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Apr 12, 2008 6:36 pm US/Mountain
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Golden Climber Reflects On Finding Everest Remains
by Doug Whitehead
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest, two British men died in the attempt.
George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were spotted within 1,000 feet of the summit in 1924. Then they disappeared.
The remains of the men were not found until 8 years ago. Jake Norton from Golden was part of the team which made the discovery.
"Our No. 1 priority in 1999 was to climb high on Everest and find any evidence we could of Mallory and Irvine," Norton said.
Mallory was an experienced climber. Irvine was a novice but had expertise in repairing oxygen bottles.
"The idea of these two Oxford English gentlemen in tweed coats and woolen knickers attempting to climb the highest mountain in the world in 1924 just automatically makes people's eyes open wide."
Norton now gives presentations about the attempt to find the remains.
"We all spread out into this basin, five of us trying not to cover the same ground twice," said Norton, "looking for anything that seemed out of place."
"After about an hour and 45 minutes, I remember seeing Konrad Anker about 50 meters away from me. I could see him frantically waving his ice ax above his head."
"I walked over there and was literally stunned into silence. We initially thought it was Andrew Irvine. I scratched out a tombstone reading reading: Irvine -- 1902-1924."
"I noticed that the shirt collars were still intact. I flipped over the first shirt collar and there was a laundry label that said G. Mallory."
The team recovered several other items, including goggles from Mallory's remains. His daughter Claire said she remembered playing with those goggles as he prepared to sail from the dock in Liverpool. She was 8 at the time.
"Strangely enough, 75 years later those goggles were placed back in Claire's hands," Norton said. "She was given closure on her dad's life and death. Claire sadly passed away the very next year."
But even finding the remains of Mallory and Irvine does not answer one key question: Were they actually the first people to summit Mount Everest?
"We can no more prove that they did reach the summit than we can prove they did not," said Norton.
"I like to believe that dangerously late in the day on June 8, 1924, probably some time 5 or 6 in the afternoon, Mallory and Irvine stood triumphantly on the top of the world."
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