Conclusions

Table of Contents
Introduction June 5, 1924 June 6, 1924 June 7, 1924 – Comments on Mallory’s note to Noel – Comments on Mallory’s note to Odell – Some notes on the oxygen question – Some notes on Mallory’s equipment list – The sleeping bag issue	June 8, 1924 – Mallory & Irvine’s ascent to 8500 m/28,000 ft. – Mallory & Irvine’s ascent beyond 8500 m/28,000 ft. – Climbing the Second Step – Is the Mystery finally solved? Beyond the Second Step – Hypotheses & Considerations Where is Andrew Irvine? Conclusions Expedition Waste

In my latest book about the Mallory research, Tatort Mount Everest, I wrote with regard to the question whether I believe that Mallory & Irvine (or one of them) had reached the summit (p. 234):

“I am still reluctant to give an answer – because to me ‘believing’ does to a large degree mean ‘not knowing’.”

However, given what is now known after years of research, various opinions, four expeditions, and the production of the documentary Erster auf dem Everest, I do not ‘believe’ that Mallory & Irvine (or one of them) climbed Mount Everest in 1924.

I would still give them an outside chance of having reached the summit if one of the following criteria was met and proven:

• Mallory & Irvine had been higher than the Second Step (i.e. at the Third Step) when last seen by Odell at 12:50 p.m.
• Mallory & Irvine had taken more than two (2) oxygen bottles each on the summit bid – for which there is, at least for one climber, circumstantial evidence (see 3.3.)

And there are three important research tasks I’d like to see completed:

• Confirmation (or disproof) of the discoveries of Chinese climber Xu Jing and Sherpa Chhiring Dorje, who both claim to have seen a body that is likely to be Andrew Irvine high on the mountain (Northeast ridge below the First Step or top of the North Ridge) in 1960 and 1995, respectively, as well as of the analysis by pioneering Mallory researcher Tom Holzel, who believes to have located the body of Irvine in the Yellow Band on high-resolution airphotos. The discovery of Andrew Irvine also remains the last realistic chance of finding one of the climbers’ cameras.
• A search of the plateau between the Second and Third Steps (8610-8690 m/28,250-28,510 ft.) for any traces, namely oxygen cylinders and pack frames
• A search of the base of the Kangshung Face for equipment from 1924 that might have fallen from high on the Northeast Ridge

Only then we will gain the most comprehensive picture of what truly happened during Mallory & Irvine’s last climb on June 8, 1924.