100 years later, missing Mount Everest climber Andrew Irvine’s foot almost found – National
For the past 100 years, a mystery has plagued explorers climbing Mount Everest – but the discovery of a severed human foot may provide some answers.
Last month, a film crew said they found an old leather boot sticking out of the melting ice of the Central Rongbuk Glacier, below the north face of Mount Everest. Upon closer inspection, the filmmakers found the sock still in the boot, the foot inside, with the word “AC Irvine” embroidered on it.
When asked if he believed the remains belonged to Andrew Irvine, filmmaker and mountaineer Jimmy Chin said, “I mean, folks, there’s a label on it.”
Jimmy Chin/National Geographic via AP
Immediately, the National Geographic team realized that this was not a normal start. They believe it belongs to English mountaineer Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine, who attempted to reach the summit of Everest with fellow climber George Mallory in June 1924.
British mountain climbers George Mallory is seen with Andrew Irvine at base camp in Nepal as they prepare to climb the summit of Mount Everest June 1924. It is the last picture of the men before they disappeared from the mountain.
AP Photo, File
Irvine, 22, and Mallory, 38, may have been the first people to summit Everest, although so far it is impossible to determine, since the two never returned.
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Since then, this mystery has fascinated people both inside and outside the international mountaineering community. Much of the interest was related to the camera carried by Irvine during the trip, which may have captured undeveloped film to prove if he and Mallory reached the summit.
Photographer and director Jimmy Chin told National Geographic that the discovery of the foot made his team “all run around in circles dropping F-bombs.”
A sock emblazoned with “AC Irvine”, along with a boot, was found on the Central Rongbuk Glacier below the north face of Mount Everest by a team led by Jimmy Chin.
Jimmy Chin/National Geographic via AP
He assumed the boot had melted into the snow about a week or so before it was found.
The remains were being disturbed by crows, Chin said, so his team asked permission from the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association to carry the foot and boot down the mountain to a cooler location.
Although the team can’t say for sure that the remains are Irvine’s, Chin is confident.
“But I mean, folks,” he said. “There’s a label on it.”
Chin contacted Irvine’s living relatives to share the news.
Julie Summers, 64, said the foot and the boot “tell the whole story about what could have happened.”
Summers, who wrote a biography of her uncle, told National Geographic that the discovery was a form of closure. He speculated that Irvine’s remains may have been brought down Everest by avalanches, and later crushed by moving ice.
The foot will be tested for DNA and compared to samples provided by living Irvine family members.
Before the discovery of the boot, Chin said his team identified an oxygen bottle dated 1933. That year, an expedition of mountaineers found an ice ax that belonged to Irvine.
Chin and his team never disclosed where the remains were found in an effort to prevent others from searching for the remains.
Mallory’s remains were found in 1999. His body had a broken leg and showed signs of deep lacerations, meaning he may have fallen. Many believed that Irvine would have fallen with him, as it is a common practice for riders to tie each other up.
It is said that Mallory was carrying a picture of his wife when he climbed Everest, which he planned to leave at the summit. The picture was not on his person, and his goggles were in his pocket, leading others to believe that he and Irvine had indeed succeeded in their ascent.
Before that, there was no trace of Irvine.
Irvine and Mallory attempted to reach the summit of Everest 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed to the top. Hillary, an explorer from New Zealand, and Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer from Nepal, are the first two people known to have reached the summit of Everest.
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