Everest 1924
On 8 June 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to climb to the top of Mount Everest via the Northeast Ridge route. Keen-sighted Odell reported seeing them at 12:50 p.m. ascending one of the major "steps" on the North-East ridge, "the last step but one from the base of the final pyramid" and "going strongly for the top." But no evidence thus far has proved that they reached the summit, or that they were ever higher than the major Second Step obstacle. They never returned and died somewhere high on the mountain. Odell was the last person to see the pair alive.
In his first two accounts, written between June and November 1924, Odell was certain he had seen Mallory and Irvine climbing the Second Step. But in the expedition account published in 1925, and after mounting sceptisism from members of the climbing community as to whether it was the Second Step or the lower First Step, Odell conceded it might have been the First Step where he had seen the pair. After he had been rejected as too old for the next Everest expedition, that of 1933, he recanted his change of mind and returned to the belief that he had seen the two climbers surmount the Second Step. Had they done so, there would have been a fair chance that one of them, at least, might have reached the summit.
Following their disappearance, Odell climbed from the North Col up to around 27,000-feet (8,200 m) searching in vain for the two climbers. "...in the time available under the prevailing conditions, I found it impossible to extend my search." Mallory & Irvine Research - A Final Word
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