Final month, a group of climbers filming a Nationwide Geographic documentary found “a boot melting out of the ice,” believed to belong to Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine. He vanished in June 1924, whereas trying to climb Mt Everest along with his associate George Mallory. The 2 males, a part of a British expedition to climb the north-east ridge, have been final on June 8 that yr.
This discovering might assist unravel certainly one of mountaineering’s biggest mysteries: whether or not Irvine and Mallory have been the primary to succeed in the highest of Everest, practically 29 years earlier than Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit.
Whereas Mallory’s stays have been found in 1999, Irvine’s whereabouts remained a thriller till final month. A Nationwide Geographic group of climbers and filmmakers stumbled upon a foot encased in a climbing boot and sock, with a label figuring out it as Irvine’s.
“I lifted up the sock, and there’s a purple label that has ‘A. C. IRVINE’ stitched into it,” the climber and movie director Jimmy Chin stated, in keeping with an unique Nationwide Geographic report. “We have been all actually working in circles dropping f-bombs,” he added.
Over time, many have looked for Irvine’s physique, largely as a result of the 22-year-old climber was believed to be carrying a digital camera with undeveloped movie which may embody {a photograph} of him and Mallory on the summit.
The household has now supplied a DNA pattern to substantiate the foot’s id as Irvine’s, however the filmmaking group is assured it belongs to the mountaineer, in keeping with the Nationwide Geographic report.
The group made their discovery whereas descending the Central Rongbuk Glacier close to Everest’s north face in September. Alongside the best way, they discovered an oxygen bottle dated 1933, from an expedition that had beforehand discovered an merchandise belonging to Irvine.
Based on the report, the group, energised by this potential clue, spent a number of days looking out the glacier, finally recognizing the boot rising from the melting ice.
After discovering the boot, certainly one of director Chin’s first calls was to Irvine’s great-niece, Julie Summers, 64, who authored a biography of Irvine in 2001 and has “lengthy championed his contributions to mountaineering.”
“It’s an object that belonged to him and has a little bit of him in it,” Summers stated of the boot, including, “It tells the entire story about what in all probability occurred.”
In her e-book about her great-uncle, Julie Summers describes Irvine as “a phenomenal younger man who died within the flush of youth.”
On the age of twenty-two, Irvine was the youngest member of the 1924 expedition, which adopted two earlier British climbs: one in 1921 to scout potential routes and one other in 1922, marking the primary severe try to summit Everest.
