100 years ago, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reached the summit of Mount Everest ... or did they...?
In the following photo part of the team from the 1924 british expedition, from left to right, top: Irvine, Mallory, Norton, Odell, Macdonald, and bottom: Shebbeare, Bruce, Somervell, Beetham.
The first attempt was made by Mallory and Geoffrey Bruce. After climbing to try to set up Camp VI at 8,200 meters, they descended without success.
A second attempt by Norton and Somervell along the Northeast Ridge first and then down the Great Corridor (called Norton Corridor since then) took it to a height of 8,573 meters (without oxygen).
Somervell, exhausted and with a very sore throat, told Norton to continue, waited for him a few meters behind and took a photo that went down in history as the highest point reached by a human for almost 30 years, until the Swiss expedition to Everest in 1952, which managed to reach 8,595 meters on the southeast ridge.
At 38 years old, Mallory knew that it was possibly his last chance and seeing that oxygen could be crucial, he decided, for the final attack to the summit, to be accompanied by Irvine who, although more novice in high mountains, was the most expert with the devices of oxygen, modifying them several times by adding, removing and changing parts to improve their operation, since they failed more than a shotgun at a fair. The other option for the attack on the summit was Noel Odell, more experienced and better acclimatized, but without the technical knowledge to handle the oxygen devices, so he was discarded by Mallory, finally choosing Irvine instead.
On June 6, Odell took this photograph of Mallory and Irvine preparing to leave Camp IV at about 7,000 meters, not knowing that it would be the last photo of these two adventurers before they disappeared into the mountain.
That same day the group formed by Mallory, Irvine and eight Sherpas reached Camp V located at 7750 meters without problems, largely due to good weather.
On June 7 they ascended to Camp VI at about 8,250 meters (they moved it about 100 meters higher than where Norton and Somervell had previously set it up) and sent the four remaining Sherpas back to the North Col. From that point they would face the mountain completely alone.
On June 8, 1924, Mallory and Irvine left for the summit from Camp VI, it is believed that they were somewhat delayed due to the disorder that Odell found hours later after reaching this camp. Around 12:50 in the morning Odell, who was climbing from Camp V and was in a group of rocks at 7900 meters, saw (or thought he saw) his companions on the northeast ridge. Until that moment the mist hid the edge and summit of the mountain, but the clouds dissipated and according to Odell later:
At 12.50 there was a sudden clearing of the atmosphere, and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest 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 great rock-step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.
Noel Odell
Odell was convinced that that rocky outcrop was the Second Step, so if that were the case and after overcoming it, his companions would be at 8,635 meters more or less, a little more than 250 meters vertically from the summit, and about three or four hours of walking away from this, for some too long to reach the summit and return to Camp VI during the day. Later, and surely under pressure, he changed his testimony, doubting the exact location of the "black spots", perhaps they were in the First Step, however Odell was a fairly experienced geologist and it is difficult to think that he was wrong in the location of his vision.
Irvine and Mallory were never seen alive again, their epic adventure went down in history and perhaps it is better this way, not knowing what really happened and everyone can imagine what they want...
Article extracted from the blog Cuaderno de Escaladas Header photo by Carsten Nebel (Wikipedia) Black and white photos by Royal Geographical Society Translation made with Google Translator