Andrew Comyn ‘Sandy’ Irvine disappeared while attempting to climb Everest in June 1924 with his partner George Mallory. For a century, the 22-year-old British climber’s body lay undiscovered. But last month a startling discovery was made on the mountain: a preserved boot with a red label attached; the lettering inside read: ‘AC Irvine’.
Could this discovery finally solve the mystery of whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit?
The group of American filmmakers uncovered the boot on the Central Rongbuk Glacier, on the north face of Everest. The expedition was not there to hunt for clues on the ill-fated British 1924 Mount Everest expedition and the climbers instantly knew what they were looking at. ‘I lifted up the sock and saw a red label with ‘AC Irvine’ stitched into it,’ climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin told National Geographic after the historic find. ‘We were all literally running in circles, dropping F-bombs.’
Could this discovery finally solve the mystery of whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit on 8 June 1924, making them the first people to do so? ‘To be honest, it doesn’t give us many clues,’ says Jochen Hemmleb, an author and historian who has dedicated his life to studying the fate of the British duo. ‘But it has made me feel very emotional and relieved. Irvine now stands on the same pedestal as Mallory – he has finally become tangible.’
Hemmleb’s words made me realise that this recent discovery risked reducing Irvine to a mere foot in a boot forgetting that he was a strong and handsome 22-year-old who set out to follow his dream. Irvine was not only chosen to join the 1924 expedition because of his physical strength and athletic abilities; his engineering skills made him instrumental in making the expedition’s oxygen equipment more efficient and durable. This was a key innovation for high-altitude climbing at the time. Irvine was simply the ideal companion for Mallory in the final push towards the summit. The pair’s death was a terrible tragedy, but there must have been some consolation for their loved ones that Irvine and Mallory died doing what they loved.
The discovery of Irvine’s boot, almost exactly 25 years after Mallory’s body was found, is undoubtedly a major historical event. Yet it still leaves lots of questions around the circumstances surrounding their tragic fate. How did Irvine’s body end up at 5,600 metres, some 2,500 metres lower than Mallory’s? Did he fall alongside his mate and continue to tumble down the relatively gentle slope of Everest’s north face? Or was his body moved by natural forces such as avalanches or glacial retreat over the past century?
While these uncertainties remain, what keeps historians like Hemmleb up at night is the lingering mystery surrounding the camera that Mallory and Irvine took with them. Experts believe that the film inside could still be developed and potentially reveal if they reached the top before their fatal fall. Unfortunately, the camera has not been found. There are various rumours about its fate.
In 1975, a Chinese climber named Wang Hongbao stumbled across what he believed to be the body of a dead Englishman, since thought to be Mallory, at 8,100 metres. Rumours suggest that the same expedition may have uncovered the camera and handed it over to Chinese officials who decided to keep it under wraps. Why would China hide such a significant find? Perhaps they feared that it might detract from China’s achievement of being the first nation to climb Everest via the North Col in 1960.
A striking detail from the 1999 expedition, which found Mallory’s body, was the missing photograph of Mallory’s wife Ruth, which he vowed to leave at the summit. The failure to find this picture fuelled the theories of those convinced that the pair had reached the top. But after 75 years exposed to the mountain’s harsh elements, the photo could have easily slipped from Mallory’s pocket and been carried away by the relentless storms close to Everest’s summit. Some even doubt that he carried it at all. And, let’s be honest, would their success truly force us to rewrite history?
After all, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who reached the summit on 29 May 1953, will forever hold the title of being the first to complete the ascent and return safely. What they risk losing is the distinction of being the first humans to set foot on the world’s highest point.
While the discovery of Irvine’s body is undoubtedly an emotional milestone for historians like Hemmleb, it fails to unlock new insights into Everest’s enduring enigma. In the end, Hillary’s and Tenzing’s legacy stands firm, and it is unlikely that any discovery will topple Tenzing’s statues in Nepal or erase Hillary’s image from New Zealand’s five-dollar notes. Yet we must not forget the remarkable effort of Mallory and Irvine who ventured into the unknown with far less sophisticated equipment and technology. While this latest find will undoubtedly spark another wave of speculation, the possibility that the pair’s elusive camera is still out there will keep historian and punters searching for answers.
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