New Evidence May Solve Mount Everest Mystery

In 2020, we profiled Jake Norton, an accomplished mountaineer who talked to us about not only the challenges of climbing Alaska’s mighty Denali, but also his expedition to Mount Everest in search of two famed climbers who were lost in 1924, which was the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary.

Now, a discovery on the world’s tallest mountain may finally solve the mystery of where the second climber, Andrew Sandy Irvine, died on Everest along with climbing partner George Mallory.

Here’s more from CNN:

A name label still stitched onto the woollen sock read “A.C. Irvine,” revealing that it probably belonged to British climber Andrew “Sandy” Irvine. Irvine’s disappearance on Everest in 1924, alongside his compatriot George Mallory, is one of mountaineering’s biggest mysteries – with a solution that has the potential to change history.

The pair disappeared on June 8, 1924, 800 feet below Everest’s summit, as they set off to complete the first documented ascent of the world’s tallest mountain. But whether they made it to the summit, thus becoming the first known people to reach this milestone, before they died is still unknown.

While Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999, neither Irvine’s body nor the camera that the climbers were carrying, which might reveal whether they reached the summit, have ever been found.