The discovery of Mallory’s body on the slopes of Everest was broken on Saturday May 1 by the use of a lap-top computer, digital camera and satellite link.
Only two days earlier, Christie’s had held their ‘Travel & Exploration’ sale which contained a collection of papers and artefacts relating to the early Everest expeditions sent for sale by a descendant of Noel E. Odell – the last man to see Mallory and his partner on the expedition, Andrew Irvine, alive. A geologist and key member of two pre-war expeditions, Odell described how he glimpsed two black spots through broken cloud below a crucial band of rock known as “the second step” in what appeared to be the final ascent. Mallory and Irvine were never seen alive again and the question has always been asked – did they die before or after reaching the summit in 1924? The only hope of finding out lies in the search for their camera, which just might have a picture of them at the summit.
Coincidence that came just two days too late
UK: CHRISTIE’S narrowly missed out on what would have been one of the great marketing coups of the year when news broke that the body of Everest expedition leader George Mallory had been found.
