History+of+Mt.+Everest

__**Myths of Mt. Everest**__
By: Nick Folas


 * //“Why climb Everest?”//**
 * //“Because it is there.”//**
 * -Sir George Leigh Mallory**

Mt. Everest has always attracted the world to its base, with thousands of people either attempting to or desiring to climb its ridges. It is easy to see why—the extremes of human abilities have always fascinated mankind, and the fascination of the highest peak in the world would naturally attract everyone with the resources to attempt such a climb. As a result, Everest has many of the most amazing stories that have become part of the myth of the mountain—stories that seem so amazing and, in some cases, so full of mystery that they must be fiction. Stories such as George Mallory’s ill-fated adventure in 1924, Sir Edmund Hillary’s successful climb in 1953 and, of course, the most well known Everest story, the 1996 disaster that was so well chronicled by John Krakauer and others. Sir George Leigh Mallory was ten days shy of his 38th birthday when he disappeared on the slopes of Everest on June 8th, 1924. Easily the most accomplished climber of his day, Mallory had twice before attempted climbing the 29,028 feet of danger, coming as close as 26,985 in 1922. Convinced to try for a final time by the latest British expedition, Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, departed their camp early on the morning of June 8th, equipped with oxygen and the finest tools available to them. At 12:50 in the afternoon, Noel Odell, another member of the team who was waiting further down the mountain, was looking towards the peak, knowing Mallory and Irvine were attempting to be the first to achieve the summit of Everest. According to Odell, the clouds suddenly parted and his eyes were immediately drawn to a black speck on the mountain, slowly moving its way towards the top, closely followed by another black speck making their way up a large step close to the summit. Judging by Odell’s description of the step and Mallory’s known time of departure, this could only be described as the “Second Step”, which is at 28,140 feet. Upon this miraculous viewing, the clouds returned and Odell returned to his camp, awaiting Mallory’s and Irvine’s return. Unfortunately, Odell had already seen the last of his two friends, as neither ever returned nor were seen alive ever again. For 75 years, the only clues to the fate of the two climbers was an ice axe found in 1933 belonging to Irvine, close to the First Step, and in 1975, a Chinese climber reported seeing ‘an English dead’ at 26,570 feet. Nothing was heard until 1999, when a group of climbers whose purpose was to find the two climbers amazingly found the body of George Mallory mere hours after setting out. Remarkably well preserved due to the cold, Mallory’s body provided some vital clues to whether he ever reached the summit or not. First, the fact that his sun goggles were put away in his pack were very telling, meaning that at the time of his fall, it was, at earliest, evening. Considering where Mallory was when Odell last spotted him, if Mallory had turned around almost immediately after, he would have arrived safely back at camp during daytime hours. Second is less scientific, but no less telling. Mallory’s son says that Mallory always carried around a picture of his wife with him, which he would then leave on the summit of Everest. No photo was found on Mallory’s body. While the general consensus is that Mallory probably did not reach the summit, the group that found Mallory’s body has put together a very compelling argument that Mallory, after climbing the Second Step, sent Irvine back to the camp and carried on alone. After reaching the summit, he made his way back down the mountain, eventually in darkness, slipping and falling to his death. One final, definitive clue does remain, though—Mallory took with him on his ill-fated adventure a camera, a Kodak Vest Pocket camera. The camera has not been found to this day. If Mallory did reach the summit, it would be incredible that he would not take a picture of the event. Kodak film experts say that the film, if found, would still be able to be developed, having spent all this time in ‘deep freeze’. Many expeditions have set out looking for Mallory’s fabled camera, but that is one piece of evidence that Everest keeps to itself. Nearly 30 years later, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary, 5 years younger than George Mallory when he disappeared, was part of a similar British expedition to reach the summit. Mallory’s whereabouts were still a complete mystery, as the only clue that had been found at that point was Irvine’s axe, and Mallory was assumed to have died high up on the mountain, but still, at least, higher than anyone else had climbed before or after. Hillary and his climbing partner, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay made their push for the summit on May 29, 1953 using a different path from Mallory’s attempted route. And at 11:30 in the morning, Hillary took the first confirmed step on the summit of Everest, with Norgay one step behind. They spent but a mere fifteen minutes on top of the world, doing nothing more than burying a few sweets, taking a picture, and for a few minutes, search for some evidence that George Mallory beat them to the punch.

The body of Sir George Leigh Mallory Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to safely ascent and decent Mt. Everest

__Everest News__. EverestNewsOnline. 22 February 2008. http://www.everestnews2004.com/malloryandirvine2004/stories2004/georgemallory.htm __Outside Online__. October 1999. Mariah Media Inc. 19 February 2008. http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/1099/199910mallory1.html
 * //__Citations:__//**