George Mallory: Earliest Frozen Corpse On Everest Unveils Mystery
Body was discovered on Everest in 1999
George Mallory has been resting on Everest for almost a century now. Set out to make history to be the first mankind on the top of the world; he became Everest’s forever and ever.
Before his fate agreed to spend eternity on Everest’s slopes, did it allow Mallory to step on its summit?
Attempts To Carve A Name IN The Page Of History
George Mallory, a mountaineer from England, participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions until it became his last. Have a look at Mallory’s Everest timeline:
- 1921 British Mount Everest Expedition
Mallory was a member of the British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition in 1921, the exploratory attempt to Everest and, if possible, scale the highest point on Earth. On 8 April 1921, Mallory, with the expedition team, departed from the Port of Tilbury in Essex and reached Calcutta, India, on 9 May 1921. The team explored possible ways to get near Mount Everest to survey routes to attempt the giant mountain through Tibet. Though they set foot on the North Col, the team couldn’t see any way to climb further, so the expedition was dismissed.
- 1992 British Mount Everest expedition
Mallory joined the 1992 British Mount Everest expedition, the first attempt to ascend to the top of the world. However, the 1992 expedition team made their way back after facing cessation upon pitching Base Camp at 5,029 m.
- 1924 British Mount Everest expedition
On 13 February 1924, Mallory again signed to the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition to conquer Everest. On 29th April, the British arrived at Base Camp at 5,120 m. At first, Mallory, with his expedition mate Bruce made a summit push from Camp IV on the North Col at 7,010m on 1st June, at 6:00 a.m., followed by 8 porters. By 3rd June, they reached 7,681 m, establishing Camp V there. However, porters began descending due to unsound health, with the remaining only one porter: they abandoned the mission immediately.
After that, the second failed attempt by Somervell and Norton, Mallory chose Andrew Irvine for the 3rd summit push. On 4th June, the two moved from Camp III to Camp IV on the North Col (7,010 m) within 3 hours. The next day, the climbers advanced to Camp V. On 7 June, they ascended to Camp VI (8,138 m) on the North Ridge. On the 8th of June, they reached a few hundred meters away from the summit point.
Check out the video of his body discovery.
Unsolved Mysteries:
The #1 Everest quest remains did Mallory ever reach Everest Summit?
On 8th June 1924, Mallory and Irvine were last spotted a few hundred meters below the summit point, roughly between the Second and Third Steps, at 8,603.5 m.
Being so close to the finishing line, it is possible they may have summited, but the historical revisionism has been buried in the cold with their corpse.
Hit A Century On The Everest
On the morning of 9 June 1924, the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition members exhaustively searched Camps V and VI through binoculars, with no sign of Mallory and Irvine. By 15 June, the expedition vacated Base Camp for the journey home, leaving the two mountaineers forever on Everest. Since then it counts almost 100 years now.
The Second Mount Everest Death
Retracing the footsteps of Mallory & Irvine puts more pieces of the puzzle together. In 1999, an American mountain guide Eric Simonson organized the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition.
With a few clues, “English Death” by Chinese climber Wang Hung-bao, five professional mountaineers went to Everest to discover the bodies of one or both climbers.
On 1 May 1999, Conrad Anker, a fellow member of the research expedition, screamed his heart out after he spotted a corpse, white as alabaster, plunged into the ice. The rest of the team followed the scream and began digging the corpse from its long-time resting place.
Following the examination of the corpse, they discover a fracture in the tibia and fibula of the right leg. Dislocation of the right elbow with complete damage of the right body ride. And, still, the corpse had wrapped the climbing rope tightly around its ribcage.
When one of the mountaineers, Tap Richards, inspected clothing, he discovered a name tag written “G Mallory.” ‘Yeah, the corpse belonged to George Mallory, whose fate remained unknown for 75 years. The research team hoped to find Mallory’s camera, which could unveil the truth. But it was nowhere. The further inspection took them to witness other evidence: a pocket knife, brass altimeter, a monogrammed handkerchief, and a pair of undamaged sun goggles all inside Mallory’s pocket.
The goggles became a significant clue as to what happened in 1924: the two climbers possibly completed their summit attempt in sunlight and descended after sunset.
More compelling was an item the searchers expected to find on Mallory’s body: his wife’s photograph, which was known he had been carrying the whole expedition time and had vowed to leave on the summit. The photo was not there while his wallet and other papers were intact.
Did Mallory leave his wife’s photo on the Everest Summit at 8849m? The mystery continues…
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