Why climb Everest? Because it's there.

[The Joker]

George Mallory was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s.




During the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine both disappeared somewhere high on the North-East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent of the world's highest mountain. The pair's last known sighting was only a few hundred metres from the summit.

Mallory's ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until his body was finally discovered in 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains. Whether or not Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.



His Rolex watch was found amongst his possessions, it was rusted in at 5.10pm. But one very significant item was missing. A photo of his wife that he promised to leave on the summit.

Sandy Irvine's body still hasn't been discovered. Several search parties have set out during the past decade in search of him, because he was carrying the Kodak camera in his trouser pocket - that could hold photographic proof of what happened.

Young George Mallory II also followed in his grandfather's footsteps, and in 1995 stood at the point his grandfather had last been seen before heading for the top. It took George Mallory II an hour and a half to reach the summit. 'I'm a pretty useful climber, but I was never in the same class as my grandfather.'

Did George Mallory reach the summit three decades before Edmund Hillary?

Was this the first watch to reach the summit of Mount Everest?

[dddrees]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

Either way it seems as though it was a Rolex that made the journey.

[mjclark32]

Cool bit of history.
Who has the watch now?

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by mjclark32

Cool bit of history.
Who has the watch now?

I think George Mallory's possessions were returned to the Mallory family.

Whoops I wrote 5.10pm. Obviously wouldn't of known am or pm.

[Dan2010]

Very cool.

[GED]

Thank you for the post!

There was a documentary about the discovery of Mallory's
body on PBS/Nova in the late 90s-also very interesting.

Have read David Robertson's bio of Mallory-his brother
was Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory
who became RAF C-in-C Fighter Command and air commander
of allied forces on D-Day, later killed that year in a plane crash.

[karmatp]

Interesting post, thanks for sharing.

[skywag]

Mallory's mountain clothing was appalling by any kind of modern standards.

[aquanaut]

It was a very good program last night on BBC2..should be on iplayer soon if anyone missed it.

[taughtmepatience]

Irvine's body will show up one day and the mystery will be solved. I believe that Mallory did NOT make it.

[rolexkiwi]

Interesting thread and pics, thanks.
There are a number of very good well researched books on this I have read. Is still one of the great questions of Everest. I believe after reading all these and watching the doco's etc that they did not make it. Also as Sir Ed has said, summiting is only half the job, you must make it back down again. There is no doubt they were brave talented men and true pioneers.

[mapula]

Just read another thresold in a rolex forum about the 200+ corpse along the way up to the summit of Everest. They are used as land marks now for the following hikers, e.g. as "the green boots"... Kind of sad for those pineers for the little chance of getting a presentable funeral ever; but certainly it is a cool place to be buried.

[sweeper]

Originally Posted by mapula

Just read another thresold in a rolex forum about the 200+ corpse along the way up to the summit of Everest. They are used as land marks now for the following hikers, e.g. as "the green boots"... Kind of sad for those pineers for the little chance of getting a presentable funeral ever; but certainly it is a cool place to be buried.

Now there is another body that has joined Green Boots. He is a solo climber from GB named Dave Sharpe. He was passed by over 40 climbers (going up) while he was still alive and then found again, still alive, during the decent. The Sherpa's tried to help him then, but it was too late.

2006 was the most deadly season on Everest since 1996, 11 died.

[Jason71]

Originally Posted by sweeper

Now there is another body that has joined Green Boots. He is a solo climber from GB named Dave Sharpe. He was passed by over 40 climbers (going up) while he was still alive and then found again, still alive, during the decent. The Sherpa's tried to help him then, but it was too late.

2006 was the most deadly season on Everest since 1996, 11 died.

I am certain that many of you already know this, but for those of you that don't.............


An absolutely fascinating book about deadly climbing seasons on Everest is Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer. A MUST read if you like this kinda stuff

[capote]

Originally Posted by Jason71

I am certain that many of you already know this, but for those of you that don't.............
An absolutely fascinating book about deadly climbing seasons on Everest is Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer. A MUST read if you like this kinda stuff

x2 on that book. Amazing read. What I don't get (as described in the book) it can take like 24 hours to ascend like 100 meters when you are close to the top, because you are exhausted, weak, the air is thin. Come on, how fun does that sound?

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by capote

x2 on that book. Amazing read. What I don't get (as described in the book) it can take like 24 hours to ascend like 100 meters when you are close to the top, because you are exhausted, weak, the air is thin. Come on, how fun does that sound?

Seriously, 100 meters in 24 hours? Man, that's some pretty hard work.

[sweeper]

Originally Posted by Jason71

I am certain that many of you already know this, but for those of you that don't.............


An absolutely fascinating book about deadly climbing seasons on Everest is Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer. A MUST read if you like this kinda stuff

Yes a good read, but now you need to read "The Climb" Anatoli Boukreev's version of the whole nightmare then, "High Exposure" David Breashears, and finally "No Shortcuts To The Top" Ed Viesturs.

The 2006 season was just as deadly, as described by Nick Heil in the "Dark Summit"

I just did an over nite on Mount Adams, in the presidential range NH, I wore "The Hulk"

[Smoak352]

Originally Posted by mapula

Just read another thresold in a rolex forum about the 200+ corpse along the way up to the summit of Everest. They are used as land marks now for the following hikers, e.g. as "the green boots"... Kind of sad for those pineers for the little chance of getting a presentable funeral ever; but certainly it is a cool place to be buried.

A "cool" place to be buried..

[AlbyCrowned]

I read a book about Mallory and Irvine's expedition.. And after having read it, after having heard depositions from people who knew Mallory, I really think he was the first to reach the pike..!

However I think Mallory was a better climber than Hillary, who is officially the first man to reach the Everest pike!

[DiamondJack]

The TV program was on last night and was very interesting and amazing to see Mallory's body lying on the mountain side preserved almost as if he had died yesterday.

The implication from the TV program was that he had made it to the summit since he was last seen a few hundred metres from the top by the team below before the cloud cover came in and obscured their view. He had his sun visor goggles stored in his pocket when his body was found which would suggest he was on his way back later in the day after the sun had gone down. He didn't have the photograph of his wife with him which he had vowed to leave at the top and he was found to the left (lower down the mountain) of where he was last spotted so assumed to have been on his decent when he fell. But unless they find the photo or Irvine's camera/body, we will never know.

Great TV though.....

[joeychitwood]

I'm of the opinion that either one or both of them made it to the top. The main criticism of this theory is that Mallory could not have successfully climbed the famed Second Step, which is these days climbed by ladder. However, Mallory and Irvine were expert climbers of their day, and I think they were fully capable of doing the step, just as Conrad Anker did on the 1999 expedition.

In any case, I have one of the sponsor cards from the Mallory-Irvine Expedition. They were purchased in advance by climb supporters and then mailed back to them from the Everest base camp as a souvenir. I was searching eBay for Everest memorabilia and found it listed under "Stamps." The seller had no Idea what the item really was.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

I'm of the opinion that either one or both of them made it to the top. The main criticism of this theory is that Mallory could not have successfully climbed the famed Second Step, which is these days climbed by ladder. However, Mallory and Irvine were expert climbers of their day, and I think they were fully capable of doing the step, just as Conrad Anker did on the 1999 expedition.

In any case, I have one of the sponsor cards from the Mallory-Irvine Expedition. I was searching eBay for Everest memorabilia and found it listed under "Stamps." The seller had no Idea what the item really was.

Very cool.

[AlbyCrowned]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

I'm of the opinion that either one or both of them made it to the top. The main criticism of this theory is that Mallory could not have successfully climbed the famed Second Step, which is these days climbed by ladder. However, Mallory and Irvine were expert climbers of their day, and I think they were fully capable of doing the step, just as Conrad Anker did on the 1999 expedition.

In any case, I have one of the sponsor cards from the Mallory-Irvine Expedition. They were purchased in advance by climb supporters and then mailed back to them from the Everest base camp as a souvenir. I was searching eBay for Everest memorabilia and found it listed under "Stamps." The seller had no Idea what the item really was.

Damn man! Great items! It's a piece of history you have found!

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by AlbyCrowned

Damn man, great items! It's a piece of history you have found!

Most amazing of all, I purchased the card for eight dollars US as a stamp item.

[joeychitwood]

Some Rolex content as well. My two-tone blue Submariner as well as a book about the offical expedition photographer, Captain John Noel. Reference to these sponsor cards can be found in almost every book about the 1924 expedition.

I sincerely hope they find the body of Andrew Irvine and the summit camera. Though they could be credited with the first Everest summit, as Ed Viesturs has always said, "Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory."

[britincali]

Heres my 6098 the same as worn by Tenzig Norgay on the Edmund Hillary everest summit, from what Ive read it could be the exact same as apparently his was a white faced one.




Norgay was given the watch before the expedition by a good friend of his and wore it, hillary had a black faced 6098 with him but not on his wrist.

[joe100]

I hope that professional or even amateur archaeologists find Irvine and not some millionaire hero adventurer type. I've read the film in the camera could possibly still be developed and whoever finds the body will have to be very careful if they find the camera intact to take precautions to not destroy it.

[rolexsweep]

Great read, I had no idea... Some thing will remain a mystery and I love that

[medgirl2001]

Originally Posted by The Joker

His Rolex watch was found amongst his possessions, it was rusted in at 5.10pm.

I was wondering if you knew anything else about whether or not Mallory's watch was really a Rolex? This is something I've researched, and I've had a hard time finding any verification of what type of watch he was wearing. I have seen where some have thought it was an Ingersoll, some Rolex. I think some of the confusion may arise from the "Because it's there" quote that Rolex uses in its marketing (and maybe also some from Archer's _Paths of Glory_, which is not historically accurate in many other ways, so I wouldn't trust it on this). But it certainly could have been a Rolex. Maybe some of you Rolex experts here know? I'm attaching another picture of the watch below.

Also - to joeychitwood - amazing that you were able to get one of the 1924 expedition postcards! Thanks for posting. It's neat to see one.