999 Mallory and
Irvine Research Expedition. An ice ax later shown to belong to Sandy Irvine
was found at the base of the First Step in 1933. Nothing else was discovered
until Tom Holzel reported that in 1975, a Chinese climber named Wang Hongbao,
had discovered the body of an ancient "English Dead" at around
8100 meters (click here
for more on Holzel's 1986 MENFREE expedition to search for M&I). This
body, originally assumed to be Irvine's since it lay almost directly below
the ice ax site, ultimately proved to be that of Mallory's. It was clear
that he had died in a fall, and the twisted, broken rope that was wrapped
around his body indicated that he was tied to Irvine at the time. But
there was no proof one way or the other that they had made the summit
- 29 years before Hillary and Tenzing - since their camera was not found.
And then in 2001
Jochen Hemmleb and Eric Simonson revealed in their book "Detectives
on Everest" that a second body had been discovered even earlier -
in 1960 - by Xu Jing, leader of the 1960 Chinese expedition that was the
first to successfully climb Mallory's route. If true, this body can only
be that of Sandy Irvine. And the camera that he might be carrying....will
it solve the mystery?
Britain's Alpine
Club has issued a statement
from the Irvine family to any groups searching for Irvine regarding the
treatment of his body, possessions, and any photographs taken. In summary,
the Irvine family wishes that the body not be damaged, that his personal
possessions be returned to the family, and that the family be allowed
to preview any photographs prior to publication. Compare
that to the statement
issued by the Royal Geographical
Society claiming ownership of any film found in the camera.
News Websites
[top]

Mallory &
Irvine Research Expeditions (1986-2005) [top]

Everest Historians
and Climbers [top]
Everest Historians
- Jochen
Hemmleb's webpage, as well as his Mallory
& Irvine research contributions at AFFIMER
(American Federation for International Mountaineering, Exploration
and Research).
- View Jochen Hemmleb's
search
map at AFFIMER that summarizes the results of the 1999, 2001,
and 2004 searches (scroll to the bottom of the page for the link).
- Tom Holzel's critique
of "Ghosts of Everest" and his June 2001 High Mountain
Sports article "How
Far Did Mallory and Irvine Get?" - a holistic theory that
spins together the watch, oxygen, climbing rates, and the movement
of Mallory's body by Wang-Hong Bao.
- Read Gareth
Thomas' theories on the Mystery of Mallory & Irvine. Well-researched
and scholarly article on the fate of Mallory and Irvine where the
author argues that after being spotted on the 1st Step, M&I descend
and attempt Norton's Great Couloir route.
- Himalayan
Database - Ms. Elizabeth Hawley's encyclopedic documentation
of Himalayan expeditions is now available for purchase on CD-ROM.
Search by peak, date, climber, expedition, etc; contains extensive
notes on many expeditions.
- Mount
Everest The British Story - For all facts, stories and events
concerning the British on Mount Everest, we will provide all the answers
Everest Climbers -
Past and Present

Centers, Collections,
and Societies [top]

Everest Geology
[top]
Early Everester Collections
- these expeditions had several geologists who were among the first
to map and study Himalayan geology.
Current Research
-

Photoanalysis
in the Mystery of Mallory & Irvine
[top]
- Jochen Hemmleb displayed
a 1:1000 scale orthomap of the North Face of Mt. Everest at the Detectives
on Everest Exhibit at the Washington State Historical Museum in Tacoma,
WA. Hemmleb meticlulously recorded on this map the locations of all
search areas, camps, and artifacts located in 1999 and 2001. I took
these somewhat blurry images with my digital camera that can be viewed
here: map01, map02,
map03, map04.
Please note that the jpegs of Hemmleb's map are public domain because
cameras were allowed at the exhibit. The 1:1000 scale map was obtained
by Hemmleb from Alpine
Research.
- Inspired by Hemmleb's previous
analysis, here is an orthomap
of the North Face of Mt. Everest where I have added the locations
of all known artifacts and camps associated with the mystery (except
for the 1924 Camp 6 which is off the map to the east - or left - at
26,700'). By tracing the fall line back up from Mallory's grave, the
approximate location of his fall can be estimated, somewhere in the
Yellow Band between 8300 and 8400 meters - the same area that Xu Jing
in 1960 may have passed through while taking his direct line back from
Camp 7 (see Detectives
on Everest for more details). Please note that the orthomap that
I used to mark the locations is from Alpine
Research and you can purchase this map here.
- A reconstruction of Jochen
Hemmleb's Photoanalysis used to help locate the 1975 Chinese Camp
6 (it turned out to predict a location that was too high but was good
enough to find the "English Dead". Compare to Tom Holzel's
analysis in the next paragraph). Please note that the orthomap that
I used to recreate the analysis is from Alpine
Research and you can purchase this map here.
The photo of the Chinese Camp 6 was scanned from Ghosts
of Everest
- Tom
Holzel has given his permission to display a jpeg
of his search area for Sandy Irvine that he constructed back in
1999. Holzel's approach was to track the movements of a party of Chinese
climbers in 1975 who were pinned down by a storm on their way to the
final location of the 1975 Chinese Camp 6. Holzel calls this intermediate
camp "5b", and he believes that this is the camp that Wang
was in when he located the "English Dead". Comparison
of this Camp 5b with Jochen's orthomap indicates that Camp 5b was
probably at the same position as the 1960 Chinese Camp 6.
- Tom
Holzel has also given permission to use his photo
of Odell's route up the North Ridge of Everest in search of Mallory
& Irvine as given to him by Odell himself.
- Is that an extra pair of
goggles Mallory's holding in this famous North
Col photo taken by Noel Odell, or is it a gauge
used in the oxygen apparatus? I believe it's actually the gauge
based on this quote from Odell's appendix on the use of oxygen in "Fight
for Everest 1924":
"An attempt was
made to do away with the rigid arm supporting the instruments, that
passed over the left shoulder, since it proved to be a considerable
encumbrance. Instead the instruments - i.e. flow meter alone - was
connected up with the rubber tubing conveying the gas from the cylinders
to the mouthpiece, which passed under the right arm.IT WAS
SUSPENDED FROM THE COAT IN FRONT IN A VISIBLE AND COMFORTABLE POSITION
(emphasis added). The p needle-valve close beside it, accessible
to the right hand. In this way the total weight was reduced considerably,
and the only hampering of movement was caused by the lower ends
of the cylinders, which were in the way when going down steep rocks
facing outwards. This arrangement uge can only be read by someone
else at the wearer's back, an obvious diadvantage."
- Do these rust
marks found on
the face of Mallory's altimeter mean anything? Follow these links for
a view of the altimeter and rustmarks: pic1,
pic2,
pic3.
Please note that all photos are copyright of the 1999 Mallory and Irvine
Research Expedition and the altimeter photo was originally published
in Ghosts
of Everest.

Mount Everest
Routes, Maps, Photos and Satellite Images [top]

Video and Books
[top]
Video
Books
- Ghosts
of Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine, by Jochen Hemmleb,
Larry A. Johnson, Eric R. Simonson, William E. Nothdurft , Mountaineers
Books, 1999
- Detectives
on Everest: The 2001 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition, by
Jochen Hemmleb, Eric Simonson, Dave Hahn, Mountaineers Books, 2001
- The
Mystery of Mallory & Irvine, by Tom Holzel, Audrey Salkeld,
Eric R. Simonson (Foreword), Mountaineers Books; Fully Rev. edition
March 2000
- Last
Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory, by
Audrey Salkeld, David Breashears (Foreword), John Mallory, National
Geographic Society; October 1999
- EVEREST:
Eighty Years of Triumph and Tragedy, by Peter Gillman and Leni
Gillman, Mountaineers Books
- Wildest
Dream - The Biography of George Mallory, by Peter Gillman and
Leni Gillman, Mountaineers Books
- Fearless
on Everest - The Quest for Sandy Irvine, by Julie Summers,
RippingYarns.com


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