Modern Mysteries

Mystery surrounds disappearance of bodies on Mount Everest

By T.K. Randall
June 5, 2024

Image: Mt. Everest from Gokyo Ri (2012)
Credit: Rdevany / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Everest - officially the highest mountain above sea level - needs no introduction.

These days, thousands of people flock to the Himalayas every year for a chance to reach the summit, but 100 years ago, reaching the top of Mount Everest was a feat that had never been accomplished and something to be attempted only by the most elite and foolhardy of the world's climbers.

George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were two such climbers.

In 1924, the pair had set off in an attempt to reach the top, but never returned. To this day, it is unclear whether they actually did reach the summit - a feat that would have meant that they, not Edmund Hillary who is credited with summiting in 1953, actually made it there first.

Now, another mystery has also presented itself - what happened to their bodies ?

Mallory's remains were discovered on the mountain in 1999 and there was a reasonable belief that Irvine's had also been found in the same area, but then several years later, successive climbers making their way to the summit realized that neither of their bodies seemed to be there any more.

"Irvine's body is almost certainly no longer up there," said climber Jamie McGuinness."We gave it a good search with drones, and we spotted several other bodies, so we know we weren't missing anything of the right size."

Other climbers also agree with this assessment.

"We had GPS co-ordinates for where the body was," said mountain guide Mark Synnott.

"I feel if Mallory's body was still there, we would have seen it."

"It doesn't make any sense. Why remove the body?"

So what could have happened to the bodies of the two men ? Did the local authorities recover the remains and take them away or could there be another explanation ?

The search for answers continues.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Everest, Mountain