Could a Frozen Camera Dethrone Hillary and Norgay as the First to Summit Everest?

[pokerfan]

Scientific American has an article on some Sherlock Holmes detective work which could solve an enigma nearly nine decades old. Will it vindicate Hillary's historic climb or rewrite the record books? Of course, as a former climber myself (Cascades and Canadian Rockies), we never considered a climb successful if one never returned.

Photo detective work could solve an enigma nearly nine decades old.



By Larry Greenemeier
January 26, 2010

On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine left their camp less than a kilometer from the summit of Mount Everest on a mission to be the first mountaineers to ascend the world's highest peak (8,850 meters). They were never to be heard from again. Whether either man reached the summit—almost three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic 1953 climb—has been an open question for nearly 86 years...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mount-everest-mystery&print=true

[monmouth]

1. In reading much too fast I thought our Hillary took a side trip to

Mount Everest...Whew!

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I don't know what blew my mind more, the idea of someone possibly

having gotten to the top earlier, or the number of estimated corpses still up there. :wow:

[pokerfan]

3. About 150

People who die during the climb are typically left behind. About 150 bodies have never been recovered. It is not uncommon to find corpses near the standard climbing routes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Death_zone

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. That would freak me out. (Not that I could ever make such a climb in the first place.)

[pokerfan]

5. It's a bit extreme for my taste

The worst accident I was ever involved with was a member of our party falling on a rock climb. He had rope but it was the scramble portion of the climb, before you really get vertical, and he had yet to place any protection. Our little day trip had just turned into an rescue. Long story short, we spent the rest of the day evacuating him, thanks in part to some visitors who had a horse. Fortunately, we had several physicians in our party. (Doctors are more useful in the backcountry than lawyers.)

[MadMaddie]

6. Ha..ha.. that's funny!

<snip>
Doctors are more useful in the backcountry than lawyers.)
<snip>

I am sure we have great lawyers on DU but still....that's funny!:rofl:

[Orrex]

8. How do you climb a mountain with a horse?

[pokerfan]

9. That part's easy

Convince the horse that there's twenty bushels of oats on top of the mountain.

And carrots and apples.

[Esra Star]

11. Why did you take,,,,,

an enema machine?
How did the horse use it?

[joshcryer]

10. MountEverest.net did a skathing thing about "softcore" climbers leaving behind others to die.

There are many more summits these days with people in good health but by no means hard core climbers. The guides do most of the heavy lifting, leaving behind tonnes of oxygen canisters, while these high paying "softcore" climbers get to say they summited Everest. Hardcore climbers find this practices appalling, because some climbers will walk behind dying individuals to make their mark at the top, rather than risk their tens of thousands of dollars of investment to save another human being.

Some have said that these softcore climbers could not really rescue anyone anyway, due to the fact that they themselves are so reliant on the guides (Sherpas). This does not give me any comfort for the situation at all, as rescues have been performed and should always take priority.

Don't climb Everest if you need significant assistance (one Sherpa for a few guys is fine, one per person with dozens of oxygen tanks, is not).

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I've been wondering about that camera ever since reading this book ...

http://www.amazon.com/First-Everest-Mystery-Mallor-Holzel/dp/1557781052

found it remaindered at the U. Pgh. Bookstore. :) Had never heard of Mallory & Irvine before that.