In 1924 George Mallory and Sandy Irvine vanished on their attempt to climb Mount Everest creating the greatest mystery in the history of world exploration. Were the pair of young Englishmen the first to conquer the world’s highest mountain? Perhaps we will never know the answer but let’s look at some of the evidence.
In 2014 I wrote and performed a one-man play about George Mallory at the Edinburgh Fringe. After the show the one question people asked me was if I believed he had climbed Everest. I was always reluctant to answer that question as there are people far better qualified than I to respond but I would like to say something of my thoughts.
Listen to the play
When I began writing the play I knew little of the two men, but I soon became fascinated by their story. George Mallory was a tall, agile school teacher in his early thirties. He had made two previous attempts on the mountain and come within a thousand feet of the summit in 1922. Of the pair Mallory was by far the more experienced climber. Andrew Irvine was in his early 20s and a relative climbing novice. A university oarsman, he possessed great strength and fitness and had made a considerable contribution to the expedition by using his engineering expertise to completely rebuild and improve the expedition’s oxygen equipment.
Me as Mallory
The last person to see the pair alive was Noel Odell, the expedition photographer who saw them high on the mountain moving towards the summit. Odell’s account is that he saw them just below the “Second step,” this is a short cliff which represents the last technical challenge to be overcome before reaching the summit. Had Mallory and Irvine overcome the second step they would undoubtedly have got to the top of the mountain.
Their fate remained a mystery until, in 1999, the American mountaineer, Conrad Anker, located Mallory’s body high on the slopes of the mountain. Mallory was found to have a broken leg and a skull fracture but several things about the body give us some clue as to what may have happened.
Irvine left Mallory right
Snow goggles: Mallory’s snow goggles were found, undamaged, in his pocket. This suggests that he fell whilst descending the mountain late in the day. Had the fall occurred earlier in the day he would have been wearing his goggles to protect him from the glare of the sun reflect from the snow. He may have been coming down from a successful bid.
Photo of his wife: Mallory had promised his wife, Ruth, that he would place a photo of her on the summit of the mountain. When Mallory was found he had no photograph of her in his possession. It is inconceivable that he would have lost it so perhaps he had indeed left it on the summit of the mountain.
Ruth Mallory
Climbing the step: Much controversy surrounds the difficulty of climbing the second step and whether this crucial section of the mountain was too difficult for the abilities of either man to overcome. British climber, Leo Holding climbed the step and believed it was above the climbing standards that were achievable in 1924. Much would have depended on the snow conditions at the time. Some years, the second step is all but covered in snow, making it relatively easy, in other years, when not much snow has fallen, it would have been a formidable barrier.
Mark Horrell, in his fascinating book, Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, argues that the crux of the climb could have been overcome by Mallory standing on Ervine’s shoulders in what was known at the time as combined tactics. Horell, who makes no claims to be an expert mountaineer, summited the mountain with the aid of guides and a ladder on the second step.
“The Englishman Houlding graded the top section of the Second Step an HVS, or Hard Very Severe (which means extremely hard in plain English). He believed it was highly unlikely Mallory had climbed it – but you don’t need to be much of a climber to use the shoulder method employed by Liu (a Chinese climber), which was in common use in the 1920s.” You can read Mark’s take on the subject here
Mallory’s character: George Mallory had served in the First World War. Sacrifice was something his whole generation were familiar with. I think that Mallory would have continued his attempt to reach the summit even if he knew it would cost him his life.
When Mallory’s body was found he had no camera and it is likely that Irvine was carrying the camera. If their camera can be found, then perhaps the mystery will be solved at last. Irvine’s body has never been located and it maybe that he lies deep within the icy grip of Everest’s huge glaciers. His body may be found in one hundred years or the mountain might never give up its secrets.
Did Mallory and Irvine climb Everest almost a century ago? Maybe, just maybe.
To find out more about these incredible climbers read Peter and Leni Gillman’s definitive book, The Wildest Dream.