Mallory and Irvine

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1. In 1924, two British mountaineers were spotted high on Mt. Everest at about 1PM, only a few hours from the summit. Mists swirled in and lost them to view. It was veteran climber George Mallory and his powerful young companion Andrew Irvine. Both men were using early oxygen equipment, climbing in the last gasp of this, the third expedition to the mountain. The question that remains in every mountaineer’s heart has never been answered: Did either make it to the top before perishing on the descent?

Mallory & Irvine on the SS California en route to Mt. Everest.
(Photo: Daily Telegraph, photographer unknown.)

Controversy broke out within months of the expedition’s return to England. Where, exactly, did Noel Odell see the two climbers? He said he saw them surmounting the infamous Second Step. Critics insisted that was an impossible obstacle even for a climber as skilled as Mallory. Counter-claims arose, with defenders of Mallory & Irvine suggesting that it was simple jealousy of the climbing community, still hoping to reserve the goal of First Ascent for themselves.

Odell saw the pair climbing the severely difficult Second Step in less than five minutes. Critics claimed that the Second Step was far too difficult an obstacle and a few did not believe he saw anyone. Others hinted that Odell mistook rocks for the two climbers. Modern critics claim that Odell must have seen them climbing the much easier First Step. Both are promontories on the NE Ridge. The First Step is easily circumvented; the Second Step bars that route to the summit.

Mt. Everest North Face showing “the Mallory Route.” It is not know which variation they took
near the NE Shoulder. Mallory’s presumed fall-line is shown. (Photo John English, High Mountain.)

The next expedition, that of 1933, was far better equipped. Wynn Harris found an ice ax belonging to Irvine along the ridge. It was presumed this marked the site of an accident on their descent. But descent from how high up? There were no further clues and the issue seemed to smoldered out.

Reading the fascinating saga, it was not clear to me that the disreputable role of oxygen had been adequately factored into the puzzle. After analyzing the ascent speed of all known climbs on Mt. Everest, the resulting chart showed clearly that climbers using oxygen climbed faster than those that did not.[1] Extrapolating from this data discovered the probable climbing speed of Mallory and Irvine and suggested that having reached the top of the Second Step as witnessed by Odell, they would each have had an hour or so of oxygen left. The summit was three hours away. Mallory could not have given up so close to his goal. He could have taken Irvine’s remaining oxygen, sent him back down to safety, and made a solo attempt to reach the top—which he might have reached. Or so it seemed to me. Just a pre-publication notice of this idea in the London Sunday Times created a 3-week firestorm of objections. When the article was then published, Wynn Harris (who had found the ice ax) was moved to apoplexy in denouncing these findings. Blowing on these coals had certainly caused this great mystery to burst back into flame.

The next clue was discovered in 1979. Learning that Japanese climbers would be the first permitted access to Everest’s North side since WW-II, I sent a letter asking them to be on the look-out for a body on the North Face snow field at 8200m. Astonishingly, they replied that their Climbing Leader had held a brief conversation with Wang Hung-bao, a Tibetan porter who had been on a huge 1975 Chinese expedition. He described “an English dead” he had discovered high on the North Face. He had scribed “8100m” in the snow with his ice ax. This could only be Mallory or Irvine! The day after this revelation, Wang died in an avalanche. But this clue was enough to galvanize interest in finally solving this great mystery. I mounted an expedition in 1986 to search for the English dead and the cameras the two climbers were known to be carrying.[2] Would pictures be found taken from the top of the world? We were not to find out. The weather was atrocious and we were snowed-out.

Another American search expedition took to the field in 1999. Led by Eric Simonson with a search plan devised by Jochen Hemmleb, the team met with excellent weather and with spectacular success.[3] On the first day of the high-altitude search, Conrad Anker stumbled across Mallory’s body at 8165m in a snow field below the ice ax that contained many other fallen climbers. The body was lying face-down, the head nearly covered with scree.[4] The most notable new clue was a severe mottling around Mallory’s waist—a typical rope-jerk injury.

In spite of this spectacular find, the mystery seemed no closer to being solved. Advocates for success claimed that none of the clues—old or new--detracted from Odell’s sighting of the two on the Second Step, and everyone agreed that if the two had got that far, at least one of them would have made a dash for the top.

The First and Second Steps. Odell had described seeing the pair crossing a snow patch and then one of
them “breaking skyline” a few minutes later. The First Step is always circumvented; the Second blocks the
route and must be climbed.

Controversy has raged unabated over which Step Odell saw the two climbers. And everything hinges on which step it was. At first Odell was certain he saw them climbing the very difficult Second Step—and the expedition members took that for granted at the time. Yet back in England, this consensus suffered a gradual shift. After six months, the British climbing establishment had slowly decided it could not possibly have been the extremely difficult Second Step Odell saw them surmount. It must have been the nearer and similar appearing First Step. Odell himself eventually recanted, but after he was no longer a candidate for further expeditions, he returned to his original belief. The underlying question has always been: Why his confusion?

Odell was on the North Col and must have seen Mallory's note sent down by porters to expedition photographer Capt John Noel. It said in part: "It won't be too early to start looking for us either crossing the rockband under the pyramid or going skyline at 8 p.m." (He meant 8 a.m.).[5]

"The pyramid," i.e., the summit pyramid begins at the Second Step. "Going skyline" means cresting the ridge. It was well-known that Mallory intended to climb via the NE Ridge and Second Step (the "Mallory Route"), rather than the alternate Great Couloir or "Norton Route." He had Norton’s testimony about his route, and kept it in mind as a possible alternate when writing his note. Visually, both places described in the note are very close to each other. Thus, Odell knew exactly where Mallory expected to be at 8 AM on June 8^th.

On that same day, Odell was climbing up the North Ridge to resupply the highest camp, C-VI. At 26,000-ft he looked up as the mists parted and suddenly saw the NE ridge unveiled. Stunningly, he spotted Mallory and Irvine climbing a step — but greatly behind schedule. What thoughts would immediately have raced thorough his mind? It would certainly have been the thrill of seeing his comrades so high above him. But that must have been coupled with the shock that they were-five hours late climbing the Step. This is where Odell jumped to an incorrect conclusion: Because he saw them climbing upwards, even so late, he naturally assumed they were still en route to the summit. Since the Second Step is the only one of the two steps that must be climbed, It would never have occurred to Odell that they would anywher else than on the Second Step. Why would they? No one ever talked about climbing the First Step. It was not on the route. If they were en route to the summit, as Odell assumed, the only step that needed to be climbed was the Second Step. And there they were!

Odell was enthralled by this "dramatic appearance" in which "they were moving expeditiously as if endeavouring to make up for lost time."[6] After five minutes the mists closed-in and they were lost to view. But Odell’s vision of the two on their way to the top burned into his memory--minus only any recognition of where, exactly he had seen then. That thrilling part his mind filled in without a second thought.

Yet why were the two climbers so late?[7] Many researchers have suggested that they were late because they started late, and they started late because the unsporting oxygen equipment needed an emergency repair. But the evidence points in the other direction. They had raced up the North Ridge using only ¾ of a bottle of gas--a climb rate of 840 vert ft/hr at the lower oxygen flow rate—and an ascent nearly as fast as Finch’s amazingly fast oxygen climb in 1922 over the same terrain. They had reached the assault camp C-VI in plenty of time the day before to have made any repairs to the cantankerous oxygen equipment, were that necessary. But we know the equipment was working perfectly because two of their spent oxygen bottles were spotted just short of the First Step by Eric Simonson in 1991. The altitude difference between them and C-VI divided by one bottle’s duration (4 hours at the higher flow rate) shows that they two were climbing at 275 ft/hr. –also excellent speed at that altitude. Thus, except for the lateness of the day, (which can be explained by other reasons) there is no evidence for a “late start” or a balky oxygen system.[8]

Assuming a normal “early start” at --5 to 6 AM--means they would have reached the First Step between 10 and 11 o’clock. Yet Odell saw them climbing a Step—which we now suggest was the First Step--two to three hours later—at 12:50PM. If they were only then on the First Step--what had they been doing in this 2-3 hour interval?

The crucial thing to realize is that if they were climbing the First Step, it can only mean they were no longer ascending. It is a detour off the ascent route, but makes a marvelous vantage point from which to study the continuing ridge.

The simplest and therefore most likely scenario is that they were returning from their highest point. Perhaps they climbed all the way to the base of the Second Step's open-book crux. Up close, the actual severity of this final obstacle must have hit hard. Mallory had stated that the next time he made an attempt, it would be all or nothing.[9] He was through exhausting himself only to set another altitude record short of the summit. The prospect of climbing the terrifying Second Step overhang with 9,000-ft of exposure and no protection or belay, all with little chance of ascending much farther, must surely have seemed a risk not worth taking. In addition, Mallory had already thoroughly exhausted himself on this expedition with rescues of porter, and then himself, and an aborted assault without oxygen the previous week.[10] Thus, at noon, standing at the ferocious crux of the Second Step, Mallory realized that this was his last hurrah.

The 250-yd traverse between the First to the Second Step is steep and treacherous. Mallory might have taken this stretch alone while Irvine waited at the First Step; more likely they made the traverse together. With no fixed lines, the distance takes a tricky one to two hours.

Mallory was the shining star of the British Climbing Establishment—the Royal Geographic Society and the Alpine Club. In 1921 he became the first human to set foot on the mountain, and he spied a route to the summit. In 1922 he had tried for the top and failed. Now in 1924, at age 37, he was making what he himself had said would be his last attempt. By switching to the “unsporting” use of oxygen, the gloves had been taken off and he was attacking the mountain one last time by any and all means, fair and foul. But the mountain had won again. Hugely disappointed, they turned back to the safe ground of the First Step.

Now, at 1PM, they had plenty of time. As a consolation prize, they clambered up the First Step for a final look around. This was exactly what the French did in 1981 when they, too, could no longer continue. Perhaps a view of the backside of the Second Step would reveal an alternate route. Certainly photographs were taken. Makalu glowered a scant 14 miles away. They ate some Kendal Mint Cakes.

Descending the Step, they began the long descending traverse along the NE Ridge. A half-hour later (2PM) they were hit by a nasty snow squall. Odell describe this as driving sleet and biting wind. “One could not see more than a few yards ahead…”[11]

Surely Mallory would be leading to find the route, and they would have roped-up. He slipped. Irvine tossed his ice ax aside to grab the rope with both hands. The jerk of one climber's slip in a “gentleman’s belay”[12] is enough to pull his partner off his feet, but not nearly enough to inflict the massive rope-jerk injury that Mallory’s body exhibited around his waist. The 100-yard lateral offset between the ice ax site and Mallory’s fall line suggests the first slip did not kill either man. As they both fell, the rope between them snagged early in the fall and broke—saving their lives but inflicting rope-jerk injuries around both men’s waists—and separating them in the blinding squall. Both seriously injured, unable to see the other, it was each man for himself. In the driving snow, Mallory crawled on a 100 yards or so, moving diagonally downhill. But he fell again. Attempting to use his ice ax to self-arrest, it kicked back and pierced his skull.[13] He tumbled and slithered down the 8200m snow terrace and crashed into a rock that stopped his fall.[14]

In spite of many searches made along Mallory’s fall line, Irvine has not been found. A big break-through in resolving the mystery (and perhaps the final major clue) came in 2001, when Eric Simonson and Jochen Hemmleb (of the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition) returned to Beijing to track down Xu Jing, a climber of the Chinese expedition of 1960.[15] Astonishingly, he recalled seeing a body lying on its back in a rock clef in the same general area as Mallory’s but in the Yellow Band, 200-300m higher up. It could only have been Irvine.

In 1960 Chinese climbers had reached the NE Ridge by climbing diagonally through the Yellow Band as all modern climbers do. But they did not mark the route and each team found its own way up and down the tiled strata. It was when descending in this random fashion that Xu spotted the blackened body of a “foreign mountaineer.” Thirty-five years is a long time to hold accurate memories of exactly where this body was briefly noticed, and Xu could not specify where in the Yellow Band he saw it. But his memory of having seen the anomalous body was clear enough. Just like Wang finding Mallory, Xu must certainly have spotted Irvine.

The higher location of Xu’s dramatic sighting means that Irvine, also probably injured, did not fall as far as Mallory. Unable to find Mallory in the driving sleet, he continued on a while longer. But in the near white-out he would not have been able to retrace the route, difficult to follow even in clear weather. Descending through a random part of the Yellow Band he, too, finally succumbed to his injuries in the frigid squall. If Xu's sighting is correct, he sought shelter from the howling storm in a small rock clef. His blackened features indicate he did not die suddenly but slowly froze to death.

Although each climber was believed to have taken a Vest Pocket Kodak (VPK) camera, no camera was found on or near Mallory’s body. His was likely striped from his body during the fall and would be difficult (though not impossible) to find. Irvine, however, seems to have lain down to die. If he did not lose his camera in his shorter fall that broke the rope, it would surely still be on his person.[16]

The mystery of Mallory & Irvine has fascinated mountaineers—actual and armchair—for generations. What a glorious feat it would have been for those two vastly under-equipped pioneers of Everest to have reached the top. It is a dream that has thrilled and inspired adventurers as much then—80 years ago--as it does today. Upon reaching the summit in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary looked for signs of his possible predecessor but saw nothing. But theirs was no ordinary failure. The stirring example of the intrepid pair was their great daring on slender resources. The pitting of their great dream against the implacable brutality of Mt. Everst--the Mother Goddess of the Snow. Yes, they did not return, but their bold effort lives on as no mere climbing success ever could.

[1] See climb rate chart at “The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine,” Mountain Magazine, Sept 1971. In spite of clear evidence from as early as Finch’s record ascent-speed using oxygen in 1922, and the demonstrated high ascent-speed of Mallory & Irvine, 1933 expedition leaders still refused to believe that any claimed boost of breathing “artificial” oxygen was not outweighed by the clumsiness of the apparatus. They took oxygen equipment but did not use it. They took crampons but did not use them above the North Col. They reached the First Step at SEVEN A.M. but were cowed by and did not approach the Second Step, which is the route climbed by 95% of North Face mountaineers.

[2] The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine, Tom Holzel and Audrey Salkeld, The Mountaineers Books, (1986), 1999

[3] Ghosts of Everest: The search for Mallory & Irvine, Simonson, Hemmleb , Johnston, The Mountaineers Books, 2000. This book lavishly documents the discovery of Mallory’s body.

[4] “Scree” is a collection of rocks that have ablated off and which usually collect at the base of slabs and cliffs. Also known as “talus.”

[5] Story of Everest, John Noel, p.214.

[6] The Fight for Everest: 1924, Lt-Col. E.F. Norton, Edward Arnold, 1925. p 130. This is the official 1924 expedition record. A wonderful book.

[7] This vexing question, and that of where Odell saw the two, has been fertile ground for a myriad of suppositions, all driven by the desire to achieve some predetermined outcome entailing a successful summiting.

[8] Norton suggested that “this unaccountable delay was at least partly, due to some mechanical defect in the apparatus which postponed their start while Irvine was putting it right.” Fight, p 198. Anti-oxygen climbers were always quick to denigrate the use of oxygen, and were blind to its proven benefits.

[9] SOURCE?

[10] “That cutting (himself out a crevasse) against time at the end after such a day just about brought me to my limit.” (May 27), Fight, p237.

“My one personal trouble has been a cough. It started a day or two before leaving Base Camp but I thought nothing of it. In the high camp (C-3) it has been the devil. Even after the day’s exercise I have described I couldn’t sleep, but was distressed with bursts of coughing fit to tear one’s guts—and a headache and misery altogether; besides which of course it has a very bad effect on one’s going on the mountain.” Fight p237.

“Norton has made me responsible for choosing the parties of the attack, himself first choosing me into the first party if I like. But I’m quite doubtful if I shall be fit enough.” (May 29), Fight p239.

[11] Fight, p 132.

[12] If the two were roped in a "gentleman's belay," i.e., simply roped only to each other, the falling climber will experience no jerk unless his partner can then affix—belay--the rope to the ground—unlikely in Irvine's situation of having flung the ice ax aside. This tactic—practically a mutual suicide pact--is only used today over relatively flat terrain.

[13] This was a classic injury caused by the older self-arrest method of holding on to the ice ax held next to one’s head with both hands. It can work well sliding over packed snow, but is impossible to control over rocks.

[14] Tumbling bodies don't usually come to a halt on 30° slopes for no reason. Mallory's fall must have been stopped by an obstacle—in this case, the rock by his left arm. That suggests he might have lain on the rock, not on the scree. When Wang found him, he saw the deadly hole in his head (which he reported) and flipped him over face-down onto the scree in order to pile a few rocks on him.

[15] Detectives on Everest, Jochen Hemmleb & Eric Simonson, The Mountaineers Books, 2002, page 183. This work is a trove of excellent and detailed research on the search for Mallory & Irvine. The 1960 Chinese expedition was the first non-British and first post WW-II climb of the North side of Mt. Everest.

[16] If the camera is ever found, it must be handled with extreme care or all latent images will be lost. It should immediately be wrapped-up tightly in light-tight aluminum foil (to contain the parts if broken), kept below freezing (store it in a double-boot filled with snow), and taken to a photo lab in Katmandu as quickly as practical. It can not under any circumstances be x-rayed by the powerful checked-luggage x-ray machines. It must be developed using a special protocol developed by Eastman Kodak experts who have specifically studied this Everest film problem. [See Instructions below.]

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2. A127 Film: Care & Developing Suggestions

By Tom Holzel
(Rev 6 Mar 08)

Obtaining images from A-127 film stored at 27,000-ft on Mt. Everest for over 80-years depends on many factors, only some of which will be within the control of the researchers who retrieve the camera. Here are some of these factors, along with the Eastman-Kodak authored developing protocol.

1. Film lying exposed to light is doomed. Your task then is to try to save any part of the film that has been protected. If the camera is already broken open, some segment of the film may yet be protected.

2. The camera may be broken, but still at least partially light-tight because:

a. The camera is within its leather case

b. The camera has “broken in place,” i.e., the broken parts have not separated and thus the camera is still partially light-tight.

c. The camera is shielded underneath the body of the climber. Thus, if Irvine is found, attempt to pat him down to search for the camera in his clothing. Carefully search underneath him as well. If you feel the camera within his clothing stop everything and think: How am I going to get the camera into light-tight material without exposing it to light? This is a once in a life-time opportunity. Don't blow it due to haste! Ideally you might place a tent next to the body, and do the pat-down at night. Or cover the body in a tarp and pat it down under the tarp. THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFE-TIME MOMENT. DON'T BLOW IT!!

d. The film in the take-up reel may still be shielded.

3. The first step in recovering the camera safely is to assume it is broken but still together and immediately and gently (but firmly) bind it up. An ideal method is to have a few sheets of aluminum foil available to wrap the camera in. Otherwise the camera should be covered/wrapped with black plastic film (baggies) and wrapped in any type of tape that will hold in cold temperatures (e.g., Velcro strips). If no tape is available, wrap the camera inside the baggie with string, or cloth strips or slip it inside a mitten and tie the mitten off.

4. Once retrieved, every effort should be made to keep the camera below freezing. Placing it inside a double boot and packing the boot with snow might serve as an emergency ice box, especially during transport to a photo lab. If it cannot be kept below freezing, keep it as cool as possible.

5. Recognize that once you have the camera, try to calm down. As long as you can keep it cold, speed is no longer of the essence. It is much more important to follow the procedure correctly and slowly than to screw-up quickly. If you have to wait a few days to make an unobtrusive exit from Base Camp, do so.

6. The film would be completely wiped out by any checked-baggage x-ray. It would be further damaged by hand-carry x-ray, and in danger of being opened for inspection. Thus, the camera cannot safely be transported by air—except for one method—it could be air-shipped in a diplomatic bag from the American Embassy in Katmandu. But this is a second-best stratagem.

7. The safest method is to carrying the film back to a photo lab in Katmandu.

8. Searchers should obtain the Kodak chemicals in the US to assure that they are available and fresh, and bring them to a trusted photo lab in Katmandu. If the film must be stored in a freezer until the lab and chemicals are obtained, so be it. Obviously, media security becomes an important element in selecting this lab.

9. The following are suggestions of how to handle the camera up to the Kodak developing instructions. Note, by “the film” we are talking about the light-sensitive (image-containing) chemical layer or emulsion, a film-like nitro-cellulose carrier, and a paper slip sheet or “backing” that is not attached to the carrier but may now be stuck to it. The major danger is that the carrier will be dried-out and extremely brittle—and could possible shatter into splinters. This would destroy the image. Thus it must be soaked to become more pliable.

Removing the Film from the VPK camera

Plan A

a. Use an experienced developing technician to handle the film. This is no place for a hyper-active amateur to learn the ABCs of handing film, no matter how well-meaning. The technician should read and completely understand the Kodak instructions (below). He should have all chemicals in place, at temperature before beginning the development procedure. You want a fuss-budget type here, not an artiste.

b. IN COMPLETE DARKNESS (no safe light, but an infrared light source and viewer could be useful to watch the development process) let the opened camera come up to room temperature (60-70-degres F—not critical) in air. Then open the camera by removing the side panel and immerse it in the Kodak PhotoFlow solution at the same temperature.

c. Agitate the camera to get as much fluid into the camera and around the film which is still in the take-up reel chamber.

AFTER 15 MINUTES OF SOAKING:

d. After 15 minutes in PhotoFlo solution, begin to GENTLY extract the rolled-up uptake roll from its chamber so that the film is completely free of the camera. Remove the empty camera from the solution.

e. During the 30-60-minutes of soaking, GENTLY feel if the film can be unrolled from the uptake roll. It will probably be spring-tight and resist unrolling, but once wetted, at least not break. This is where the film technician’s experienced touch will be most useful. The point here is to get solution everywhere into the tightly wound film to help it relax.

f. Surgically cut off the potentially last exposed frame of film if there is one stretched across the film plane (using a surgeon’s scalpel) and set it aside in its own PhotoFlo solution.

g. As soon as the rolled-up film becomes pliable, unroll it out as best you can, using a fixed clip at one end and a weighted clip at the other. Set this up ahead of time.

h. If the paper doesn’t want to come off the back of the carrier while the film is being stretched-out, GENTLY see if the paper backing can be removed. (Originally, the paper was not attached to the film carrier.) Wherever the paper sticks to the back of the film, work in the Photo-Flow solution to help get it off. A credit card with its edge dulled is handy to slide between the film and paper backing TAKE YOUR TIME. Under no circumstances scrape the delicate emulsion side of the film.

i. There is a risk that the paper liner might stick to the front of the film. This is the worst case and we are in trouble. (See PLAN E). But DON’T PANIC. If the paper is sticking to the front, i.e., emulsion side, of the film, develop it as indicated below, but greatly extending the developing time to let the developer will soak through the paper carrier and begin developing the emulsion. This is where the judgment of the experienced technician will be invaluable. The danger here is that over-developing will increase image fog--possibly fogging out the image itself. Anti-fog chemicals can only do so much...

PLAN B

Even after soaking for about 20 minutes, there is still a risk that the film will not want to unroll at all, with the result that the water bath might not be able get in to rehydrate or develop the film. Plan B consists of putting the film and solution into a small chamber and drawing a vacuum with an Edmunds Scientific hand pump. This will cause the small amount of air within the roll to be drawn out and replaced by liquid, and might help release the bound-up roll.

PLAN C

Consider using a hypodermic needle to inject solution in-between the layers. Slide the needle in-between the carrier and the paper liner as you are squirting-out PhotoFlo solution. Do this every quarter-inch around the entire roll of film.

PLAN D

If all else fails in trying to unroll the film, and you have hydrated for as long as 60 minutes, using the surgeon’s scalpel, cut the film width-wise (along the axis of the take-up reel). First make one cut to see if you can peel off a complete circumference of that layer. If it is still stuck, make a second cut at the opposite side, always re-immersing the film in solution. Cut one layer at a time and immerse in solution. Although it’s a shame to have to cut the film, the pieces will be much more reliably developed and printed—and easily reassembled with PhotoShop. Plan D might become Plan B depending on circumstances and the judgment of the film technician.

PLAN E Paper Carrier sticks tightly to the film:

If the paper carrier sticks to the back of the film, that's OK. Just don't ruin the image-carrying emulsion side by trying too hard to separate the paper from the film. Just develop as indicated below. Prints will be made back in the U.S.

If the paper liner sticks to the front of the film—the emulsion side—this is bad news. But it is still be possible to develop the film without detaching it in one of two ways: First, by letting the developer soak through the paper carrier. Development times would be greatly extended for the developer to leach through the paper liner, which increases the risk of fogging the image. If, after, say, 40 minutes, this doesn't seem to be working, consider (groan!) cutting parallel slits a few millimeters apart in the film itself with a scalpel in order to get developer to all parts of the emulsion. (Or just cut the entire film and paper into narrow slivers.) Once the hydration process is started the film has to be developed and fixed to completion. Again, the technician will have to be the judge. Once developed and fixed, but not yet separated, the film would then be brought to a lab in the US for further processing and printing. If cutting the film into slivers is decided, the developed slivers can still be reassembled with PhotoShop.

DEVELOPING THE FILM

Follow Kodak instructions below to develop film. If after developing, the film negative comes out featureless, or you were not able to separate the paper carrier from the emulsion side, do not despair yet. There are techniques such as autoradiographic processing that can obtain images from even the thinnest negative.

COMPLETE SECRECY is strongly advised as there are many competing rapaciously claims to the camera and its images. Consult with an attorney before making the existence of the film or its images public.

Tom Holzel ThosHolzel@aol.com
+1 617-293-1958 Cell +1 617-266-1662 Home

3. Did Mallory & Irvine reach the Summit?
Q&A with Tom Holzel

Reprinted with permission from http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=17030
(MountEverest.net) 03:14 am EST Feb 19, 2008

Everest historian Tom Holzel climbed Everest as far back as
in 1986 in search of an answer
for Mallory and Irvine's fate.

Summit or not? American historian Tom Holzel climbed on Everest as far back as in 1986 in search of the answer. Yesterday ExWeb published Tom's simple scenario for Mallory and Irvine's final climb; a conclusion he reached after assembling all the evidence.

"It's a big disappointment. But, as a historian, one is obliged to follow the facts no matter where they lead," Tom told ExWeb. Today a Q&A with the M&I researcher who was forced to have a change of heart.

ExWeb: Tom, you told us that way back in the early ‘70’s you predicted that Andrew Irvine’s body might lie below the ice ax on the snow field at 8200m. With that one article you re-ignited interest in this famous mystery--and you created a storm of protest. Then, in 1980, the Japanese Alpine Club wrote in reply to your letter to be on the lookout for Irvine, that a Chinese porter on Everest told them he had discovered “an English dead” at 8100m.

TH: Yes, and that was a great confirmation of what until then had only been a possibility. But this exciting news was not well received by the British climbing establishment.

ExWeb: Why not?

TH: British climbers, particularly the old guard, were really upset that it was an American who was hot on the spur. And having the audacity to suggest one of their heroic failures might have been a success. Plus my brash nature really offended them. For one thing, I failed in the article to pay any homage to their list of great men, as one of these great men, Sir Percy Wynn Harris acidly pointed out. Also, the official Chinese Mountaineering Association repeatedly denied that any “foreign mountaineer” had been spotted.

ExWeb: But why should they be angry about your turning failure into possible success?

TH: We never got a straight answer. But when we left for Mt. Everest in 1986 to go look, one book reviewer deliberately broke the embargo on Audrey Salkeld’s and my book—The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine--to wish us the same fate as befell Mallory & Irvine. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the establishment.

ExWeb: Ooops! So it wasn’t just envy…?

TH: It was rancorous pique (ed: bitter pride). Because it was they who should have thought to look for the two climbers. Instead, they did absolutely nothing to find out what happened to Mallory & Irvine, claimed that the “English dead” was another ‘Everest ghost,’ and complained we were nothing less than grave robbers—all pretty much in the same breath. It was dog-in-the-manger at its finest: we never looked, so how dare you?

ExWeb: Your theory was that Mallory & Irvine surmounted the very difficult Second Step, and then Mallory combined Irvine’s remaining oxygen with his own in order to have enough to reach the summit. And sent Irvine back down by himself.

TH: Yes. At the time, that was the only realistic assembly of facts that gave them any chance of at least one of them having got to the top. And still pretty much is.

ExWeb: But you don’t feel that way anymore?

TH: The Old Guard was adamant—almost apoplectic—that Mallory would never send Irvine back to his death. Solo travel on Mt. Everest was just not done, they exclaimed—especially to indulge in a vainglorious effort to reach the top. This while proclaiming out of the other side of their mouths that Mallory was unstoppable, someone who would never turn back while there was any chance, etc., etc.

ExWeb: Do you still feel the same way now?

TH. No. I knew that their solo-bit complaint, sending a climber back alone, was malarkey (ed: BS) —they did it on every expedition beginning with the first one 1921 on their return from the North Col. But they were accidentally right about Mallory not sending Irvine back from the Second Step. Back in 1971 nothing was known about the actual difficulty of the Second Step and the traverse to reach it from the First Step. Sir Percy had eyeballed it from below and declared it unclimbable. He also declared the Norton Route the only way to go. Since then (1933) the Second Step has been climbed a thousand times, the Norton Route two or three times.

When Western climbers were finally let in, they learned that the traverse from the First Step to the Second—about 250 yards—is treacherously steep and very scary. So critics were right when they said that Mallory would not have sent Irvine back down alone from the Second Step. This new fact weakened my theory.

ExWeb: And then it was Mallory who was found below the ice ax where you predicted, not Irvine…

TH. Yes, and that hurt the theory even more.

ExWeb: Why is that?

TH. Mallory could have been returning alone from his summit assault and just fallen to where he was found. He would certainly have been utterly exhausted. But his body exhibited severe rope-jerk mottling around the waist—a clear sign that he had received a strong rope-jerk from a falling partner.

ExWeb: So you say he could not have been coming down alone. He must have been descending with Irvine?

TH. Yes, and Irvine could not possibly have sat around above the Second Step completely out in the open in the midst of a snow squall for six hours to wait for Mallory to return. Or even for an hour or two in that fearful cold.

ExWeb: So you concluded they never split up, and they must have returned together?

TH. That’s the way it looks. And the puncture wound in Mallory’s forehead looks an awfully lot like that which would result from his own ice ax while trying a self-arrest.

ExWeb: So isn’t one way to look at it that the Old Guard was right—they didn’t climb the Second Step and they didn’t make it to the top? Given that, isn’t your latest theory just an explication of that?

TH. That would be painful to admit if one didn’t look at the whole picture. Prior to my 1971 article, the issue was essentially closed. Nothing was explained, and the Brits felt there was no sense in speculating further. Searching was never mooted. They simply blamed their failure on the failure of the ”artificial” oxygen system, which caused them to be so late when Odell saw them. Sir Percy blamed the two tanks on Mallory’s back as having acted like runners on a sled to speed him to his death! It never entered their minds to look for evidence, especially the cameras the two took.

ExWeb: And your latest scenario is…?

TH. I suddenly realized that all the palaver about Mallory & Irvine being late was based on two huge false assumptions: The first false assumption was that they were late because of oxygen equipment problems; the second false assumption was that when they were seen five hours late, they were still ascending.

ExWeb: So when Odell spotted them they were already coming down?

TH. Clearly. If you plug that assumption into the equation, suddenly ALL the known facts make sense—and you don’t have to turn a blind eye to all those clues that damage whatever your latest success scenario is. Or make up scenarios out of whole cloth.

ExWeb: You’re saying all “success scenarios” have holes in them?

TH. Unfortunately, including mine. Some much bigger than others. To get the two—or even one of them—to the top requires you to finesse important clues. Or contrive elaborate evidence-free scenarios. As a historian, you simply can’t do that. You have to simply and realistically account for all known evidence. But, if what you want is to establish a glorious myth, then, of course, anything goes…

ExWeb: So now you’ve done a complete turnabout from your original success scenario. Are now ALL the ducks in a row?

TH. This latest theory is straight-forward, accounts for all known facts, leaves nothing out and doesn’t contrive complex alternate universes. So it must be what happened. They failed and I show exactly how and why. What a pity. I certainly wanted to have seen them reach the top as much as anyone.

ExWeb: This will make a lot of Mallory & Irvine fans unhappy.

TH. For sure. And it made a lot of editors unhappy, too. I’ve never had a problem getting half-dozen articles published on this subject—as long as I was pushing the “How Mallory made it” scenario. But this negative assessment is heresy—none of the mountaineering press would touch it.

ExWeb: Except us?

TH. Bravo. That’s why I’m here!

Tom on how the film in the VPK camera should be handled and developed

In 1986, Everest expert and co-author of the book "First on Everest - The mystery of Mallory and Irvine," Tom Holzel set out to find Mallory's camera. In addition, Tom was the one to track down Zhang Junyan and corroborated the late Chinese mountaineer's Wang's story about the discovery of an "English body" on the mountain.

Odell says he saw Mallory and Irvine climbing the second step in less than five minutes. The section has only been free-climbed a few times since.

Oscar Cadiach (K2 Magic line, 7 main 8000ers, Everest twice), who climbed the second step without oxygen said, "It took me one hour to climb the 50 meters-long step. I hoped two hours more would be enough to reach the summit, but breaking trail in soft snow ended up with us topping-out six hours after climbing the Step."