Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind

Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, has had its fair share of explorers try and conquer it. The first pair to successfully do so were Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they made the climb in 1953. However, 30 years prior to that, another pair named George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to make the summit but disappeared and died on the mountain. The big question surrounding them is whether or not one or both of them made it to the summit. Perhaps they did and died on their way back down. Until now, there were no clues to solve this 86 year old mystery.

While expeditions were made to find the two, and Mallory’s body was actually recovered in 1999 by one of them, the real key to solving this mystery lies with Irvine. More specifically, it lies with the vest pocket kodak camera he was supposedly carrying on him during their climb.

By using high resolution photos and maps of the mountain’s north side, Everest historian Tom Holzel believes that he may have found where Irvine’s body is. The most recent picture that he was given reveals an oblong anomaly roughly 1.8 meters long that lies in a spot where a Chinese climber reportedly saw the body of an Englishman during a climb in 1960. Comparing photos and computer enhancement confirm that the shape Holzel has seen is actually there and not just an illusion created by shadows or other causes. The discovery of an ice ax that supposedly belonged to Irvine near that area further fuels the hopes of the anxious historian.

Holzel plans on mounting an expedition to that spot sometime around spring of 2011 to see if he can find Irvine’s body in hopes of recovering his camera. Who knows, if he does find the camera and the film isn’t destroyed, there may be pictures from the summit that change the history of the most unforgiving mountain on our planet.

To read the original article, please go to http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mount-everest-mystery