One of the must enduring mysteries in all of climbing is the ultimate fate of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, two climbers who set out to summit Mt. Everest back in 1924. On June 8 of that year, they were last spotted about 1000 feet below the summit before a snow storm moved in, obscuring their movements from view. They were never seen or heard from again, and the world has long been left wondering: Did they reach the top?
Fans of Everest history, or the Mallory story in general, are in for a treat, as climber/photographer Jake Norton is sharing his thoughts on what really happened to Mallory and Irvine on that fateful day. Keep in mind, as Jake himself is quick to point out, this is just his opinion, as we have no real way of knowing for sure what happened to the two men.
And what makes Jake's opinion all that important? Simple, he's not only a student of Everest history, but he has been to the mountain on multiple occasions. summitting along Mallory's route. Not only that, he was part of the team that discovered Mallory's body back in 1999 and he personally discovered Mallory and Irvine's Camp VI high on the North Ridge back in 2001. In short, he's about as qualified as they come to make an educated guess as to what happened on the mountain that fateful day back in 1924.
Over the weekend, Jake gave us Part 1 of his story, mostly filling in the background on the mystery itself. He lays out exactly what is known for certain, and cites the finding of artifacts and even bodies, to get us up to speed as to the possible whereabout of our two missing heroes.
The story ends there, for now, but Jake promises to give us Part 2 soon, in which he'll share his thoughts on what he believes happened to Mallory and Irvine. It should definitely be an interesting read.
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