Mt. Everest : WHO Really Climbed it First? Orvel Miskiw
With hundreds of people summiting Earth’s highest mountain every year, the question of its first ascent seems to disappear in a haze of the logistics of ‘getting up there’ for modern-day mountaineers. But many climbers and perceptive historians are still interested in the mystery of Mallory and Irvine, because climbing the mountain was a very different matter in the 1920’s, as very little high-altitude mountaineering had yet been done, so little was known about the response of the human body and mind to the expected combination of low pressure and sparse oxygen with hard physical exertion at low temperatures. Dedicated equipment and clothing were being developed at that time according to the knowledge available from limited experience, supplemented by speculation, however scientific. Also the psychological effects of being first and alone in extreme conditions and tough problems like cliffs and active icefalls could only limit the motivation of most explorers on the spot, even the bravest: the way was not prepared for them. There were no bridges, ladders, or fixed ropes, no cooks or load carriers.
Norgay and Hillary: First Known Ascent
The ready and easy answer to the WHO of the first ascent is Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, as they summited and Returned, with photos. The mystery of Mallory and Irvine’s disappearance on their 1924 attempt thus became shrouded, and Hillary himself declared that He & Tenzing were the first to return from the summit, as if only coming back alive mattered. There does seem to be some fair logic in that idea, but I’m sure that most people are primarily concerned with Who first reached the Summit (period), and if it were found or proven that Mallory and/or Irvine had summited 29 years earlier, in 1924, they would undoubtedly be given the full credit, in spite of dieing on their way down, especially considering their primitive clothing and equipment.
In 1999, Mallory’s body was found far below their ascent route and well back from the main challenges of the summit, and indicated that he took a fall while returning IN POOR LIGHT from his attempt, as his sun goggles were in his pocket. The intriguing thing about that is that the 1924 expedition reported reasonable light on Everest throughout that day, so poor light would have come only with sunset, well after 7pm, whereas Mallory and Irvine were (reported by their team-mate Noel Odell as) last seen beyond the known crux of the climb just before 1pm, so they were in good summit position with no known significant obstacles remaining.
The prevalent theory since then has been that Mallory and Irvine could not have gotten up the Second Step (in the Northeast Ridge), but in that case there would be no explanation for the (at least) 6 hours that went by before they were descending the Yellow Band toward or after sunset. They would surely have turned back within an hour or two, and been back in the area of their accident in the bright light of late afternoon, so Mallory would have been wearing his goggles when he fell.
Their colleague Noel Odell reported that he last saw the climbers top ‘a step’ which, from his poetic description, indicated either the Second or the Third Step — definitely not the First Step which was far to the left — too far from the summit pyramid that Odell referred to. In either case they were already beyond the crux of the Second Step about 1:00 pm, according to Odell, and MOST unlikely to have turned back after that, which would definitely explain their being back at the Yellow Band in dim light at best, whether they summited or not.
According to Mallory’s acquaintances, he had a dogged determination, and could never have resisted the lure of the summit after overcoming the crux Second Step. Irvine was considered ‘more rational’ but was also bold, and had full faith in Mallory, so they would definitely have continued ‘toward’ the summit, and likely made it — in view of the minor technical difficulties remaining — again fully explaining their apparent late descent: their accident may have happened ANY time after 7pm, for example 9 or 10pm, and was likely contributed by moving in the dark, as they were carrying no light.
George Mallory 1924
My opinion, after considering all the available evidence over several years, is that Mallory and/or Irvine COULD have reached the summit of Everest, likely together, and died after an accident at night while descending the Yellow Band. This depends somewhat on the veracity of Noel Odell’s report of his last sighting of them, and I consider him questionable: some of his companions talk about his professionalism and objectivity as a geologist, but others mention his ‘detached’ and artistic nature, and being not a team player, ie., he was a bit flakey. He thought that Mallory and Irvine seemed a bit late at the position of his last sighting, but even given a couple of hours’ leeway (later), or the speculated possibility that Odell entirely fabricated his final view of them to add a touch of heroism to their disappearance, they should have been descending the Yellow Band LONG before dark if they had been stumped by the Second Step or ANY other obstacle short of the summit pyramid.
However, another theory has been suggested: that their accident happened in the dim light of morning, before they even reached the Second Step! – that would rely on Odell’s having completely made up his sighting of them, or at least, as Andy Politz of the 1999 expedition described seeing objects (rocks) at the Second or Third Step that could have looked like people, and either misinterpreted effects caused by swirling mist, or simply embellished them, as moving.
I find the photographic record of the Northeast Ridge route by John Noel, the 1924 expedition photographer, quite poor. He seemed to have good cameras and lenses, and a good viewpoint on Changtse Peak, but I’ve seen no decent photo of the Second Step (and that area) by him. That would have been a useful addition to the discussions of Mallory & Irvine’s prospects of climbing it on the day of their attempt.
The reason I’d be interested in such a photo is that some photos from other expeditions show something intriguing — a remnant snow cone against the nose of the Second Step, and even a solid coverage of snow well up the prow — and considering the earlier bad weather faced by the ’24 expedition that actually drove them back toward base camp for two weeks with snow, wind, and low temperatures, it could just be that the north side of the Second Step got plastered with heavy snow in that storm, which allowed Mallory and Irvine to scramble up it a few days later, whether at the nose itself, or the gully of the later ‘Chinese-ladder’ route, so validating Odell’s claimed sighting. I’ve heard no consideration of this possibility among the many theories presented since then: they simply debate whether Mallory could have climbed that prow PER SE, as it’s usually seen, viz., bare rock. They would likely NOT even have tried, as they’d have to later downclimb it too, but Andy Politz (again)– who I consider very methodical and sensible — was very definite that Odell referred to the Third Step, after comparing views from Odell’s position and other spots along the Northeast Ridge approach route, and I agree. Odell indicated that Mallory moved quickly up snow to the top of ‘the step’, in which case they were already beyond the Second Step, so they had already ‘got past’ it, one way or another.
One possibility I’ve long considered is that of bypassing the Second Step (after a quick look) and reaching the Norton Couloir, although the slope below the Step does seem quite steep in photos. Again, I’ve never heard this mentioned with regard to Mallory and Irvine, but in the book “At Grips with Everest”, Stanley Snaith says that during the 1933 British Expedition, Harris and Wager “did make an effort to ascend the second step”, but it was impassable — mentioning ice veneer on any holds — though at least they actually got their noses up against it, which is always finally necessary for a realistic idea of the prospects of climbing. So Harris and Wager continued on to the couloir, and although they eventually turned back there with fatigue and lateness, the couloir has been climbed many times since then en route to the summit. So although Mallory preferred ridgelines, he may have quickly assessed the Second Step as unclimbable, but then skirted it to try the ‘Norton Couloir’,… and summited.
More-Recent Evidence: The Chinese are Hiding Something!
A scanty but definite and believable report from the 1975 Chinese expedition to the northeast ridge of Everest is that a Chinese climber Wang Hongbao came across a body at about 8200m while walking alone near a high Chinese camp. He casually mentioned the body later to a Japanese climber Hasegawa as “old English dead”. The finding of Mallory in 1999 a long way from and far below the Chinese camps indicates that this “old English dead” body of 1975 must have been Irvine. It was actually the body that expedition was looking for !
Wang himself was killed a day later, so supposedly no further information was available to ‘us’ for years, but at least that much got out right away via Hasegawa (and was likely also reported to others in the Chinese expedition).
Sandy Irvine 1924
Also, members of the controversial Chinese 1960 expedition mentioned coming across a piece of wood, a length of rope, and two oxygen bottles above the Second Step. If true, this find would prove that Mallory and Irvine got past the Second Step, so why would the Chinese make up such a claim? — to support their own claim to have summited? — which was disputed. That wouldn’t make sense, so I think it was an innocent and unguarded report, and likely true — a simple comment, supporting that both They and Mallory had got ‘that far’.
Since the finding of Mallory in 1999, several reliable reports have surfaced from Chinese climbers, officials, and Chinese Mountaineering Association members, stating that this same ‘old English dead’ body was located (‘again’) by the same Chinese 1975 expedition, AND that the fabled Kodak (Somervell’s) camera supposedly carried by Irvine was collected from it and taken back to China.
The camera had film in it, and the Chinese tried to develop it, but ‘admitted’ to having botched the development, so no images were made from it. Since a Mallory/Irvine success in 1924 would deprive China of their claim to the first ascent by the Northeast Ridge, it’s quite possible that they invented their (welcome) incompetence to deflect any further inquiries, as that in fact the camera contained proof that Mallory and Irvine summited Everest either 36 or 51 years before they had, and 29 years before Hillary and Tenzing. The Chinese MUST have done their best to develop any film from Mallory and Irvine for their own curiosity, though it IS possible that they made a mistake and ruined it, even so. OR they may have found unwelcome proof of a British success in 1924… to be suppressed for the assumed glory of the Communist Chinese system and state.
The Kodak camera and other artifacts collected from the (Irvine’s) body are said to be kept secure in China, and a couple of museums have been suggested by people in the know as likely locations. The film and/or photos may also be there, or possibly locked up out of public reach. In any case, the Chinese have been very secretive about all these artifacts, whereas it seems that they should be a lot more open, even EAGER, to display them as a show of candidness, even if only to fill out the ‘human’ story of the tragedy of the 1924 expedition, and still while fairly claiming “Finders Keepers”, UNLESS they ‘feel guilty’ because the camera actually proved that Mallory and Irvine beat them to the summit via the Northeast Ridge.
Possible Proof
It’s likely that in time, some basic sense of Honor among climbers (or, simply, ‘humans’) will motivate the Chinese to come clean, one way or the other, especially since they can’t claim the FIRST Ascent of Everest in any case, but only the relatively minor accomplishment of a first Route ascent, and even that at least 7 years after the presently-accepted first ascent by Hillary.
Personally, I certainly don’t mean to demean the accomplishment of Hillary and Norgay — it was a tremendous feat and very well done. But the many conflicting clues and opinions about Mallory’s attempt leave the possibility that he and Irvine did summit many years earlier, and that would deserve full acknowledgement if proven. Such proof may still actually exist, not likely now on Everest, but in China.
As mountaineers, we finally have to face ourselves — that has even happened to me a few times: if someone else got there first, We know it, from the obvious evidence of the summit cairn: we can kick it apart and throw the evidence over the side, but that wouldn’t change the facts or history.
Orvel
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