Sock embroidered with "AC Irvine" Does the sensational find solve the biggest riddle of Mount Everest?
100 years ago - and thus long before Edmund Hillary - two British men could have conquered Mount Everest. Following the discovery of a body part, researchers in the vicinity are looking for a special piece of evidence that could clarify whether this was the case or not.
11.10.2024, 17:39
11.10.2024, 17:51
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- The remains of a mountaineer have been found on the world's highest mountain, potentially bringing historians and alpinists closer to solving one of mountaineering's greatest mysteries.
- An expedition discovered the foot of a body that could be that of the British climber Andrew Irvine, who disappeared in 1924, the television station National Geographic announced on Friday.
- The foot was in a shoe with a sock on which the name "AC Irvine" was embroidered.
- It is still unclear whether Irvine and his partner George Mallory reached the summit at that time - 29 years before the first Mount Everest climbers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
The remains of a mountaineer have been found on Mount Everest, which could possibly bring historians and alpinists closer to solving one of the greatest mysteries in mountaineering history. An expedition has discovered the foot of a body that could be that of the British climber Andrew Irvine, who disappeared on the world's highest mountain in 1924, the television station National Geographic announced on Friday.
It is still unclear whether he and his partner George Mallory reached the summit at that time - 29 years before the first ascenders of Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
According to the National Geographic report, the foot was in a shoe with a sock on which the name "AC Irvine" was embroidered. Andrew Comyn Irvine, also known by his nickname "Sandy", was 22 when he and Mallory disappeared near the summit of Mount Everest on June 8, 1924. Mallory's body was discovered in 1999, but the discovery did not shed any light on whether or not the two were on the summit.
Trace to the missing camera?
Irvine's foot is unlikely to help either, but the find could provide a lead to a lost camera that the two had with them at the time and which they would certainly have used to document their ascent of the summit.
The location of the foot reduces the area in which one can search for the camera and other objects belonging to the two, said Jimmy Chin from the National Geographic expedition team, which also filmed a documentary. He was certain that the camera could not be far away. Chin did not want to name the exact location where the foot was found, but it was below Mallory's body.
The two climbers were last seen around 245 meters below the summit. The question of whether they died on the way up or on the descent has been a matter of concern to mountaineers for decades.
DNA tests are to clarify whether the remains are actually those of Irvine. His great-niece and biographer Julie Summers said she was moved to tears when she heard about the discovery.
