Researcher Jochen Hemmleb post.
Quote:
Here are my initial thoughts on the discovery of Sandy Irvine’s remains, based on what has been published by NatGeo so far – so there is more to come in the near future.
First of all, it is a seminal find. Congratulations to Jimmy Chin and his team. And I agree that it will bring closure to Irvine’s relatives, and others, too (it certainly does for me, to some degree ...).
Yet as always there is the danger of conclusion-jumping and the possibility of some errors.
While the rope marks found on Mallory’s body in 1999 indicate that he was tied to Irvine when the accident occurred, final confirmation could only come if the remaining rope were found with Irvine. And even this would not rule out the possibility that the climbers had separated at some point and later reunited.
Secondly, it was not Irvine who was carrying the Kodak Vest Pocket camera lent by Somervell, but Mallory. Somervell himself stated this in a filmed interview back in 1970. Irvine carried his own camera, and perhaps a small film camera, too (the latter is debatable).
Thirdly, the oxygen bottle from 1933 is a mystery. The 1933 expedition took some oxygen, but it was never used high on the mountain. More information about the shape and size of the bottle is obviously required.
Fourthly, the find does not answer at all the question whether the Chinese might have found the camera long ago and kept it quiet. The Chinese almost certainly found Mallory in 1975, not Irvine, and might have recovered the camera Mallory had carried (again this is debatable, but still a possibility).
Lastly, for now the find – despite its poignancy – doesn’t shed much light about whether Mallory and Irvine made the summit (most consider it unlikely) or what happened to them. There are several possibilities how Irvine’s body could have ended on the Central Rongbuk Glacier. He could have fallen from somewhere on the Northeast Ridge. He could have been swept down by an avalanche from somewhere on the north face. Or his body could have been thrown off the mountain (as uncomfortable as this thought is). More information about the exact location of the find and the flow of the Central Rongbuk might offer more clues.
But I don’t see a solution to the mystery so far.
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18-08-2021, 07:31 PM
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Everest mystery - Did Mallory and Irvine reach summit in 1924?
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