Remains thought to be Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine found on Everest

One of the most enduring mysteries of mountaineering, or perhaps in all sports, was the 1924 British expedition with George Mallory and Andrew Sandy Irvine. It’s most notable for whether they summited or not. If they did summit, that would precede Tenzing and Hilary by 29 years. Mallory’s body was found in 1999, but there was no proof that he died going up or coming down, thus the importance of finding the camera and potential photos of a summit.

Now we have more clues. This past Autumn 2024, a National Geographic team hoping to ski the Hornbein Couiler on the Tibet side of Everest had to abandon their project due to weather and timing. Instead, once they got home, they told the world that they discovered a leather hobnail boot containing what they thought was Sandy Irvine’s foot. An attached sock has a tag sewn onto it reading “A.C. Irvine.” They found it at the base of a glacier, where recent warm temperatures may have released its icy grip. They took a DNA sample for positive identification with the family’s permission.

A Chinese team made the first summit from Tibet on May 25, 1960. Nawang Gombu (Tibetan) and Chinese Chu Yin-Hau, and Wang Fu-zhou, who are said to have climbed the Second Step in his sock feet, claimed the honor. However, without a summit photo, many doubted the summit claim. In 1975, the Chinese claimed a successful summit when the ladder on the Second Step was installed.

Tibet was closed to foreigners from 1950 to 1980, preventing any further attempts until a Japanese team summited in 1980 via the Hornbein Couloir on the North Face.

But it is who summited first that dominates Everest folklore. Was it Mallory and Irvin in 1924, or Tenzing and Hillary as we know in 1953? Some even speculate it was British climber Maurice Wilson in 1933

With the mystery dominating Everest gossip for almost a century, teams have looked in vain for positive proof of a 1924 summit. There have been valiant efforts throughout the years. In 1933, Irvine’s wooden ice axe was found in the fall line of the climber’s last known route. A Chinese porter reported seeing an “English dead” in 1960, but there were no pictures.

All that changed today.

Finding a bone or piece of clothing is not usual after decades. In 2022, after dying in 1970, local people found Reinhold Messner’s brother Günther’s second shoe at the foot of the Diamir Glacier. The first boot was found in 2005, and DNA analysis revealed that it did belong to Günther.

Mike Horn, a well-respected adventurer, posted a video from his 2015 K2 summit showing a picture of a decapitated head of a climber for 2 seconds – more than enough time to see a disfigured mass with hair, eyes, a skewed mouth – and the impression of a human who died in great pain.

And in 2015, two mummified corpses were found on Mexico’s highest peak, the volcano Pico de Orizaba. Warm temperatures had caused the glacier to thin, thus revealing the bodies.

But back to the Irvine finding, I doubt the camera will be found, and there is still no definitive proof of a summit. The mystery endures!

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Alan
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