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GHOSTS
OF EVEREST Frozen For Eternity A lavish account of Mallory, Irvine -- and Everset's best kept secret By Suman Dubey GHOSTS OF EVEREST Think of Mount Everest and the first names that come to mind are likely to be those of Hillary and Tenzing, the first persons to reach the top on May 29, 1953. Think again, and the chances are that Mallory and Irvine will spring forth. The first pair made history; the second, legend. Missing for 75 years since they disappeared at great height on June 8, 1924, they left behind a tantalising mystery: did they reach the summit?
The basic facts about Mallory and Andrew Irvine are well known. The "two valiant men of Cheshire", as their memorial in Cheshire Cathedral describes them, disappeared into the mists of Everest not far from the summit. The last person to see them alive, Noel E. Odell, thought he glimpsed them in a brief break in the clouds above the most difficult part of the climb, "going strongly" toward the top. Odell later admitted he may have been wrong about their location, and the great mystery about how far up they got was born. Ghosts of Everest is, actually, a cleverly put together and fascinating account, alternating by chapter between the two expeditions, tracing the attempt and the search. It is profusely illustrated with contemporary pictures and old, an extremely well-produced volume. And it tells an incredible story. Years earlier, a Chinese climber had described to a Japanese colleague his discovery of an "old English dead" on the upper slopes of Everest. The Chinese climber died in an avalanche the next day, and nothing more was heard of the matter for several years. But Everest enthusiasts, including members of the search expedition, never lost sight of this clue. Some relics had been discovered earlier: Irvine's ice axe in 1933 and an oxygen bottle from an early British expedition in 1991. What was needed to resolve the mystery was the camera Mallory was believed to be carrying. And, of course, the bodies, which might tell a tale. Conrad Anker, the American climber who found Mallory, and his colleagues were actually looking for Irvine. Mallory was the tough, competent mountaineer, a hero even in his time, described as having the body of a Greek god. It would have been the inexperienced Irvine who had fallen to disaster. It took them time to realise the body they had discovered was not Irvine, who might still be sitting where the Chinese climber apparently saw him, but the great man himself. The find triggered a controversy, especially in Britain where the publication of photographs of Mallory's body for money was seen to be sacrilegious. Later the expedition members acknowledged this was a mistake. Once it became clear that they had treated Mallory's remains with great reverence, the controversy died down. Not so the great riddle. Climbers familiar with the northern side of Everest have opined that given the times, the distances and the equipment with Mallory and Irvine it is extremely unlikely they reached the summit. But till Mallory's camera is found the mystery will remain. And why not? For, as his daughter writes, "Perhaps it is more interesting that way!" |
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The
legend is now in the process of becoming history. This book is the first
account to become available in India of the expedition that last summer
found the remains of George Mallory lying exposed on the northern slopes
of the mountain where he had come to a rest, evidently alive, after a long
fall. It is described as the "authorised story of the search"
for the missing pair. A foreword by Mallory's daughter, Clare Millikan,
describes the book as a "compelling and step-by-step" recounting
of both expeditions, the attempt in 1924 and the search in 1999.