The partial remains of a British mountaineer have been discovered a century after attempting to conquer the world’s highest peak, according to a documentary team led by National Geographic.
They discovered a foot wrapped in a sock with the embroidered inscription “AC Irvine” and a boot that may belong to Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, who disappeared at the age of 22 along with his partner, the legendary George Mallory, near the top of Mount Everest on 8 June 1924, according to the expedition.
Mallory’s body was found in 1999, but there were no leads on Irwin’s fate until a National Geographic team discovered a boot still encasing the remains of his foot on the Central Rongbuk Glacier at the summit.
The climbers were last seen about 245 metres from the summit. Their fate has been debated by climbers and historians alike, some speculating that they stood on top of the world before disappearing on the way down. Still, there was no evidence that they both reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8,849 metres.
However, the discovery may provide further clues as to the whereabouts of the team’s personal belongings and may help solve one of mountaineering’s most difficult mysteries: whether Irwin and Mallory managed to reach the summit.
This was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we just hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large, said National Geographic explorer Jimmy Chin.
Although he did not specify where exactly the remains were found because he wanted to scare off trophy hunters. But he said he was sure the other items, and possibly even a camera, were somewhere nearby.
Irvine’s family has come forward to compare DNA test results with the remains to confirm his identity. In addition, Irvine is believed to have been carrying a camera, the discovery of which could rewrite the history of mountaineering. His grand-niece and biographer Julie Summers said she reacted emotionally when she learnt of the discovery.
It tells the whole story about what probably happened. I have lived with this story since I was a 7-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest. When Jimmy told me that he saw the name AC Irvine on the label on the sock inside the boot, I found myself moved to tears. It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment, Summers said.
The discovery may reveal new information regarding who the first climbers were. The first documented ascent of Everest came nearly three decades later when New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered the mountain on 29 May 1953. However, it may now be confirmed Irvine and Mallory were the first to successfully conquer the summit.
The finding was reported to the London-based Royal Geographical Society, which organised Mallory and Irvine’s expedition in conjunction with the Alpine Club. The partial remains are now in the possession of the Chinese Tibet Mountaineering Association, which is in charge of issuing climbing permits on the north face of Everest.
More than 300 people have died on the mountain since expeditions began in the 1920s, some of them hidden by snow or buried in deep crevasses. Earlier in June, five frozen bodies, including one that was only skeletal remains, were recovered from Mount Everest during Nepal’s campaign to clear Mount Everest and the adjacent peaks of Lhotse and Nuptse.
