Sandy Irvine Mystery (Almost) Solved!

Here at Climbing Focus, the goal is to increase climber safety, so perhaps it is only right we start the blog with the most famous accident in the history of climbing.

The big news this week is the foot of Sandy Irvine has been found by Erich Roepke and Oscar winning Film Maker, Jimmy Chin. The Name A. C. Irvine, embroidered into the sock still clearly visible in red stitching. Andrew Comyn Irvine, or Sandy, as he was known, vanished 100 years ago with fellow climber George Mallory. 

 In September 2024, Chin says, the team was descending the Central Rongbuk Glacier when they found an artifact. “We discovered an oxygen bottle marked with a date on it that said 1933. – If Sandy had fallen down the north face, his remains or his body could be somewhere near here,” said Chin. 

That discovery lead to Chin and his teammates thinking. “If Sandy had fallen down the north face, his remains or his body could be somewhere near here,” said Chin. They surmised, “[the bottle] probably fell down quite a bit farther than a body—more like a missile.”  

Chin suspected that Irvine’s remains could be close. “Sandy could potentially be a few hundred yards up the glacier from here toward the mountain,” he told Erich Roepke. So began a circuitous search of the glacier. “It was actually Erich who spotted something and was like, ‘Hey, what’s that?’,” says Chin. It was the boot, emerging from the ice. “I think it literally melted out a week before we found it.”  

38 year old Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999, but without the Kodak camera he had borrowed from Howard Somervell. The location of 22 year old Irvine’s body has is still unknown but the foot is the first tantalizing clue we’ve had since the discovery of Mallory in 1999. The camera, with possible summit pictures, is believed to be in the pocket of Irvine.

The disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine in 1923 has sparked debate for over 100 years. did they make it to the top? Accounts from time suggest they did make it, although summiting the rocky second step with the gear they had, would have been an incredible achievement. Without proof, the confirmed summit of Hillary and Tenzing in 1953, remains the official date of the first time Mt Everest was summited.

The final sighting of Mallory and Irvine through the mist was in the early afternoon of June 8 by geologist Noel Odell. They were apparently “nearing the base of the summit pyramid” and above the second step, the final obstacle tot he summit. Odell felt they were moving well and were likely to summit.

All we know for sure is they tragically fell to their deaths sometime on summit day. How it happened we will likely never know, but we do know this tenacious pair reached the highest point any person had ever stood at that time. Possibly the highest anyone ever can.

Photo of A.C. "Sandy" Irvine

Climbing continues to take lives. On the highest summits and the smallest boulders. I hope Climbing Focus is able to effect a positive influence in the attitudes to safety in teh climbing community

“The question remains, ‘Has Mount Everest been climbed?’ It must be left unanswered, for there is no direct evidence. But bearing in mind all the circumstances I have set out…. considering their position when last seen, I think myself there is a strong probability that Mallory and Irvine succeeded.” – Noel Odell, in The Fight for Everest 1924

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